Year: 1878

into tins condition partly be-
cause it is IA pretty aHusion
to fancy oneselfsuddenly ell
evated into a region of super
nal dignity and bliss; partly
because the allusion enables
IFS subjects to neglect obvious
social duties and offend 9th
ers with impunity. '.1i r.
Oddly enough, thistwofold
way of looking at the process
of falling in love is reflected
in the more thoughtful discus
sions IF the subject in litera-
ture. We DO not refer to the
quasi>moral observation with
which the popular novelist rs
accustomed to intersperse his
description of love affairs
The rhapsodical outbursts on
the eternal mystery of. love,
and the dry, cynical observa-
tions on its evanesceAt and il
lusory nature, to which one
is accustomed in the pages of
the modern novel. do no doubt
illustrate the point in view:
yet they can hardly lay claim
to the title of serious reflect
ion. Much more remarkable
is theappearance of these con
ffleting views in what may
by conrtesv be called scienti-
fic literature. Science is com
monty supposed to render
things simple by showing
them 20 be natural. Yet WIZ
iers now and then venture TO
speculate about the every
day event of falling in love,
as though it presented some
peculiar and impenetrable
mystery. Thus the theory of
the sexual emotion put forth
by Schopenhauer and his fol,
lower, Hartmann, raises it
out Of the category Of opdina
ry events. According tothcsc
! teachers it is no effect of nat :
ural causes but a direct inter
ference with the order of phe
nomenal nature and the mvs


terious revelation Of "a super
natural principle. The men


tai experience OF falling in
love appears to them to res
emble the kind of mental
transtt r!nation known among
certain religious sectS as sud


den conversion, III So far as it
is one of .he very last events
to be dealt with by the scien-
t!fic method. One popularity
of the case is that there takes
part in the process "a deeply
rooted instinct which seems
to lie outside our conscious
ness, and to exercise on it
something analogous to Il COS
ercive influence. Another DIFF
ficulty in the way of conce:v-
ing this experience as Il nat


ural one arises from the great
variety Of individual taste in
such matters. 1t is often
quite impossible for the most
intimate friend and closest
observer to specify all the in
f1uencies which have C0mbi-
ned to bring obout this state
of mind in any given INST
ance. Yet this does not him
der us from surprising that
the process is always at bot
tom a perfectly natural one.
One circumstance of the case
which seems to be commonly
overlooked is the special pre-
disposition to the amatory
sentiment. which shows itself
in certain stages of develop
ment aud in certain transient
moods. 1t is not too much
to say, perhaps, that most peo
pie fall in love at a g1ven
time because Of special con-
ditions of the moment. If a
had not presented himself or
herself as an object forthe i'm
pulse, 3 or q would probably
have sufficed. This way of
looking at the matter will no
doubt appear shocking to the
romantic mind, yet the idea
seems to have a firm substrat
um Of fact. 3-aI ns& a.iI


1t would be interesting to
know what part of the pro-
cess of falling in love is des-
tined to play in the future his
tory of mankind. A review
of the past Development of
the custom, from primitive
times to our own enlightened
age, suggest the reflection
that it has tended to become
a slower and more conscious