No. 4.] NICHOLSON — SEXUAL SELECTION IN MAN. 449 



SEXUAL SELECTION IN MAN. 



By H. Alleyne Nicholson, M.D., D.Sc, F.R.S.E., Professor of 

 Natural History and Botany in University College, Toronto. 



" Sexual selection " is the term employed by Darwin to denote 

 a twofold winnowing, to which he believes that the individuals of 

 many species of animals are subjected. On the one hand, certain 

 males being stronger and more powerful than the others, succeed 

 in leaving descendants behind them, whilst other weaker males 

 do not get the opportunity of perpetuating their peculiarities, the 

 female in this case remaining passive. On the other hand, it is 

 believed that in some cases the females have the power of choos- 

 ing their mates, and that they select such males as please them 

 best, whether this be in consequence of some peculiarity of form, 

 colour, or voice, or as a result of some undefinable attraction. In 

 this process the selection lies with the female, and the male re. 

 mains passive, in any other sense than that he does what he can 

 to secure that the choice of the female shall fall upon him in- 

 stead of upon any other of his rivals. In either case I\Ir. Darwin 

 believes that great modifications have been produced in this way, 

 and that many animals owe to this cause some of their most 

 striking peculiarities. Mr. Darwin, in fact, has so far abandoned 

 his former belief in the efiicacy of '' natural selection " as an 

 agent in producing the diflferences which separate different species 

 of animals, as to admit that some supplementary cause must, in 

 some cases at any rate, be looked for ; and this he thinks is to 

 be found in the action, through long periods, of " sexual selec- 

 tion." 



Without entering into the question of the extent to which Mr. 

 Darwin's views may be depended on as regards animals, we purpose 

 here very briefly to survey his application of the theory of sexual 

 selection to the case of man. In so doing we shall glance at the 

 leading propositions laid down in Chapters XIX and XX of the 

 "Descent of Man,"' examining in greater detail those which ap- 

 pear to be of the highest importance. It may as well be pre- 

 mised, however, that there are two distinct aspects to the question 

 of sexual selection, in the case of all animals alike, but especially 

 in the case of man. It is one thing to admit the existence of 



Vol. VI. V No. 4. 



