566 The Descent of Man. Paet III. 



mental powers, and, as a consequence, the present inequality 

 botween the sexes. 26 



Voice and Musical Powers. — In some species of Quadrumana 

 there is a great difference between the adult sexes, in the power 

 of their voices and in the development of the vocal organs ; and 

 man appears to have inherited this difference from his early 

 progenitors. His vocal cords are about one-third longer than in 

 woman, or than in boys ; and emasculation produces the same 

 effect on him as on the lower animals, for it " arrests that pro- 

 " minent growth of the thyroid, &c, which accompanies the 

 " elongation of the cords." 27 With respect to the cause of this 

 difference between the sexes, I have nothing to add to the 

 remarks in the last chapter on the probable effects of the long- 

 continued use of the vocal organs by the male under the ex- 

 citement of love, rage and jealousy. According to Sir Duncan 

 Gibb, 2s the voice and the form of the larynx differ in the different 

 races of mankind ; but with the Tartars, Chinese, &c, the voice 

 of the male is said not to differ so much from that of the female, 

 as in most other races. 



The capacity and love for singing or music, though not a 

 sexual character in man, must not here be passed over. Although 

 the sounds emitted by animals of all kinds serve many purposes, 

 a strong case can be made out, that the vocal organs were 

 primarily used and perfected in relation to the propagation of the 

 species. Insects and some few spiders are the lowest animals 

 which voluntarily produce any sound; and this is generally 

 effected by the aid of beautifully constructed stridulating organs, 

 which are often confined to the males. The sounds thus pro- 

 duced consist, I believe in all cases, of the same note, repeated 

 rhythmically ; 29 and this is sometimes pleasing even to the 

 ears of man. The chief and, in some cases, exclusive purpose 

 appears to be either to call or charm the opposite sex. 



The sounds produced by fishes are said in some cases to be 

 made only by the males during the breeding-season. All tLe 



28 An observation by Vogt bears " skulls." But Vogt admits (' Lec- 



on this subject: be says, "It is a tures on Man,' Eng. translat. 18(34, 



* remarkable circumstance, that the p. 81) that more observations are 

 u difference between the sexes, as requisite on this point, 

 "regards the cranial cavity, in- 27 Owen, 'Anatomy of Verte- 

 '' creases with the development of brates,' vol. iii. p. 603. 



'' the race, so that the male Euro- 28 ' Journal of the Anthropolog. 



' pean excels much more the female, Soc' April, 1869, p. Ivii. and lxvi. 

 'than the negro the negress. 29 Dr. Scudder, 'Notes on Stri- 



* Welcker confirms this statement du hit ion,' in ' Proc. Boston Soc. of 



* of Huschke from his measure- Nat. Hist.' vol. xi. April, 186S. 

 ' ments of ^egro and German 



