104 THE DESCENT OF MAN, 



to a special act of creation.* Nor, as we have seen, does 

 the faculty of articulate speech in itself offer any insuper- 

 able objection to the belief that man has been developed 

 from some lower form. 



Sense of Beauty. This sense has been declared to be 

 peculiar to man. I refer here only to the pleasure given by 

 certain colors, forms and sounds, and which may fairly be 

 called a sense of the beautiful; with cultivated men such 

 sensations are, however, intimately associated with complex 

 ideas and trains of thought. When we behold a male bird 

 elaborately displaying his graceful plumes or splendid colors 

 before the female, while other birds, not thus decorated, 

 make no such display, it is impossible to doubt that she 

 admires the beauty of her male partner. As women every- 

 where deck themselves with these plumes, the beauty of 

 such ornaments cannot be disputed. As we shall see later, 

 the nests of humming-birds, and the playing passages of 

 bower-birds are tastefully ornamented with gayly-colored ob- 

 jects ; and this shows that they must receive some kind of pleas- 

 ure from the sight of such things. With the great majority 

 of animals, however, the taste for the beautiful is confined, 

 as far as we can judge, to the attractions of the opposite 

 sex. The sweet strains poured forth by many male birds 

 during the season of love are certainly admired by the 

 females, of which fact evidence will hereafter be given. If 

 female birds had been incapable of appreciating the beauti- 

 ful colors, the ornaments and voices of their male partners, 

 all the labor and anxiety exhibited by the latter in display- 

 ing their. charms before the females would have been thrown 

 away; and this it is impossible to admit. Why certain 

 bright colors should excite pleasure cannot, I presume, be 

 explained any more than why certain flavors and scents are 

 agreeable; but habit has something to do with the result, 

 for that which is at first unpleasant to our senses ultimately 

 becomes pleasant, and habits are inherited. With respect 

 to sounds, Helmholtz has explained to a certain extent on 

 physiological principles why harmonies and certain cadences 

 are agreeable. But besides this, sounds frequently recur- 

 ring at irregular intervals are highly disagreeable, as every 



See some good remarks on tlie simplification of languages, by 

 Sir J. Lubbock, " Origin of Civilization," 1870, p. 278. 



