A Scientist Looks at Romantic Love and Calls It Limerence:

Chapter XIII New Guinea II

efore doing anything further, such as using Brew-2 on humans, Carol said she would prefer to start the process over with a fresh set of ingredients. The year was 2001. Peter was working to transform his mental life through solitary self-searching. Arthur was in college. Ruth had received a years paid leave in order to conduct followup investigation of mother-infant interactions among the previously studied tribes of New Guinea. She didnt really know what was happening with Peter, but he encouraged her to go, and seemed actually to welcome being alone. At least that was what he said, and it was what Ruth hoped. In truth, with Arthur gone, the couple had found little to talk about. What was uppermost in each of their minds could, for different reasons, not be discussed with the other. They could not discuss Peters humiliation by the trial or its aftermath, and for Ruth to speak of her work, which was going so excitedly well at the time, would be cruel. Furthermore, it hinged partly on the still taboo subject of romantic love. So, in late August of 2001, after twenty-three years, Ruth returned to New Guinea with anticipation that, in addition to her anthropological work on motherese, she would also find a way to obtain fresh vials of love potion for Carol to use in her attempt to improve on Brew-2. Ruth was glad that she had retained her birth name professionally. She hadnt liked the idea that, upon marriage, she would disappear from the social radar screen, so she determined not to change her name throughout her lifetime. She wanted old friends to be able to find her. An unanticipated side advantage was that, when the publicity around the trial was at its height, it was not immediately obvious to her students that the wayward psychotherapist was her husband. Because she was Ruth Payne, not Ruth Young, she enjoyed a bit of anonymity denied to her husband. Ruth had no specific plan as to how she would actually obtain the additional love potion vials. She would have to play it by ear as she went along. Although she would not have Xaviers help this time, she would have, in her computer, a library of books and CDs with pictures and sounds illustrating many of the hundreds of New Guinean customs and languages. Her leave began officially on the first of September. After the academic semester ended, she had spent the summer brushing up on the languages of the tribes with which she had previously worked, and learning some basic vocabulary of several others. She selected them mostly on the basis of geography, as travel into some areas was exceedingly difficult, and would probably be more than she would be able to manage. More experienced scientists than Ruth Payne had been discouraged by the thick vegetation, insects, and oppressively humid heat. Her budget included the costs of native translators, and there was also Pidgin English, which, even in the interior, was spoken by many of the people in the region. Her library contained dictionaries and tutorials of the various forms of Pidgin English that one had to learn, but there were so many cognates to standard English that it was easier to learn several Pidgin dialects learn than to learn languages with no similarity to English some of which, after centuries, even millennia, of isolation, had become exceedingly complex, as it is mixing with other languages that produces simplification. Ruth had read that with 700 languages to work with some estimates ran several hundred higher than that New Guinea was a linguists paradise, but that native tongues were going extinct faster than large African mammals. Far away universities were sending researchers to try to capture for science and for history the most endangered of the various dialects. Many were not written, and therefore would die altogether with the last speaker unless rescued from obliteration through recordings and phonetic transcriptions. Some of the old languages were spoken by as few as 300 people.

The Collected Works of Dorothy Tennov

No, Ruth thought, Xavier must be dead, or he would be here.

anshubu Abba was an educated man of native origin, as well as a fellow linguist. Xavier had met him some years earlier when Abba came to the University in Australia to give an invited lecture on New Guinea languages and customs. Early in the day of the lovers last evening together, Abba had appeared at Xaviers hut to warn him that he was in extreme and immediate jeopardy, and must, therefore, make his immediate departure from the island. There was a plane leaving early the next morning. Abba told of a man similar to Xavier in age and appearance who had been murdered the day before, and said that Kikki scouts were still actively scouring the area in search for additional victims. It was not the first such murder, nor would it be the last, as they were never entirely certain that they had killed the right person. Abba explained that the Kikki prophet, Shumar, had predicted that the boy child of their chief would return to New Guinea. Their strategy was to murder all the likely candidates that they could find. It was rumored that, over the years, they had already killed as many as 30 victims not only men, but their wives and children as well. Whenever they found a man of mixed race who was the age that the child would then be, it was a religious duty that he be killed. Every two years, scouts from the Kikki tribe come down from the hills looking for the baby of the woman that Chief Samu had raped. Xavier was skeptical. He had read that there were dangerous peoples in the interior, but had not previously heard of the Kikki. Yet Manshubu Abba was a person entirely to be trusted, and his warning was the real reason why Xavier had left the love nest so abruptly. If found with her lover, Ruth would also be in danger because of the possibility that she had become impregnated and would give birth to a grandchild of the chief. Thus she would also be slated for destruction, as would Xaviers sons were they ever to visit the island. A few weeks after he abandoned Ruth in New Guinea, Xavier had found, through intensive research, an article in an obscure Spanish journal written fifteen years earlier by an anthropologist named Antonio Valdez. Valdezs report more than validated Xaviers quick decision to avert danger by departing immediately. It had, in fact, very likely been a life-saving move. Valdez, a professor of anthropology at the University of Columbia in Bogot, had conducted a study of the marriage customs of many New Guinea cultures, including the Kikki. Echoing Abba, Valdez wrote that Kikkis maintained a murderously strict and unusual set of behavioral rules regarding marriage and sexual behavior. According to rigid tribal law, mating that occurred between a Kikki man and a kurira or outsider, was punished by killing, not the man, but the outsider with whom the transgression occurred, plus any offspring produced thereby. Xavier had arrived on the island at a time between the Kikki scouts biannual raids. By fortunate accident, he had thus far worked only with coastal tribes, remote from the interior highland region where the Kikki territory lay, and it was only by virtue of blind good luck that he had not used the name Samu among the tribes. Miraculously, he had avoided discovery during the weeks before Ruths arrival because he had referred to himself only as Dr. Sammy, Xavier being hard to pronounce. He had adopted the strategy completely ignorant of its supreme importance. Excited by the possibility that he could obtain additional knowledge about the Kikkis from an anthropologist who had actually been there, Xavier had booked passage to South America, where he visited Valdez. The elderly gentleman lived in quiet retirement in an old house equipped with a modern and comfortable interior. He welcomed the opportunity to share his extensive knowledge with the younger scientist. Valdez had film clips and videos taken during his many New Guinea field trips. His investigation of the Kikkis had occurred three years after Xaviers birth. In fact, Valdez had not actually met any Kikkis directly, and so did not have photos of the Kikkis themselves, but he did meet with a member of the Hoboro tribe which occupied land adjacent to that of the

A Scientist Looks at Romantic Love and Calls It Limerence:

Kikki and was one of the three tribes from which, by Kikki marriage law, a spouse could be acquired. In other words, while Hoboros were not Kikkis, neither were they kurira. The Hoboro interviewed by Valdez had told of a rumor spread among neighboring tribes about an incident that had occurred a few seasons earlier. According to the story, a beautiful white woman from the Coastal Mission was bathing in a stream when a Kikki chieftains son, alone on a hunting expedition, happened to see her. He watched from a hiding place in the bushes until his desire overcame all the moral prescriptions of his tribe and he took hold of her, pushed her down on the soft marshes that grew beside the stream, and had his way with her for many hours, during which she wept and pleaded for him to stop. But he was so driven by his pleasure that he could not stop until he was exhausted by the exertion. Eventually he dozed enabling the woman to slip away. By Kikki law, a kurira raped by a Kikki male must be killed lest she give birth to an offspring with Kikki blood. The story that was reported from tribe to tribe told of a woman raped by a Kikki who had escaped from him. They knew it was a Kikki because she described the unique tattoos on his forehead. He had also referred to himself as Samu. For months thereafter, she remained under protection in the well-guarded Mission grounds. A police band searched for the rapist, but they were unable to penetrate the mountainous Kikki territory. Among the Kikki, the perpetrator identified himself. By their rules, the rape itself was not a crime. As Samu was the son of the old chief, and therefore the man who would eventually take over as chief himself, it was especially imperative that the laws be obeyed, that the woman be punished with death for having strayed into the path of a Kikki male. That she was completely innocent of instigating the incident was irrelevant. The only crime committed by Samu, according to Kikki law, was his failure to murder his victim. That it would be taken care of by others was not an issue. For months after the rape, the woman did not leave the compound. But one day, a Kikki spy saw her from a distance. She was pregnant, and from the look of her, would soon give birth. From then on, Kikki scouts watched the compound continuously. When the woman was taken to the infirmary to give birth, they knew it. Two Kikkis entered the hospital unobserved in the dead of night. They killed the woman with whom the forbidden act had occurred as she lay in her hospital bed. The infant could not be found and the womans scream aroused the hospital guards. One of the murderers was shot. When the other returned to tell his chief what had happened, he was tied to a tree and left without food or water for four days before he was stabbed to death ceremoniously by the tribal executioner; it was his punishment for not retrieving the infant. Such cruelty was driven by the belief that, when mating occurred outside the tribe, if a blood member, such as the womans infant, were to survive, the immortal soul of the chieftain was vulnerable to attack by supernatural forces. The brutal killing of the loyal tribe member who returned empty-handed would also help to assuage the anger of the Great Ones. The more blood shed by members of the tribe over the incident, the safer was Chief Samu from the vengeance of the gods. A second Kikki party was sent, but by that time the infant had been taken away from the island. The second scouts were similarly tortured and killed at the stake. All these killings, Valdez explained, protected the honor of the designated chief. I was so shocked by the story that I didnt believe it until it was verified by similar accounts obtained elsewhere. But that was only one version of the rumor. There were others. According to an alternate account, the woman had died accidentally. Another report held that she had escaped. The fate of the infant had not been known immediately, but it was eventually discovered that the boy had been christened Xavier before he was spirited off the island to some faraway place, to be adopted by his mothers relatives. Frankly, the story that she was murdered by members of the Kikki tribe in her hospital bed, gruesome as it is, seems most believable, partly because it is in accordance with what is known of Kikki customs, and partly because it is the one most recited. But I never heard anything about a

The Collected Works of Dorothy Tennov

couple killed by a collapsing bridge. Nor had Manshubu heard about a collapsing bridge, Xavier added. As far as the torture and murder of the returning scouts, Valdez said, I simply dont know. It might be that fear of and hostility of other tribes toward the Kikkis led to that embellishment, but I did hear it from several sources. Now there was no question about Xaviers roots, and that the people who had raised him were in fact blood relatives. They had lied to protect themselves from public knowledge of the daughters sin of adultery, which, to them was indistinguishable from allowing oneself to be raped. Knowing them, Xavier was not surprised that they denied him his true background, telling him instead that he was an orphan that they had adopted out of Christian charity. When he had asked for more information about his parents, they claimed to know nothing. Now he realized that they had known his mother very well. He recalled that he had been captivated by photographs of a dead daughter of whom they never spoke. Xavier well remembered her lovely image, the face of the woman he now knew had been his mother, but about whom he had been told only that she had died. He was informed that he had come from somewhere in New Guinea, but it was not until he talked with Valdez that he realized the truth. It came to him incontrovertibly, when Valdez told him that the Kikki tribe had a chief named Samu. He had told Ruth the story of his origins that he had been told as a child. However, even before Valdez, he, himself, had begun to doubt it, as he had been unable to obtain information about a bridge. He did not tell Ruth that the real reason that he departed so abruptly was that he was in fear for his life and for hers, as well, if a connection between them were known. He felt that to confide in Ruth would endanger her. The less she knew, the safer she would be. As far as Ruth had been concerned, she and Xavier were scientific lovers who acted in accordance with their knowledge of the rules of Love Two, that it could endure indefinitely provided it was occasionally fed. Supposedly by mutual consent, they, therefore, decided that, in order to avoid the torture and disruption of lovesickness, they would have no further contact with each other. Xavier disappeared from Ruths life. It would be many years before she would learn that that he had become Vaughn Matini. At his meeting with Valdez, the old anthropologist had suggested that Xavier reveal his true identity to no one except those who provided the help that enabled Xavier Samu to alter his identity by a transfer of his passport and other credentials. His relatives in England and his friends in Australia who knew him as Xavier Samu were told that the name change was because he felt he would be discriminated against if his last name were Samu, because it was the name of a criminal who had committed multiple murders in Indonesia, and that he chose Vaughn and Matini in honor of two friends who had been lost in an airplane accident. He made it sound believable, and, anyway, he had little contact with his English relatives, none of whom was likely ever to visit New Guinea. After the murder of their daughter, they had no more stomach for the place. Xavier knew that they were always embarrassed about him before their racist friends. The less they saw of him, the better. No one, Valdez had insisted, should be told the real reason for the name change, because so interesting a tale would spread fast and wide through the telling, in strict confidence, of one person to another until the story reached a journalist. Also, Valdez advised that it would be wise to mislead everyone as to the actual purpose and location of his work. Despite use of these protective tactics, Xavier did not return to New Guinea for over a decade, and he altered his appearance by growing a beard and feigning ignorance about the territories and customs, so that even members of those tribes with which he had worked first with Samantha Houston, and then with Ruth Payne would not recognize him. As his field was linguistics, his study of the many languages spoken on the island also required a great deal of additional preparatory work in the libraries and on the Internet before he was ready to continue with further fieldwork. In any case, considering what he had learned from Valdez, it was only after establishing himself professionally with his new identity that he felt it would be safe to return. But his lifelong aim of meeting the tribe of his own ancestors had not completely left him.

A Scientist Looks at Romantic Love and Calls It Limerence:

In keeping with Valdezs recommendations, Xaviers new identity added five years to his age. His passport also indicated the Philippines, not New Guinea, as his birthplace. He managed to get his papers changed at a high governmental level, which, aware of the Kikki propensity toward fierceness, designated the aid given to Xavier as a kind of witness protection service. They accepted that had he remained as Xavier Samu, he might very well have been recognized by the tribe and killed. Xavier also knew that his change of name would mean that Ruth would know nothing further about him, which, from the point of view of their Love Two experiment, was a benefit that would speed her recovery. The most difficult aspect of his identity transformation was in connection with his academic credentials. Xavier had held a position as Professor of Linguistics at the Tudor King University in Manchester, Australia. Fortunately, the change was arranged to take place during a two-year visiting professorship in France. He also shifted his research emphasis from what it had been under the name of Samu. Fortunately, he had published nothing related to New Guinea under his original name. In his further published articles, Xaviers, or rather Matinis, main emphasis was on the testing of some of the linguistic theories of the American linguist Noam Chomsky. When he finally returned to New Guinea, his protective strategy included additional deceptions. He feigned interest in neighboring tribes, in hope that the Kikkis would eventually feel envious of the attention and gifts he gave to others, and would want to participate. Ostensibly, his primary purpose had been to set down tribal songs, stories, and beliefs in their own words so that they would never be lost and so that their descendants could always find them. A copy of a book of each participating tribe would be presented in its own language, phonetically, if it were not a written language, along with equipment with which they could listen to the songs and watch the dances that he had recorded. His interest in the language of the folklore was, of course, entirely genuine. As Ruth had kept up a steady stream of published articles through the years, Xavier regularly found news of her in the anthropology journals and newsletters, and silently applauded her further work on motherese and other aspects of infant-maternal interactions. Although neither had published in the field of romantic love, independently, Xavier and Ruth had worked to common purpose across the years and across the miles. Xaviers professional experiences had only increased his agreement with Browne that, if romantic love could be controlled, it would be of great benefit to humanity. He thought of broken homes and unwanted children; he thought of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases that were sweeping across the planet like giant tidal waves. Xavier never fully recovered from his Love Two for Ruth, not even during and after his marriage. In time, however, it became a largely silent potential, awakened, but with diminishing intensity, each time he came across her name. Could it really last that long, and what increases or decreases it? Like Carol Eisman some years later, he performed the scientific ritual of tracking his experience in carefully kept notebooks, in which he wrote at the same time every day taking physiological measures just before writing. He wished he had the ability to take brain-imaging and blood chemistry readings, but that would have to be left to later researchers, as his zero budget for romantic love investigations included no funds for such technology. In his persistence, he was being a pioneer. Of course, other sources of bias might creep into such a subjective a form of investigation. For example, on the basis of Brownes writings, he expected a slow downward curve, with spikes stimulated by ongoing events. Since expectation had been shown to influence perception in a number of well-controlled experiments, there was always the chance that his expectation biased his recordings, thereby producing that which he anticipated finding. It was something to be kept in mind in making interpretations of his results, but it was not a reason to forego the analysis.

The Collected Works of Dorothy Tennov

He was conscientious and systematic about taking two subjective measures: (1) percentage of time during which he thought about Ruth during the preceding 24-hour period and (2) a subjective estimate, on a ten-point scale, of how much he wanted to see her. He also indicated any relevant event, for example, his discovery of an article written by Ruth in a journal, or finding one of her contributions to the Internet lists of which both were members. Once he saw a woman from a distance who so resembled Ruth that, for a moment he, thought it was Ruth. In response, that days measure of Love Two intensity spiked. Collecting the data was itself a reminder of Ruth, and could have caused Love Two to persist when it otherwise might have dwindled to zero. But Xaviers conception of science, like that of Carol and Ruth, meant that to be unable to conduct the perfect experiment should not, although it too often did, stop one from collecting what information could be obtained. Replication and usefulness, not simply the employment of accepted methodology, were the ultimate criteria. They did not let available methods dictate the nature of the question asked. Xavier had written, but never published, a short book on the deficiencies in the methods of psychology and social sciences in what is rewarded by the practices of academia. It was not that others hadnt noted the problems. In the psychology literature, for example, he found many penetrating critiques of accepted practices that rendered conclusions drawn to be incomplete if not in total error. Still, despite the complaints, the forces against change were not only formidable; they worsened with time as business and political influences increasingly dictated what was funded, and, therefore, what was studied and, consequently, what was published. But despite limitations of methodology if conclusions drawn take account of the imperfections scientific understanding may not be impeded. In this connection, it should be noted that the methods by which Xavier, Ruth, and Carol studied romantic love did not require the help of research grants. They were able to conduct the research on the side, in their own time, free from criticism. Because the research was not costly, and because except for Carols animal work, for which grants were secured they did not depend on a peer review process that would inevitably have turned them down, had they sought financial assistance. Most of the romantic love research that was approved for publication in the psychology journals used cross-section measures, whether by questionnaire, brain imaging, or blood analysis. These measures would then be correlated with various measures of IQ, group membership, sex, parental income, and any other way by which one person or group could be differentiated from another. Longitudinal studies, in which individuals were followed over a long period of time, were lacking, although these were necessary for the proper study of Love Two. n arriving at the Anthropology Post, Ruth found buildings mostly looking much as they had all those years ago. She felt the flicker of a return of the old feeling, the one that had almost completely died away decades ago. Much had changed in New Guinea during that time, but much had not. Tribal isolation still existed, and life among most of the peoples in the primitive interior of the island obeyed old customs. Sitting on a bench in the Anthropology Center, Ruth did not at first recognize the man who approached her. Her mind still showed Xavier in his late twenties. Furthermore, she had not expected him. For years, she had searched everywhere she could think of in scientific journals, among listed faculty at universities, even in phone books. Xavier might have settled permanently in Australia, but probably he had died. It was the only conceivable reason that would explain her inability to find articles authored by him. The man she had known would not have become professionally inactive. In contrast, having read an announcement of the awarding of her grant, Xavier was expecting Ruth. She saw him approach, and although it reminded her of that moment long ago, it was only when she heard his voice that she recognized him. Ruth, he said, I am so glad to see you.

A Scientist Looks at Romantic Love and Calls It Limerence:

They spent their first days renewing their friendship and mapping their research plans. Once again, Xavier offered his assistance. He had, in anticipation of her arrival, arranged his schedule to accommodate her. He said that he had kept up with her activities over the years and, in the spirit of research, confessed that it had taken more than eight years before he had recovered from Love Twoalthough it was manageable after about two years, except when he came upon some mention of her or one of her articles. He had married ten years ago, but his wife, a native of Australia, had died giving birth to the second of their two sons. Xavier had resumed his fieldwork in New Guinea only when the boys had reached boarding school age, as he would not subject them to the rigors of field living or to the uncertainties of semi-orphan status. He planned to return to his home in Australia to be with his children during holidays and for at least one weekend a month, and he maintained almost daily email communication with them. Ruth talked about her son, Arthur, and about Peters trial. It was a difficult period, and it was very much connected to the issue about which we could never hold open discussion. Do you mean Love Two? Xavier wondered. Yes, Ruth answered, but it was more than that. It was the whole philosophy and approach to the theory of human nature. Peter was essentially a psychoanalyst. Was? Has he changed? I dont know. I dont think he yet knows. We havent discussed it. Arthur left for college at the beginning of the summer he was jumping the gun with summer courses, but I think he actually wanted to get away. Anyway, once Arthur was gone, the place was like a morgue. Aside from asking if there was anything I could do, or asking whether he preferred steak or fish for dinner, there was little to talk about. Fortunately, I kept busy preparing for this trip, or it might have been worse. Peter just sat around the house looking glum and defeated. I was glad to be able to leave, and I think he was glad to have me go. Although he tried to appear cheerful, he didnt even think to offer to drive me to the airport, which is not at all like him. Hes been hit pretty hard by it all, and it doesnt help that the consensus expressed at the trial was pretty much what he knew I had been thinking all along. Which was? Oh, that his psychoanalytic approach was defective on a number of counts, and that his clinging to it all these years despite growing opposition had been a mistake. He had put his money on the wrong horse and it was losing. He was particularly criticized for not having taken Brownes work appropriately into account. That really hit home. Yes, I read the Price articles at the Ragtag website, and I wondered how it was affecting you. As a matter of fact, Ruth, Ive been able to keep up with you all these years. I read your articles. Then you knew I was coming? I saw the notice in the Evolutionary Anthropology Bulletin. And I thought you were dead. I couldnt imagine any other reason why I had seen nothing about you. It was better that way. It let your Love Two for me die. Besides, there was another problem, one that you knew nothing about. Xavier told her all about the Valdez, the Kikkis, how he had learned about his true origins, and why he changed his name. Ruth could not help feeling that she had been betrayed. So that was why you left so suddenly. You lied. I thought it was entirely volitional. I dont know how long Love Two lasted for you, but it took me eight years to get you out of my constant thoughts. There was no point in wishing that on you. I wanted you to be free of it. Furthermore, had you known at the time, it would have put you in danger. I had to disappear quickly and totally. Even today, I feel some trepidation about the Kikkis.

The Collected Works of Dorothy Tennov

Ive learned that my father still lives, and I would like at least to get a look at him, but even with the precautions Ive taken, Manshubu Abba feels that there is still danger. I dont know whether I will ever go there, even though Ive tried to make myself appear too old to have been that child. At one time, I wanted desperately to see my father, but now I am not sure that Im up to taking the risk. The Kikkis are a very scary bunch. So it seems, Ruth said. Im so sorry. What a strange and irrational set of beliefs, that outsiders who might carry Kikki blood must all be murdered. Its carrying racism to a degree that exceeds the American South at its worst. I know. Its horrible, and its horrible to think that I am related to them. But many societies have dealt harshly with breakers of reproduction codes, including Western cultures. I know. In some Muslim societies today, and Western societies of the past, offenders are forced to endure horribly painful deaths. I recall Hawthornes recounting of the scarlet letter of 18th century New England. Which, Xavier said, lightening the tone somewhat, brings us back to the issue of Love Two. Its not sex per se, but it leads to sex, which leads to offspring By the extraordinary absence of coincidence, Ruth and Xavier had not met two years earlier in Nebraska, where both had gone to study the Browne papers, and where each had stayed for several weeks. Xavier, as Vaughn Matini, arrived on the first of June; Ruth arrived a month later, nine days after he left. It was regrettable, Xavier said, and since I was there first, you had not yet signed in, and so I knew you had not been there. I was secretly hoping to meet you in Nebraska, in fact. Ruth thought about it. Yes, I would have insisted on your coming down to meet Carol. She paused. But perhaps it was for the best that we didnt meet then. There was still the trial to get through, and I had to make some tough decisions about how I would handle it. Do you feel good about how you did handle it? he asked. I dont know. I wont know until it is really all over. It isnt yet, not until Peter works out what and who hes going to do and be for the rest of his life. He doesnt yet realize that, not only his weaknesses, but also his strength of character were exposed in the press coverage. The fallout has been severe, and, for the most part, undeserved. Hes a good man, and hes bright, but he just got himself into a fallacious situation. Hes not a scientist. Not at all, not remotely, not yet. I have some hope for him. So you stayed out of the whole thing, giving what support you could, Im sure. Except that I didnt stay out of it altogether. I took one action that may have been crucial to the outcome. They had sat beside each other, looking straight ahead as they spoke. Xavier did not speak. Ruth continued. I agreed with the prosecution and secretly went to Nancy Mackintosh, the client who had instigated the suit. I gave her additional information to ensure accuracy. Peters psychotherapy was dangerous in some ways. I knew how Peter thought. Mostly I wanted to have Nancy understand about Love Two, that Peter had never experienced it before. If he had, he never would have assumed that he understood something that he had no basis for understanding. I think Nancy Mackintosh understood. I also referred her to Brownes writings. I liked her. She was acting for a social cause, not out of personal vengeance, and not for financial gain. She didnt know at that time that health insurance companies were making sure that the proceedings were displayed so much in the media. I like to think I helped produce the ultimate result, because I felt it was a good one in the main. But it was a very uncharacteristic thing for me. Im not really very assertive, especially in such ways, and it was painful to have a secret from Peter at such a time.

A Scientist Looks at Romantic Love and Calls It Limerence:

He took her hand. Ruth, I think you could only have helped. When Nancy learned there was no hostility in you, and that you were not the jealous wife, she could only become less apprehensive and more sympathetic. But werent you a little jealous? I know its strange, but I really wasnt, Xavier, that is, Vaughn. Id better get used to it or it might slip out in front of people, but Ill always think of you as Xavier. I always think of myself as Xavier, but you are right. Here in New Guinea it could bring trouble if someone heard me called Xavier. Ill be careful, Ruth said.

n the following day, a jeep appeared outside her hut, just after dawn, as planned. It was very much like former times. Once the plans for the day had been settled, they resumed their conversation of the day before. Ruth opened: Getting back to the question of Love Two. The trouble is that many of the social customs, for example, that of the Kikkis, operate in a way that appear to be genetically unhealthy. Love Two may have come about to inhibit inbreeding, yet the Kikkis religious belief system promotes inbreeding. Look at what happened with the royalty of Europe who kept marrying cousins and were weakened by hereditary diseases. Everyone knows that the mutt is stronger than the pure bred dog. Xavier agreed. Right. The two forces social and biological act against each other. Thats what inclined me against the kin selection theories of the evolutionary psychologists. As far as some of them are concerned, all is kin selection. We are hard-wired to pass on our genes if not directly, to our own children, then through relatives with whom we share our genes. On the other hand, as products of evolution, we have to be products of what our ancestors were like. Carol and I have talked about that a lot. Changing the subject somewhat, Ruth said, Youd like Carol. Im sure I would. I liked her articles about the prairie mole research, but I was puzzled about what led her to the substance she used. Shes a biochemist, isnt she? Yes she is, and you gave her the substance. Me? Your parting gift. The vials! I thought they would amuse you, but I hadnt taken them seriously. They were meant as symbols. Well, I told Carol about them. Shes the only one I have told about you. Remember, you were kind enough to list the ingredients. I was afraid that if I didnt, you might consume some. They were pretty revolting ingredients insects, snake venom, etc. Carol found a common element in them. Thats incredible! I had collected them only as keepsakes. I assumed that if they had any effect that it was strictly placebo. I liked the symbolism of them, and wanted to give you something.

The Collected Works of Dorothy Tennov

Well, whether you knew it or not, you gave me something of real significance. Brew-2, which resembles a natural hormone, was what actually worked with Carols experimental mammals. When two animals in the same species ingested Brew-2 usually it was given to them in their food the pair remained in proximity to one another after they were placed back into the group. We could hardly believe it ourselves. Carol tried it first with prairie voles, but she got inconsistent results with ordinarily non-monogamous species guinea pigs, rats, and even cats. Oxytocin is said to have a similar effect, but the Brew-2 effect seems stronger, and works with more species. I read her published report, but it said nothing about the love potions of New Guinea tribes, Xavier said. From the beginning, Carol wanted to avoid the kind of public attention that would such an admission would excite. At the same time, I carried on Love Two interviews that dramatically confirmed Brownes results. We took the subject very seriously, but didnt want to go forward with anything until we were really certain about what we were doing. I didnt publish my work and probably wont. I wanted confirmation of Brownes thesis for myself, but its at the physiological level that progress will really be made. Ive done some follow-up work of my own, but, as a linguist, my focus was on finding evidence of Love Two in language. What did you find? Ruth wondered. Not much, Xavier replied. No language had a single word that appeared to have Love Two as its definition, but all the languages I looked at had phrases that suggested it similar to coup de foudre in French or being in love in English. I started an article on words for love in various languages, but never found a way to finish it. What would be needed is the kind of interviews that Browne did and that you are doing. Our real interest has become that of finding a love potion that would work with humans. As you surely know, several investigators have worked on substances that increase sexual desire and sexual function, but Love Two is only partially sexual. It includes the sexual, Xavier agreed, but goes beyond. Way beyond. Furthermore, sexual attraction can exist in the absence of anything remotely resembling Love Two, especially in males. Yes, Ruth agreed with a sigh, so it appears. The real question, the one that people have been looking for throughout time, is whether there could be a chemical way to induce Love Two in human beings, Xavier said. Of course, Ruth admitted. But Carol wanted to delay human tests until after she had repeated the procedures with a fresh batch of material. As a matter of fact, thats the real reason, well, one of the reasons, why I am here. I want, if possible to obtain more love potions. Carol is hoping to create a dose strong enough and safe enough to be tried on humans. Ill get more for you. This is really thrilling. I so admired her work, and I knew that the two of you were colleagues at the same University, but its a complete shock to discover that I had contributed to the effort. You, Vaughn, were a very important contributor! They compared notes on Brownes papers, especially the letters Browne had received from readers of Love Two. Ruth asked, Did you count the number of times the word exactly came up in the letters? I was so absorbed in the content, and also somewhat pressed for time, that I didnt. Well, Xavier laughed, I actually did. Out of 1,796 letters, the word exactly or a near synonym, occurred 1207 times. Thats data, Ruth said. I was amazed. The same words! And there were almost no letters from people who said they had not undergone such an experience.

A Scientist Looks at Romantic Love and Calls It Limerence:

Such people had no motivation to pick up pen and write about it, Ruth noted. In fact, people who had not undergone the experience were too confused by the book to know what to write. I doubt that many actually read it, Xavier added. Me, too. Booksellers always incorrectly put Brownes book on the self-help shelf, Ruth added. That fact, Xavier said, is also data. It reflects the difficulty that people have in understanding the subject. I try to imagine life without Love Two, Ruth said. Remember how we talked about that 23 years ago? But now that we have the AIDS epidemic, the one that started in the gay community, and that President Reagan virtually laughed at, and religious leaders considered it just-deserts for sinning. Why do you suppose it started there? Was it just accident? Do you think it is connected to Love Two in any way? Common prejudice, Xavier said, claimed, at first, that it was related to their manner of sexual activity, namely anal penetration. It was dirty, germs, you know, and therefore disease spread readily. But that theory is upset by the prevalence today among heterosexuals. Its not limited to gays or to the way they have sex. Yes, as strong as sexual urges are, and they are, I do believe that Love Two also plays a role in the spread of disease. In fact, I think it plays two roles and that they are opposed to one another. The monogamy is a protection, but the intensity of feeling weighs against using condoms. Ruth remained quiet for several moments. She was thinking about what he said. As an anthropologist, I naturally studied the various sexual taboos in different cultures, and there are a great many in almost every culture studied. The Mayans did the most grisly things to people accused of having the wrong kind of sex or with the wrong partner. So did the ancient Jews. There are more taboos concerning sex than about any other facet of human behavior. The more I consider the intensity of the restrictions, the more inclined I am toward thinking of Love Two as an adaptation. Granted, my inclination is to think in terms of biology, of hard-wired basics of human nature over which culture operates but does not completely control. And, Xavier added, one facet of human experience over which culture is particularly helpless to affect... is Love Two! Ruth broke in. Its curious, very curious. Ive often wondered about the taboos, restrictions, and other aspects of what I think of as a kind of aversion to sex. Frankly, Xavier, sorry, I mean, Vaughn, as far as explicit sex in films is concerned, I find it distasteful. People find it aversive. Either one is aroused and really into it or one is repelled. Speak for yourself, Ruth. I am, but I know I am not alone. I dont mean that I consider sex morally offensive, but I find myself turning away from such scenes in movies, in much the same was that I turn away from scenes of violence. Sometimes I flip to another channel until its over. Or I get up to refill my coffee cup. Im not philosophically prudish, at least I dont think I am, but I find both types of depictions unpleasant to watch. What must be true, is that I am different from some others, because apparently that sort of thing is what sells, but I am not different from all others. Im sure of that. Ruth, if you are prudish, its a new development, Xavier teased. Ruth blushed, remembering. Lets keep this at the level of science. Seriously, what if Love Two did not occur, what if there were only sex and Love One? How would that change things? Well, he said, two decades ago, we talked about the value of having the gates close against falling for someone else. Giving rise to monogamy, well, temporary monogamy. Ruth added. But, he said, we also know that jealousy can exist in the absence of Love Two, and many people love, or at least have sexual appetites, but do not report experiencing Love Two. However, not to change the subject, well, to change it a little, I must tell you that this conversation weve been having does indeed

The Collected Works of Dorothy Tennov

feel like a continuation of what we talked about 23 years ago. Its like it was only yesterday, like nothing has changed. Ruth turned away, stifling a smile. Its good to be with you again, Vaughn, but lets not let it be another round of Love Two. Could we help it if it did? he inquired in a tone that betrayed emotion. I refuse. I am grateful to have found you again, and it is as if no time had passed, but... Well, lets drop it, at least for now, Xavier interjected. Thanks, she said gratefully, and they returned to a discussion of how they might go about acquiring the additional love potion vials that Carol had requested. They also talked about Brownes contention that politics and the science of human nature cannot be separated. Browne had placed hard science in another category entirely; the distinction, as Xavier pointed out, lies in the ability of language to convey messages with objective clarity. Questionnaires were misleading and, in some ways, useless because, on this subject, language is crude. What a subjects feelings were could not be determined with any certainty on the basis of the words they chose. Therefore, Xavier noted, when Browne abandoned questionnaires, he did so in order to, as he put it, get beyond the words to the experience. Yes, Ruth agreed, it was detailed personal testimony that brought out the experience in its complexity and also its distinctness. And the response to Brownes book by human nature scientists had mainly been failure to carry the research further. Well, Xavier said, not in the manner that you and I felt it should be carried out, despite praise for the reality of the descriptions. I agree, Ruth added. As does Carol. Their mindset is locked in the traditions of the academy, Ruth observed. The reason why Browne never developed the Love Two Scale that people asked him for was that he was interested in finding the mechanism, and that was not something that could be discovered using purely correlational tabulations. Browne said that studying Love Two is like studying the Muller-Lyer Illusion, Xavier noted. Thats right. Carol and I have used that analogy. We all experience it the same way. There may be minute differences, maybe even significant differences, but the main thing is that everyone sees the line with the arrows spreading outward as longer. Its the same with Love Two. However the details may vary, Love Two runs true. Yes, Browne repeated that Love Two is a type of love distinguishable from others (1) by its tie to sex, (2) by its exclusive focus on a single individual, and (3) by its unique ability to disrupt conscious cognitive processes. But the term Love Two was seldom mentioned, even by researchers who cited Brownes work. As a linguist, you probably understand why, as Browne also said, some people will object to any new term, even one that identifies a newly discovered fact. As a linguist, I do know it. Its true that people become very attached to words. You have to learn a second language almost from babyhood in order to speak it without an accent. In later life, people cling to the language they learned, Xavier pointed out. Like the way my mother still insists on different from when practically everyone today says different than. Right, Xavier agreed. They also get used to pronunciations. I guarantee that if Shakespeare rose from the grave to give a lecture, we wouldnt understand a word he said. Take the pronunciation of nuclear, for example.

A Scientist Looks at Romantic Love and Calls It Limerence:

You mean people saying noo-kew-lar instead of new-klee-ar? Ruth asked. Yes. It really bothered me. I even wrote a letter to the president pointing out that he was mispronouncing! Good for you, but, you know, it was entirely useless. Oh? Didnt you notice that the mispronunciation was spreading? I sure did, Ruth said. It was horrible. I even did it myself once. And unstoppable. Thats why it was horrible, Ruth responded. The mispronunciation grated on my brain too. But, as a linguist I know that all we can do is suffer in silence and make our scientific observations. As much as people grow fond of the language they grew up with, they also cant stop language change any more than they can stop Love Two once it starts. Noo-kewlar seems to fit the mouth and mind better, and once President Bush used it, the new-klee-ar forms goose was cooked. Xavier said. Oh well, I guess youre right, Ruth conceded. The only reasonable thing to do, I suppose, is to swallow ones reactions and join the crowd. It reminds me of an incident I always found curious. When Arthur was about ten years old, I took him to a performance of Twelfth Night. Wasnt he bored? Not at all. He was entranced. My son is very inclined toward the arts. But the amazing thing was that afterward, when we discussed the play, I realized that he had understood some of language better than I did! It was as if he could relate more directly to the sounds and grasp their meaning, whereas I had to make translations into pronunciations I knew. Thats very interesting and it fits in with some of the Roman Jakobsons linguistic development theories, Xavier said. During those first days of their re-acquaintance, Ruth and Xavier enjoyed their colleagueship and the discussions they had about issues of interest to them both. They also resumed once again their daily travels and observations much as they had so many years before. Was Love Two being awakened in these two middle-aged people? It would be of scientific interest, one way or the other. Had Love Two really died completely in both of them? Could it be reawakened afterwards? They both wondered, but, by mutual unspoken agreement, they did not speak of it further. Their reawaked friendship and working relationship was twelve days old when the world was shocked by the event of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Two large passenger planes, fully loaded with fuel and people, were deliberately crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan by religious fundamentalists from the Middle East. Morning in New York was nighttime in New Guinea, but a member of the company liked to listen to his short wave radio at night, when reception was best. His excitement woke everyone in the compound. They clamored outside Xaviers hut. He had the only television set, and they wanted to see more. Sleepy-eyed and confused, Xavier roused himself and turned the set on. It was 10 AM New York time, and the first tower had just begun to implode. Ruth was among those awakened by the noise. She quickly dressed and made her way to Xaviers hut with the others. Crowded into the small space, the group watched in horror as events unfolded before their eyes. Suddenly, Ruth stood up. Ive got to call home, she said. Of course, Xavier agreed. Ill drive to the post. While he waited for her to make her call, he was able to join others in the lobby, watching TV. How are things at home? he asked when she emerged.

The Collected Works of Dorothy Tennov

Peter was stunned, of course, but he seemed strong somehow. I couldnt get through to Arthur, but Peter said that they had talked and that Arthur seemed to be doing all right. So you wont be leaving? Xavier asked with a trace of anxiety. No, she said, Ill stay. I doubt if I could get a flight even if I wanted to leave. All planes in the United States have been grounded. He held her arm where they stood, quietly, for a long moment before joining the others in front of the flickering television set. The early estimates of numbers killed instantly ran into many thousands. The crash came at the beginning of the workday, when most employees had already arrived. Later, when Xavier and Ruth retired to Ruths hut, they talked until dawn about what happened, why it had happened, and what might come next. At first, it seemed that their work, like every thing else in the world, would be disrupted, but within a few days of 9/11, life in a place far from Manhattan mostly returned to what it had been. During the remainder of the year, Xavier collected several dozen more vials of love potion, and they worked on their independent tasks. But they spent most dinners together in fruitful conversation. To their surprise, there was no return to Love Two. That part of their lives was, thankfully, in the past. Life revolved around the work, and around discussion of the changes that were occurring on the other side of the globe.

Chapter XIV Donna and Scott

He had spent many years doing mundane biochemical analysis of food additives. Then he had worked for the government on bio-warfare projects, and with anthrax research during the scare. Later he joined the massive anti-botulism effort, after having tried unsuccessfully to get into the more crowded field of small pox research. But as threat after threat consumed the public imagination, his own work, important as he knew it was, became less and less satisfying. He wanted to get closer to the real problems, and he knew that they were in the human brain, not in micro-organisms. He applied for work with Marcus Raichle, who had been relating brain imaging to emotions at the University of Washington. Many were, like Raichle, trying to relate brain substances to aggression and the impulse to violence. But at that time, they had not yet seen the need for biochemistry. Scotts application for a position with the CDC was still pending when he read a Carol Eisman article on the effects on the behavior of small rodents of a substance called Brew-2 that she had synthesized. Prairie voles were one of the few mammalian monogamous species. According to the Eisman article, juvenile voles that had not yet found a partner could be induced to mate with another mole when injected with the substance in the presence of the intended partner. Furthermore, and this is what really excited Scott, Eisman reported that Brew-2 could sometimes affect ordinarily non-monogamous rodents rats, mice, and guinea pigs, although cross-species attractions were not obtained. With the planet in a fury over

t 44, Scott Brigham was still having a hard time deciding just where to go, as far as his research was concerned. His degree was in biochemistry, but his interests, fanned by political concerns in a time of social and geopolitical upheaval, were difficult to tie down.