402 GENERAL SUMMARY. Part II. 



The reader who has taken the trouble to go through 

 the several chapters devoted to sexual selection, will be 

 able to judge how far the conclusions at which I have ar- 

 rived are supported by sufficient evidence. If he accepts 

 these conclusions,' he may, I think, safely extend them 

 to mankind ; but it would be superfluous here to repeat 

 what I have so lately said on the manner in which 

 sexual selection has apparently acted on both the male 

 and female side, causing the two sexes of man to differ 

 in body and mind, and the several races to differ from 

 each other in various characters, as well as from their 

 ancient and lowly-organised progenitors. 



He who admits the principle of sexual selection will 

 be led to the remarkable conclusion that the cerebral 

 system not only regulates most of the existing functions 

 of the body, but has indirectly influenced the progressive 

 development of various bodily structures and of certain 

 mental qualities. Courage, pugnacity, perseverance, 

 strength and size of body, weapons of all kinds, musical 

 organs, both vocal and instrumental, bright colours, 

 stripes and marks, and ornamental appendages, have 

 all been indirectly gained by the one sex or the other, 

 through the influence of love and jealousy, through the 

 appreciation of the beautiful in sound, colour or form, 

 and through the exertion of a choice ; and these powers 

 of the mind manifestly depend on the development of 

 the cerebral system. 



Man scans with scrupulous care the character and 

 pedigree of his horses, cattle, and dogs before he 

 matches them ; but when he comes to his own marriage 

 he rarely, or never, takes any such care. He is impelled 

 by nearly the same motives as are the lower animals 

 when left to their own free choice, though he is in so far 

 superior to them that he highly values mental charms 



