310 SEXUAL SELECTION : MAN. [Part II. 



Orang stands in close relation with the development of 

 the immense canine teeth in the males, we may infer that 

 the reduction of the jaws and teeth in the early male pro- 

 genitors of man led to a most striking and favorable 

 change in his appearance. 



There can be little doubt that the greater size and 

 strength of man, in comparison with woman, together 

 with his broader shoulders, more developed muscles, rug- 

 ged outline of body, his greater courage and pugnacity, 

 are all due in chief part to inheritance from some early 

 male progenitor, who, like the existing anthropoid apes, 

 was thus characterized. These characters will, however 

 have been preserved or even augmented during the long 

 ages while man was still in a barbarous condition, by the 

 strongest and boldest men having succeeded best in the 

 general struggle for life, as well as in securing wives, and 

 thus having left a large number of offspring. It is not 

 probable that the greater strength of man was primarily 

 acquired through the inherited effects of his having worked 

 harder than woman for his own subsistence and that of 

 his family ; for the women in all barbarous nations are 

 compelled to work at least as hard as the men. With 

 civilized people the arbitrament of battle for the posses- 

 sion of the women has long ceased ; on the other hand, 

 the men, as a general rule, have to work harder than the 

 women for their mutual subsistence ; and thus their greater 

 strength will have been kept un. 



Difference in the Mental Powers of the two Sexes. — 

 With respect to differences of this nature between man 

 and woman, it is probable that sexual selection has played 

 a very important part. I am aware that some writers 

 doubt whether there is any inherent difference ; but this 

 is at least probable from the analogy of the lower animals 

 which present other secondary sexual characters. No one 



