It does not follow that perfect blending of temperamental conditions will produce a happy marriage. This is the physiological foundation always of a correct relation, but there are other considerations quite as likely to produce important modifications. It does not follow from this law, that a blonde heiress should marry her father’s coachman, though he may be a perfect type of the brunette. We should not advise a graduate of one of our cosmopolitan universities to marry an uncultivated country maiden, even though their temperaments were perfectly balanced. We expect our subjects to exercise common sense in the application of our advice, and marry with due regard to the purposes of the union socially, financially and physiologically.
A young gentleman or lady may take my written description of the proper complementary character, and in any village of two thousand inhabitants there will presumably be a half dozen eligible persons sufficiently corresponding to the temperamental description. Our candidate will consider the claims of the six with probably the following result: He will reject No. 1, because she is too old; No. 2, because she is too young; No. 3, because she is diseased; No. 4, because she has insufficient culture. He may profitably hesitate a year between Nos. 5 and 6, but ultimately prefer No. 6 for reasons which he has discovered in that time, and marry happily, and with the proud satisfaction of having married intelligently.
“But,” says some objector, “you would have marriage reduced to a matter of cold calculation. You leave out all sentiment and love.”
Now, hold on, my friend, and we will see whether that is true or not. What is this sentiment, this love, which most people seem to think desirable in matrimony, and which others, we may add, hold in profound contempt. Love is the impulse of desire toward that which gratifies it. A young man loves a young woman because he sees something in her character, her personal beauty, her mental attributes, which gratifies him. For precisely the same reason the young lady reciprocates the sentiment. Now the question simply reduces itself to this: Shall this sentiment, this love, be founded on a complete and accurate knowledge of what is necessary to the complete gratification of the whole nature, or shall it be founded upon mere caprice or whim, the gratification of a mere fragmentary instinct which has never been educated to the comprehension of its true needs? Ponder on these questions for a few moments and you will realize that, instead of eliminating the sentiment of love from the question of matrimonial selection, I have really introduced you to a grander, broader, better ideal of true love than you have ever comprehended before.
This perfect comprehension of the needs of a natural existence culminates in a wonderful attractive force between the sexes. A force as evident to the senses as the force of gravitation when properly studied, but unfortunately too little understood. This force, however, exists—is governed by natural laws and exerts its influence for good or evil between every man and woman in the universe; and the man who marries in ignorance of this force, or who violates its laws, is as foolish as he who tempts the law of gravitation by jumping from the brow of a precipice without calculating the distance to the ground beneath. This force is an emanation from the body according to temperament, it is identical with gravitation in its phenomena, and I introduce it to-night to your consideration under the name of Sexual Magnetism.
P. Positive Pole. N. Negative Pole. The curved arrows show the direction of revolution.
I hold in my hand a bar of iron; if I let go, it falls to the ground, impelled by an unseen but very tangible force which you call gravitation. The scientist will tell you that gravitation exists because the earth is a great magnet, attracting to itself all negative bodies which come within the reach of its positive influence. But the principle of magnetic attraction implies, also, the principle of magnetic repulsion. Every child is familiar with the practical results of magnetic attraction, because he feels the force of it every time he falls down, or drops a plaything. But you are not so familiar with magnetic repulsion, yet if, by any combination of circumstances, you could be made positive to the earth instead of negative, you would be repelled from it with exactly as much force as you are now attracted to it, and shot into space to wander among the asteroids.
To illustrate this principle of magnetic attraction and repulsion, I have prepared these two bar magnets, which are simple bars of steel which have been charged with magnetic properties. I mount one of them on a pivot so that it will revolve when subjected to any force. One end of the magnet is called the positive pole, the other the negative pole, because they have been found to exert two different forces. If I present the positive pole of the magnet I hold in my hand to the negative pole of the mounted magnet, they will attract each other, and the mounted magnet will revolve toward the one in my hand. But if I reverse the conditions, and I present the positive pole of this magnet to the positive pole of the mounted magnet, they will repel each other, and the mounted magnet will revolve in the opposite direction with equal force. This beautiful experiment illustrates the repelling force of magnetism as well as its attractive power.
