Chap. XIX. MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND WOMAN. 327 



these faculties are characteristic of the lower races, and 

 therefore of a past and lower state of civilisation. 



The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of 

 the two sexes is shewn by man attaining to a higher 

 eminence, in whatever he takes up, than woman can 

 attain — whether requiring deep thought, reason, or 

 imagination, or merely the use of the senses and 

 hands. If two lists were made of the most eminent 

 men and women in poetry, painting, sculpture, music, 

 — comprising composition and performance, history^ 

 science, and philosophy, with half-a-dozen names under 

 each subject, the two lists would not bear comparison. 

 We may also infer, from the law of the deviation of 

 averages, so well illustrated by Mr. Galton, in his 

 work on ' Hereditary Genius,' that if men are capable 

 of decided eminence over women in many subjects, the 

 average standard of mental power in man must be 

 above that of woman. 



The half-human male progenitors of man, and men 

 in a savage state, have struggled together during many 

 generations for the possession of the females. But mere 

 bodily strength and size would do little for victory, 

 unless associated with courage, perseverance, and deter- 

 mined energy. With social animals, the young males 

 have to pass through many a contest before they win a 

 female, and the older males have to retain their females 

 by renewed battles. They have, also, in the case of 

 man, to defend their females, as well as their young, 

 from enemies of all kinds, and -to hunt for their joint 

 subsistence. But to avoid enemies, or to attack them 

 with success, to capture wild animals, and to invent 

 and fashion weapons, requires the aid of the higher 

 mental faculties, namely, observation, reason, inven- 

 tion, or imagination. These various faculties will thus 

 have been continually put to the test, and selected 



