sensuality was a cardinal virtue, and that God had
contemplated in paradise an asexual reproduction of the human species,
which was annulled by the fall of Adam. Men who remained pure were to
be immortal. "The earth is filled with marriage and the heavens with
virginity," says Jeremiah. Such are the ideas which have given rise to
the obligation of celibacy for priests.

Westermark thinks that the idea of impurity attached to sexual
intercourse is possibly derived from the instinctive repugnance
experienced by members of the same family to have sexual intercourse
between themselves. Banished from the family circle this intercourse
was tainted with a stigma which offended modesty, and by the
association of ideas so common in man, this stigma was extended to
legal marriage outside the family. Moreover, religious celibacy is
complicated by ascetic conceptions, and the idea of the impurity of
sexual intercourse is by no means general.

For my part, I think rather that the jealousy natural to both sexes
has gradually compelled them to limit their sexual intercourse to
intimacy and to conceal it. But man is ashamed of everything which he
conceals, and we shall soon see that the sentiment of modesty concerns
all parts of the body which are concealed. This simple fact is
sufficient to give rise to the idea that coitus is impure, and I do
not think it necessary to seek any further explanation.

ADVANCES MADE BY ONE SEX TO THE OTHER--DEMANDS IN MARRIAGE

A natural law compels the male germinal cell to move toward the egg;
exceptions to this law are rare, the female germinal cells being
larger and produced in less number. It follows that in copulation, or
the union of individual sexual entities, man included, it is the male
which is the active party and makes the advances. Among certain tribes
(Paraguayans, Garos, Moquis), however, it is the female who makes the
advances. Everyone knows the combats for the female which takes place
between the male of animals, cocks and stags for example. Among
certain Indians similar struggles are also observed, after which the
vanquished has to surrender his wife to the conqueror. The same custom
obtained among the ancient Greeks, as we see in the suitors for
Penelope. In Ireland similar customs prevailed up to the last few
centuries.

On the other hand, we often see among savages and among birds the
favors of the female obtained by assiduous courtship rather than by
combat. In some savag