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202 ESOTERIC ANTHROPOLOGY.
Filthy as this practice is in one case, and false as it
is in both, it is probably less hurtful than the far more
common practice of solitary vice.
The same may be said of Bestiality, or sexual inter
course with the lower animals, which is also practiced,
from the same causes, by both sexes. This is also a
crime in law, but I should think the act was punishment
enough. If not, exposure and the attending disgrace
would be. The world is full of stories of the produc
tion of monsters, part men and part animals, by this
means ; but when we remember how few animals of
different species engender with each other, we shall
not be surprised
that we have no well-authenticated
cases. The lusus nature found in our museums may
be accounted for by other causes. There is no reason
to suppose the spermatic animalcule of a man can fe
cundate a bitch, or sheep, or swine ; nor vice versa ;
but it is extremely probable that a man might engender
with some of the larger species of the orang-outang.
Incest, or sexual intercourse between near relations, is
a very different matter. Nature, in making it repulsive,
provides for the healthy procreation of the race, which
demands, to a certain extent, the commingling of oppo
site qualities. Physiological incest is the sexual union
of persons who are too nearly alike. In this way two
strangers may be nearer related, in fact, than some
brothers and sisters. Incestuous unions, from being
false in themselves, produce weak, scrofulous, insane,
or idiotic offspring. No incest can ever occur from a
healthy attraction ; it is like the other unnatural prac
tices of which we have spoken.
Marriages of convenience, or friendship, often occur