THE sentiment of jealousy is intimately allied to the

sexual act of which it is but the product. It is of purely instinctive origin and is widely diffused among animals, where it is exclusively confined to the male.f In man, the sentiment, however, whether by influence of social life or by the prodigious mental development of man, has undergone a profound modification. It has extended from possession of the body to sovereignty of the mind. Social surroundings have exerted an enormous influence. Primitive marriage hardly merits the name of marriage. It was simply a seizure and ownership of the person of a woman by a man, who held her by the same right as other property and regarded adultery simply as a variety of robbery. This opinion, strongly sustained by

* Read before the Congress of Medical Jurisprudence, Chicago, 1893. Translated by JAS. G. KIERNAN, M. D., Secretary.

†This is too strongly put. Exceptional instances have been noted in monogamous birds and mammal. In these, as I have already pointed out in the ALIENIST AND NEUROLOGIST, 1891, true marriage often occurred, with, as Brehm and Finck have shown, romantic love in the best sense. J. G. K.

*

Letourneau, has, however, been impugned by Tillier,t who says, there anent:

The opinion has been advanced that at the outset adultery was considered but a variety of robbery, and punished from this stand-point at once. This method of viewing the subject is probably inexact, since males of all anima.s combat other males who attempt to seize their females and there is nothing tending to show that the ancestral form of man failed to inherit jealousy.

These two contrary opinions are, however, easily reconcilable if the fact be remembered that with the progress of civilization the sentiment of jealousy has become extremely complex. In the existing state of culture jealousy crops up in a thousand forms, which, however, can be ranged under three great types:

First, Animal jealousy, a so to speak, instinctive and physiological variety, is common to man and animals. Paul Bourget has denominated this type, "jealousy of the senses." It is the most brutal of all and often leads to murder and suicide.

Second, Moral or sentimental jealousy, which wishes to possess not the body only, but the mind also, of the loved object. Bourget has denominated this variety, "jealousy of the heart," and has thus clearly outlined the distinction between these two types. "Jealousy of the heart" has for cause the thought of the sentiments experienced for another heart by a heart which loves it, while "jealousy of the senses" has for basis the conception of the sensations experienced by one body to another body which has physically loved it.

Third, Social or conjugal jealousy, which is produced by the wounded feelings of honor, propriety and self-love. Here must be placed the resentment of the husband deceived by the adulterous wife. The sexual element is frequently absent from these cases.

All three types often encountered mixed together, are always very varied and complicated in their quality and intensity, so that it is impossible clearly to distinguish them in each individual case. Some persons are jealous

* "Evolution of Marriage." Scribner, 1892.