Evening star., 1938-03-20

cogs In the wheels. The whole set.up.
not only of the European corporate state,
but OF American industry, stresses the
insignificance Of the individual. Every
body can be replaced. 1t is not the man
that counts but the machine.
All this gives the man or woman q sense
OF insignificance. This is q terrible, un-
endurable sensation. 1t drives folks mad.
1t drives them to liquor and suicide. It
drives them to drugs, to murder. That
Is. it does If they cannot escape from it.
Love, Great Spiritual Need.
There is, DR.. Folsom says, one great
spiritual need Of every human being-love.
The family is the one place left where 1t
can be found. Business and industry are
becoming more and more impersonal In
industrial organization man and lathe
alike are pieces of machinery. 1t was Diff
ferent in the old craft days when pro-
duction depended on the quality Of the
individual.
So. as Prof. Folsom sees It, the great
function Of the family now Is that Of .
refuge for individualism
ASab Way WoAAy dSOAt ~.
Isn't the family indestructible anyway?
Isn't 1t based on unchangable human in
stinct? The answer is necessarily am
biguous-probably so, but perhaps not?
Shocking as it may seem, the question
cannot be answered with an unqualified
affirmative. So far as fathers are con-
cerned, there need be little debate Among
of tho ;uha
absolutely no concern whatsoever on the
part of the males for their offspring. The
same is true in various primitive societies.
The fathers are completely Indifferent to-
ward their children.
About Mother Love.
But is not mother love something basic
and everlasting impossible to destroy,
ordained in Natures scheme of things?
Let the fathers 60 their way. The family
always will center about the mother. May
be. but.
1t can hardly be denied that this mother
love" is rather inclusive term. It in
cludes biological, spiritual and cultural ele-
n1ents. Biologically there have been some
disquieting discoveries in recent years
There is an internal secretion known as
"prolactin." One Of its functions Is to
promote milk secretion Mothers with q
prolactin deficiency show very little affec-
ton for their offspring and male animals.
given injections of the hormone, develop
an intense parental affection. So in some
animals at least, this mother love depends
upon almost immeasurably tiny amounts
of a chemical which, 30 far as known, is
not essential to life.
Still other experiments have shown that
mother love, in rats, can be exterminated
altogether by depriving the mothers of
minute amounts Of the element MAGNESIUM
In their diets. This doesn't, as in the case
Of prolactin, work the other way around.
Males do not become extremely devoted
when given large amounts Of magnesium.
1t may be objected that human beings
are not rats and pigeons. Granted, and
80 far as known there is no experimental
evidence that the same DEFICIENCIES would
produce the same results in them. It may
be that they are exceptions in the scheme
Of Nature-and then again, it may be
they are not. Certain 1t is that there are
occasional human mothers who lack
motherly affection altogether In what
respect do they differ from normal"
women? It would be interesting to know,
but extraordinarily hard to find out.
Culture important Factor.
. The point is that this biological basis
Of mother love, as it can be studied expert
mentally in the animal world, appears
rather unstable. The second element in
human mother love is cultural. At present,
Of course, both mothers and fathers in all
civilized societies are impelled by q tre-
mendous cultural drive to love and protect
their offspring. Religion, ethics, tradition,
poetry, music, art are all behind this drive.
But this cultural drive was man made.
1t might be man-unmade-perhaps in the
course of relatively few generations How
much would be left of parental love If this
drive was taken away? Any answer is mere
guesswork-but some clues can be had
from studies Of primitive societies. Father
love admittedly is not quite the same as
mother love. But the two are practically
interchanged In some societies known to
anthropologiats. It Is the fathers who love
and care for the babies even more than
the mothers. They are impelled to act Is
nursemaids by . great cultural drive. And
there are other primitive societies where
father love Is non-existent The fathers
take no interest whatsoever in their
children.
There remains the third elemtnt-ths