This necessity is seen more clearly as we continue our physiological inquiry. The preceding considerations refer chiefly to the slow processes by which the various parts of the body must be built up step by step, under the guidance of outside intelligence, which furnishes the proper conditions of physical growth. Equally certain, and within the legitimate scope of true physiology, is the influence which the mind of the individual exercises upon the growth of the body. This difficult half of the subject presents itself in increasing importance as science advances. The particular theory of mind held by individuals does not affect our inquiry. Everyone understands the term, and gives to its influence a certain importance. Our perception of the degree of power exercised by the mind over the body, and the importance of that power, will continually grow as we observe the facts around us. It is a fact of every-day experience, that fright will make the heart beat, that anxiety will disturb digestion, that sorrow will depress all the vital functions, whilst happiness will strengthen them. How often does the physician see the languid, ailing invalid converted from mental causes—through happiness—into a bright, active being! Medical records are full of accumulated facts showing the extent to which such mental or emotional influence may go; how the infant has been killed when the mother has nursed it during a fit of passion, or the hair turned gray in a single night, through grief or fright.
We find that the mind, acting through the nervous system, affects not only the senses and muscles—the organs of animal life, under the direct influence of the cerebro-spinal axis—but that it may also extend its influence to those processes of nutrition and secretion which belong to the vegetative life of the body. Emotion can act where Will is powerless, but a strong Will also can acquire a remarkable power over the body. It has been remarked ‘that men who know that there is any hereditary disease in their family, can contribute to the development of that disease, by closely directing their attention to it, and so throwing their nervous energy in that direction.’ It was a remark of John Hunter ‘that he could direct a sensation to any part of his body.’
‘As in the case of other sensations, the sexual, when moderately excited, may give rise to ideas, emotions, and desires of which the brain is the seat, and these may react on the muscular system through the intelligence and Will. But when inordinately excited, or when not kept in restraint by the Will, they will at once call into play respondent movements, which are then to be regarded as purely automatic. This is the case in some forms of disease in the human subject, and is probably also the ordinary mode of operation in some of the lower animals.... In cases, however, in which this sensation is excited in unusual strength, it may completely over-master all motives to the repression of the propensity, and may even entirely remove the actions from volitional control. A state of a very similar kind exists in many idiots, in whom the sexual propensity exerts a dominant power, not because it is in itself peculiarly strong, but because the intelligence being undeveloped it acts without restraint or direction from the Will.’[18]
The mental power exercised by the Will over the body is strikingly shown in the control exerted by human beings over the strongest of all individual cravings—the craving of hunger. The exigencies of human society have caused this tremendous power of hunger to be kept so completely in check, that the gratification of it, except in accordance with the established laws (of property, etc.), is considered as a crime. In spite of the terrible temptation which the sight of food offers to a starving man, society punishes him if he yield to it. Still stronger than the established laws are those unwritten laws which are enforced by ‘public opinion,’ in obedience to which, countless people in all civilized countries suffer constant deprivation—even starving more or less slowly to death—rather than transgress universally accepted principles, and subject themselves to social condemnation by taking the food which does not belong to them. Another curious and important illustration of mental action is shown in the accumulating instances of self-deception, of contagious hallucination, and of emotional influence acting upon the physical and mental organizations, so strikingly depicted by Hammond and other writers in the accounts of pretended miracles, ecstasies, visions, etc.
Of all the organic functions, that of secretion is the one most strongly and frequently influenced by the mind. The secretion of tears, of bile, of milk, of saliva, may all be powerfully excited by mental stimuli, or lessened by promoting antagonistic secretions. This influence is felt in full force by those of the generative system, ‘which,’ writes a distinguished author, ‘are strongly influenced by the condition of the mind. When it is frequently and strongly directed towards objects of passion, these secretions are increased in amount to a degree which may cause them to be a very injurious drain on the powers of the system. On the other hand, the active employment of the mental and bodily powers on other objects, has a tendency to render less active, or even to check altogether, the processes by which they are elaborated.’[19]
That the mind must possess the power of ruling this highest of the animal functions, is evident, from its uses, and from the nature of man. The faculty of sex comes to perfection when the mind is in full activity, and when all the senses are in their freshest youthful vigour. Its object is no longer confined to the individual, it is the source of social life, it is the creator of the race. Inevitably, then, the human mind (the Emotions, the Will) must control this function more than any other function. It assumes a different aspect from all other functions, through its objective character. The individual may exist without it—the race not. Every object which addresses itself to the senses or the mind acts with peculiar force upon this function. Either for right or for wrong, the mind is the controlling power. The right education of the mind is the central point from which all our efforts to help the younger generation must arise. It will thus be seen that the standpoint of education changes in childhood and in youth, the first period being specially concerned with the childhood of the body or of the individual, the second period representing more particularly the childhood of sex or of the race. In neither childhood nor youth must either of the double elements of our nature—mind and body—be neglected, but in childhood the body comes first in order, in youth the mind.
The higher the character of a function and the wider its relations, the more serious and the more numerous are the dangers to which it is exposed. A physiologist remarks, ‘In youth the affinity of the tissues for vital stimuli seems to be greater when the development is less complete.’ That which the strong adult may endure with comparative impunity destroys the growing youth, whose nature, from the very necessities of development, possesses a keener sensitiveness to all vital stimuli. This important remark is true of mental as well as physical youth, and applies with especial force to the prevention of the dangers of premature sexual development. More care is needed to secure healthy, strengthening influences for the early life of sex than for any other more simply physical function.
In the preceding considerations, the faculty of sex has been regarded chiefly in its individual aspect, and the principles laid down by means of which the largest amount of health and strength can be secured for each individual. But this half-view is entirely insufficient in considering those physiological peculiarities of the function of sex, which must determine the true aim of education. There are two other physiological facts to be considered—viz., the Duality of Sex, and its Results.
The power we are now considering enters into a different category from all other physical functions, as being, first, the faculty of two, not of one only, and, second, as resulting in parentage. Directly a physical function is the property of two, it belongs to a different class from those faculties which regard solely the individual. That very fact gives it a stamp, which requires that the relations of the two factors should be considered. No faculty can be regarded in the light of simple self-indulgence, which requires two for its proper exercise. The consideration of such faculty in its imperfect condition as belonging to one-half only is an essentially false view. It is unscientific, therefore, to regard this exceptional faculty simply as a limited individual function, as we regard the other powers of the human body. Its inevitable relations to man, to woman, and to the race must always stand forth as a prominent fact in determining the aim of education. If this be so, the moral education of youth, with the necessary physiological guidance given to their sexual powers, must always be influenced by a consideration of these two inevitable physiological facts—viz., duality and parentage, and the training of young men and women, should mould them into true relations towards each other and towards offspring.