Chap. XIX. Mental powers of Man and Woman. 565 



authority to be patience ; and patience, in this sense, mean3 

 unflinching, undaunted perseverance. But this view of genius 

 is perhaps deficient ; for without the higher powers of the imagi- 

 nation and reason, no eminent success can be gained in many 

 subjects. These latter faculties, as well as the former, will have 

 been developed in man, partly through sexual selection, — that 

 is, through the contest of rival males, and partly through natural 

 selection, — that is, from success in the general struggle for life ; 

 and as in both cases the struggle will have been during maturity, 

 the characters gained will have been transmitted more fully to 

 the male than to the female offspring. It accords in a striking 

 manner with this view of the modification and re-inforcement of 

 many of our mental faculties by sexual selection, that, firstly, 

 they notoriously undergo a considerable change at puberty, 25 

 and, secondly, that eunuchs remain throughout life inferior in 

 these same qualities. Thus man has ultimately become superior 

 to woman. It is, indeed, fortunate that the law of the equal 

 transmission of characters to both sexes prevails with mammals ; 

 otherwise it is probable that man would have become as superior 

 in mental endowment to woman, as the peacock is in ornamental 

 plumage to the peahen. 



It must be borne in mind that the tendency in characters 

 acquired by either sex late in life, to be transmitted to the same 

 sex at the same age, and of early acquired characters to be 

 transmitted to both sexes, are rules which, though general, do 

 not always hold. If they always held good, we might conclude 

 (but I here exceed my proper bounds) that the inherited effects 

 of the early education of boys and girls would be transmitted 

 equally to both sexes ; so that the present inequality in mental 

 power between the sexes would not be effaced by a similar course 

 of early training ; nor can it have been caused by their dissimilar 

 early training. In order that woman should reach the same 

 standard as man, she ought, when nearly adult, to be trained to 

 energy and perseverance, and to have her reason and imagination 

 exercised to the highest point ; and then she would probably 

 transmit these qualities chiefly to her adult daughters. All women, 

 however, could not be thus raised, unless during many genera- 

 tions those who excelled in the above robust virtues were 

 married, and produced offspring in larger numbers than othej 

 women. As before remarked of bodily strength, although men 

 do not now fight for their wives, and this form of selection has 

 passed away, yet during manhood, they generally undergo a 

 severe struggle in order to maintain themselves and their 

 families ; and this will tend to keep up or even increase their 



« Maudsley, 'Mind and Body,' p. 31. 



