838 SEXUAL SELECTION : MAN. Part IL 



On the influence of heauti/ in determining the mar- 

 riages of manhind. — In civilised life man is largely, but 

 by no means exclusively, influenced in the choice of 

 his wife by external appearance ; but we are chiefly 

 concerned with primeval times, and our only means of 

 forming a judgment on this subject is to study the habits 

 of existing semi-civilised and savage nations. If it can 

 be shewn that the men of different races prefer women 

 having certain characteristics, or conversely that the 

 women prefer certain men, we have then to enquire 

 whether such choice, continued during many generations, 

 would produce any sensible effect on the race, either 

 on one sex or both sexes ; this latter circumstance 

 depending on the form of inheritance which prevails. 



It will be well first to shew in some detail that savaofes 

 pay the greatest attention to their personal appearance.^'' 

 That they have a passion for ornament is notorious; 

 and an English philosopher goes so far as to maintain 

 that clothes were first made for ornament and not for 

 w^armth. As Professor Waitz remarks, " however poor 

 " and miserable man is, he finds a pleasure in adorning 

 *' himself." The extravagance of the naked Indians of 

 South America in decorating themselves is shewn " by 

 " a man of large stature gaining with difficulty enough 

 " by the labour of a fortnight to procure in exchange 



^^ A full and excellent account of the manner in which savages in 

 all parts of the world ornament themselves is given by the Italian 

 traveller, Prof. Mantegazza, ' Eio de la Plata, Viaggi e Studi,' 1867, 

 p. 525-545 ; all the following statements, when other references are 

 not given, are taken from this work. See, also, Waitz, ' Introduct. to 

 Anthropolog.' Eng. transl. vol. i. 1803, p. 275, et passim. Lawrence 

 also gives very full details in his ' Lectures on Physiology,' 1822. 

 Since this chapter was written Sir J. Lubbock has published his 

 ' Origin of Civilisation,' 1870, in which there is an interesting chapter 

 on the present subject, and from which (p. 42, 48) I have taken some 

 facts about savages dyeing their teeth and hair, and piercing their teeth. 



