244 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



the success of the strongest and boldest men, both in the 

 general struggle for life and in their contest for wives ; a 

 success which would have insured their leaving a more 

 numerous progeny than their less favored brethren. It is 

 not probable that the greater strength of man was primari- 

 ly acquired through the inherited effects of his having 

 worked harder than woman for his own subsistence and 

 that of his family ; for the women in all barbarous na- 

 tions are compelled to work at least as hard as the men. 

 With civilized people the arbitrament of battle for the 

 possession of the women has long ceased ; on the other 

 hand, the men, as a general rule, have to work harder 

 than the women for their joint subsistence, and thus their 

 greater strength will have been kept up. 



With respect to differences of this nature between 

 man and woman, it is probable that sexual selection has 

 played a highly important part. I am aware that some 

 writers doubt whether there is any such inherent differ- 

 ence ; but this is at least probable from the analogy of 

 the lower animals which present other secondary sexual 

 characters. No one disputes that the bull differs in dis- 

 position from the cow, the wild-boar from the sow, the 

 stallion from the mare, and, as is well known to the keep- 

 ers of menageries, the males of the larger apes from the 

 females. Woman seems to differ from man in mental dis- 

 position, chiefly in her greater tenderness and less selfish- 

 ness ; and this holds good even with savages, as shown 

 by a well-known passage in Mungo Park's " Travels," and 

 by statements made by many other travelers. Woman, 

 owing to her maternal instincts, displays these qualities 

 toward her infants in an eminent degree ; therefore it is 

 likely that she would often extend them toward her fel- 

 low-creatures. Man is the rival of other men ; he de- 



