Die Wahlverwandtschaften
In 1809 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in his classic novella "Elective Affinities", wrote of the "marriage tie," and by analogy shows how strong marriage unions are similar in character to that by which the particles of quicksilver find a unity together through the process of chemical affinity. Humans in passionate relationships, according to Goethe, are analogous to reactive substances in a chemical equation.