Hitherto I have only taken account of the _absolute_ considerations,
_i.e._, those which hold good for every one: I come now to the _relative_
considerations, which are individual, because in their case what is looked
to is the rectification of the type of the species, which is already
defectively presented, the correction of the divergences from it which the
chooser’s own person already bears in itself, and thus the return to the
pure presentation of the type. Here, then, each one loves what he lacks.
Starting from the individual constitution, and directed to the individual
constitution, the choice which rests upon such relative considerations is
much more definite, decided, and exclusive than that which proceeds merely
from the absolute considerations; therefore the source of really
passionate love will lie, as a rule, in these relative considerations, and
only that of the ordinary and slighter inclination in the absolute
considerations. Accordingly it is not generally precisely correct and
perfect beauties that kindle great passions. For such a truly passionate
inclination to arise something is required which can only be expressed by
a chemical metaphor: two persons must neutralise each other, like acid and
alkali, to a neutral salt. The essential conditions demanded for this are
the following. First: all sex is one‐sided. This one‐sidedness is more
distinctly expressed in one individual than in another; therefore in every
individual it can be better supplemented and neutralised by one than by
another individual of the opposite sex, for each one requires a one‐
sidedness which is the opposite of his own to complete the type of
humanity in the new individual that is to be produced, the constitution of
which is always the goal towards which all tends. Physiologists know that
manhood and womanhood admit of innumerable degrees, through which the
former sinks to the repulsive gynander and hypospadæus, and the latter
rises to the graceful androgyne; from both sides complete hermaphrodism
can be reached, at which point stand those individuals who, holding the
exact mean between the two sexes, can be attributed to neither, and
consequently are unfit to propagate the species. Accordingly, the
neutralisation of two individualities by each other, of which we are
speaking, demands that the definite degree of _his_ manhood shall exactly
correspond to the definite degree of _her_ womanhood; so that the one‐
sidedness of each exactly annuls that of the other. Accordingly, the most
manly man will seek the most womanly woman, and _vice versâ_, and in the
same way every individual will seek another corresponding to him or her in
degree of sex. Now how far the required relation exists between two
individuals is instinctively felt by them, and, together with the other
relative considerations, lies at the foundation of the higher degrees of
love. While, therefore, the lovers speak pathetically of the harmony of