Chap. XX. MANNER OF ACTION. 371 



conscious selection would come into action through the 

 more powerful and leading savages preferring certain 

 women to others. Thus the differences between the 

 tribes, at first very slight, would gradually and inevi- 

 tably be increased to a greater and greater degree. 



With animals in a state of nature, many characters 

 proper to the males, such as size, strength, special 

 weapons, courage and pugnacity, have been acquired 

 through the law of battle. The semi-human proge- 

 nitors of man, like their allies the Quadrumana, will 

 almost certainly have been thus modified ; and, as 

 savages still fight for the possession of their women, a 

 similar process of selection has probably gone on in a 

 greater or less degree to the present day. Other cha- 

 racters proper to the males of the lower animals, such 

 as bright colours and various ornaments, have been 

 acquired by the more attractive males having been 

 preferred by the females. Tliere are, liowever, excep- 

 tional cases in which the males, instead of having been 

 the selected, have been the selectors. We recognise 

 such cases by the females having been rendered more 

 highly ornamented than the males, — their ornamental 

 characters havinor been transmitted exclusivelv or 

 chiefly to their female offspring. One such case has 

 been described in the order to wdiich man belongs, 

 namely, with the Ehesus monkey. 



Man is more powerful in body and mind than woman, 

 and in the savage state he keeps her in a far more 

 abject state of bondage than does the male of any other 

 animal; therefore it is not surprising that he should 

 have gained the power of selection. Women are every- 

 where conscious of the value of their beauty ; and when 

 they have the means, they take more delight in deco- 

 rating themselves with all sorts of ornaments than do 



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