I will not deny that in rare cases this may be considered a perfectly valid reason, pointing to no morbid disposition on the part of the unwillingly single person. Marriage might have implied mating with a member of an erotically indifferent race, African or Asiatic; isolation in a remote farming community where a refined woman could only select a mate from among primitive laborers, or in mining regions like some Alaska camps, where the only women available at times are prostitutes. Barring such "legitimate" exceptions, which to my mind, imply however, a suspicious indifference to securing a mate, the seeker for an ideal mate is almost always neurotic. =Protective Measures.= By setting his goal very high, he is protected against the danger of finding a mate and assuming life's responsibilities, increased as they would be by normal sexual activities. This is done in various ways, thru exaggerated social expectations, or thru unreasonable economic demands, or through morbid criticism of the possible mate. A working girl may set her heart on marrying none but a Prince Charming who could by no chance whatsoever be attracted by her appearance or her manners, unless he himself were a neurotic seeking safety in a union with a socially inferior mate (students marrying waitresses, etc.). Newspapers publish enough news of such matches to supply the neurotic woman with a reasonable rationalisation of her fear of matrimony. Some poor, unattractive young man may likewise decide never to marry unless he may secure as his bride a woman whom her social position makes unattainable. Here again, unions of heiresses with menials supply the rationalisation. Some unattractive women may make such financial demands on the man seeking their affection that no one will have the courage to tempt them away from their single-blessedness. =Lovers of the Absolute.= There are individuals of a much more pathological type still, who refuse to recognise and accept the relativity of all things human, who seek absolute beauty, perfection, intelligence, understanding, sympathy in their future mate and who grow discouraged and depressed when they unavoidably discover flaws in every companion of the opposite sex. In certain cases that obsession of the perfect detail is a symptom of insanity. Cartoonists have often amused themselves and us by representing famous men and women with their features so distorted that their distant likeness to some animal is emphasized. I have observed the same distortion in neurotics to whom that delusion brought no humorous enjoyment but on the contrary deep suffering. =A Troublesome Patient.= One of my patients a handsome young man of twenty-six, had had very ephemeral affairs with several women and left them abruptly when he suddenly discovered in their features a likeness to certain animals, pigs, dogs, monkeys, etc. After which he could never be prevailed upon to see them again.