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210 ESOTERIC ANTHROPOLOGY.
consequently alienated from him. So of a woman. The
monogamic idea is therefore the parent of jealousy and
all its tyrannies.
THE PROPER PERIOD FOR COPULATION.
1 have said that the natural season of copulation in
every animal must be that in which the ovum is set
free, and ia ready for fecundation. In the human fe
male, this is marked normally by the sign of menstrua
tion. This is the case also with monkeys ; I have seen
it in bitches, and it is probable that there is some kind
of discharge in the vagina of most animals. But there
may be some doubt as to the most suitable period of the
day or night. Coition should be exercised by itself, not
interrupting or being interrupted by any other function.
It must be performed when body, mind, and system
are otherwise at rest, and in full vigor. It should not
immediately precede nor follow eating, active exercise,
a cold bath, or any absorbing passion. There should be
a full energy of the vital force, which must not be in
demand in any other direction. If the labors of the
day have been fatiguing, it is better to get repose. In
order to most enjoy the sexual relation, and to procre
ate the best children, the body should be at its highest
vigor, the mind serene and happy, and the heart full of
affection. Just in the degree that sexual commerce is
not accompanied by love, it approaches the character
and produces the consequences of masturbation.
I do not mean that a simple sexnal attraction may
not be natural, and well as far as it goes, and in the ab
sence of any other. What I mean is, that the scale
ranges, like that of the thermometer, from hatred and