BIOLOGY AND " WOMAN'S RIGHTS:' 207 



A further distinction between the sexes, common to mankind and 

 to all the mammalian class, must be sought in the moral faculties. 

 Take what species we like we find the males bolder, more pugnacious 

 and quarrelsome, more adventurous and restless, and less tractable and 

 docile. The females, on the other hand, save in protection of their 

 young from real or supposed danger, are mild, gentle, and inoffensive. 

 Of this no more indisputable instance could be found than the case of 

 domestic cattle, the cow — with the exception of certain " strong-mind- 

 ed " individuals — being perfectly harmless, while the bull, Avhen above 

 four years old, is one of the most dangerous animals known, attacking 

 and killing human beings, not for food, like the lion or the tiger, but out 

 of pure "superfluity of naughtiness." Very similar is the distinction 

 between the charactar of the sexes among the Quadrumana. No ani- 

 mal is more wantonly and gratuitously mischievous than an adult male 

 baboon, and we are unable to find an instance of one having been 

 tamed so far that he could be allowed his liberty. The females, on the 

 other hand, are capable of domestication. Were there any necessity to 

 multiply instances a fair-sized volume might be filled with accounts of 

 the intracftability of male mammalia of different species, as contrasted 

 with the mildness and docility of their females, while in no animal is 

 the case reversed. That the sexual distinction of character in our own 

 species is precisely analogous in its nature will, we trust, be admitted 

 without argument. 



We find, therefore, summing up the foregoing facts, that through- 

 out the mammalian community the males are larger and heavier than 

 the females, whom they, moreover, especially exceed in thoracic and 

 cerebral development; that they are consequently stronger, more in- 

 tensely animated, and in disposition bolder and fiercer. The very same 

 difi'erences are found in average men as compared with average women, 

 with the additional peculiarity that here the superior size of brain ex- 

 presses itself in higher intellectual power. 



It would be ridiculous to suppose that all these diversities, struct- 

 ural and functional, are objectless, and do not imply a corresponding 

 diversity of duties. This accordinglj' we find to be the case : The 

 male, at least in all species which form unions of any degree of perma- 

 nence — whether monogamous or polygamous — defends and protects the 

 female and her young ones. Thus, if a herd of elephants is menaced, 

 the most powerful tuskers take their station on the side where danger 

 appears, while the females and the young are placed as far as possible 

 out of harm's way. If bisons are attacked by wolves, the bulls form 

 a circle inclosing the cows and calves, A similar order is adopted by 

 wild-horses. A gorilla will encounter any danger in defense of his 

 mate, and even among baboons the old males will face an approaching 

 enemy while the weaker members of the troop make good their escape. 

 A lion has been seen in the same manner covering the retreat of his 

 lioness and her cubs. 



