“That seems very plain to me,” replied Mr. Midith. “But, in the first place, let us keep in mind that in a state of perfect sexual freedom the human being, like the inferior animal, does live a comparatively chaste life, as I know the Marsites do. As evolution gradually develops the higher intellectual faculties of man, a keener sense of appreciating a faultless body and a highly cultivated mind is continually produced, so that he feels more and more reluctant to waste his animal forces in licentious acts which impair the physical and mental capacities after which he is seeking, and without which no one can be really happy. “Now let us see why the human being, as he now exists on earth, does not live a pure, chaste life. Why he is so intemperate in many directions. Let us see if we can discover some of the causes that produce this evil and misery. I am well aware that your people, as a rule, do not like to be reminded of their faults. But, nevertheless, I believe we should always tell the _whole_ truth, regardless of immediate likes and dislikes. “The inferior animal lives by virtue of comparatively _few_ and _simple_ functions, while man lives by _many_ and _complex_ ones. The animal, then, is harder pressed for room and opportunity, and lives by virtue of fewer functions than man. If the brute animal violates one of its few functions, it must perish in the hard struggle for existence; while man, on the other hand, is enabled to live by his _many complex_ functions in a milder struggle, even if he does violate to a certain degree the sexual function. “Your present earthly human being, then, is on the one hand so complex that the partial violation of one of his many complex functions does not cause him to perish directly like the inferior animal, while on the other hand, his higher faculties of keenly appreciating the highest physical perfection and mental eminence are, as yet, not sufficiently developed to turn his steps _only_ on the path of virtue and purity. You do not esteem life and health as highly as we do. But as intellectual development continues, you will gradually feel that every act that conduces to the fullness of life, individually and socially, produces happiness as a whole, and is therefore right; while every act that detracts from the fullness of life, individually and socially, produces unhappiness as a whole, and is therefore wrong.” “You have shown to my satisfaction, Mr. Midith, why an inferior animal, according to the nature of things, is compelled to live a pure, chaste life; and that man can, if he so desires, live a comparatively unchaste one,” said Mr. Uwins. “I can plainly see the causes that produce the chastity in the inferior animals, but I cannot see the causes that produce the excessive sexual function in our human being. Why does our human being not derive more pleasure from leading a pure, chaste life, which is in accord with life and health, than he does from leading a licentious life?”