The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-25
PROF. EDWIN Won HARDTMANN
Race, But IRVING Experience for the Individual

to be a unceiular organism remains:
and it is always trying to realize this.
When the organisms developed into YER
tebrates, later into rrammals, and finail3
into man AMI womai the stress towerd.
reunion remained. The attraction of men
and women for another which is calicl
love is nothing but this strees towards re-
union modified by various conditions.
To-day when a man and woman love
and desire lnatrimony, they unconsciously
resist the fissiparous division which took
place in a microscopic animalcule per-
haps thousand years ago; and they
unconsciousy obey the older command
of nature to be one and indiVsble."
Dr. George Mehlis points out in the
journal "Losos" tha. the ancient Greeks
knew the theory that love is the trend
towards reInion oe two elements sep
arated by tate. This is strange because
the Greeks knew nothing about the tis-
siparous divisions of unicellular organ
isms. Nevertheless this conception Of
love is unicellular organisms Nevert.,e-
less this conception of love is clearly
| expressed by the comic poet Aristo-
| phanes. DR.. Mehlis. however. finds that
| 1t Is a mistake to lo1k on love as a sim
! gle positive principle. Love contains two
| opposite principles according to whether
the lovers are sound humans or not
| When they are unaound, love is an evil
u
! universe come from unsound love
a third philosopher, DR. Nolken, says
! that in the modern world over is ever
! becoming more passionate and more fruit
less and unsatisfactory People love more
ardently but find less mutually than at
| any other time In mans Developments
4 This will become rJrse until humanity
perishes of unsatlsfied love. Love never
theless remains high principle in ma
| ture, ltere Nolken agrees with Ger
| many S greatest philosopher. Edward Won
\ ftardtmann, who holds that love is a di-
! vine and saving thing in the world but
that in the life of individuals it is a
cause of misery. Nolken explains the
decline in mutuality by saving that the
| tendency towards differentiation which
! first caused the sexes is becoming strone :
er every day; man is becoming less like
women; and man and woman find it hard
er to discover their affinities AT the
same time the other and contrary trend
towards reunion mas not grown weaker
From this we have in society the .wo
prevailing factors: Pa ssionate love and
hopeless love
The lower the nimal in the scale OF
kcreatiun," says Nolseli. "the more fully
kand satisfactorily its love need is met
The animals are nearer to the primal
state of union. Thus in lower anim;tl.;
any one member of the opposite : sex
awakens love; in his CHER animals there is
an observed choosing and picking of
partners; and with humanity perhaps onlv
one In a thousand of the opposite sex
could be loved. In the ~l.ure the numbe
OF loveseekers will increase: but tae
number of love-finders will dwindle"
DR. Nolken. sees IN this a danger to the
future of humanity. 1t means a fall in
the marriage rate. an increasing multi
tude of bachelor and old maid exist
ences. This effect is primarily the n :
suit of the march Of the ages; but it is
intensified by civilization. That is why
civilized countries have more unmar. lied
persons, and also a lower birthrate among
the married, than uncvilized. - This is
equal to saying that In civilized countries
the relations between the sexes are alb
normal and bad. Civiliza ton is sup
posed to improve love by refining it, but
In process of refinement it threatens to
kill love altogether.
There is therefore, says DR.. Nolken,
! less love among the civilized. Love Is
essentially an Unconscious passion: civ
lilized love is conscious and retrospective
and it is, therefore no love at ALL Tie
greatest love in sum but not in quality
is found among savages The greatest
love in sum and quality taken togethe,
| is probably found among the lower
classes in civilized countries; that is in
| a class which does not suffer from the
| flicts on love. Luxury and leisure are
| the two chief of these evils"
So say the philosophers There is doubt
whether these philosophers know much
about love. Two Of them are old ba che.
| lors. Married philosophers-if pbiloso-
piers ever marry usually keep their
mouths shut. V, r. CROSSLYN