CHAP. X.] SEXUAL SELECTION. 327 



Also :*- 



&quot; Great lawgivers, the founders of beneficent religions, great philoso 

 phers and discoverers in science, aid the progress of mankind in a far 

 higher degree by their works than by leaving a numerous progeny.&quot; 



Finally, he adds :f 



&quot; The Western nations of Europe, who now so immeasurably surpass 

 their former savage progenitors, and stand at the summit of civilisa 

 tion, owe little or none of their superiority to direct inheritance from 

 the old Greeks ; though they owe much to the written works of this 

 wonderful people.&quot; 



As in considering &quot; Natural Selection &quot; we felt bound to 

 call attention to Mr. Darwin s dogmatic style, so Mr . Darwin s 

 calculated to overbear and unduly impress the minds style&amp;gt; 

 of those readers who from their want of special knowledge 

 ought to be most upon their guard, so here we are compelled 

 to call attention to analogous confident assertions and mis 

 leading assumptions of the very positions about which Mr. 

 Darwin is at the same time arguing. 



Thus, speaking of certain birds in which the females are 

 the more remarkable, he attributes the fact to &quot; the females 

 having become the more eager in courtship, the males 

 remaining comparatively passive, but apparently selecting, 

 as ive may infer from the results, the more attractive females. 

 Certain females have thus been rendered more highly coloured 

 or otherwise ornamented, as well as more powerful and pug 

 nacious than the males, these characters being transmitted 

 to the female offspring alone &quot; (vol. i. p. 276). 



In vol. ii. p. 15, he remarks : &quot; If we may assume that 

 female fishes have the power of exerting a choice, and of 

 selecting the more highly ornamented males, the facts 

 become intelligible through the principle of sexual selection.&quot; 

 No doubt, if we may assume a fact for which there is not a 

 tittle of evidence, but which, as we have seen, is abundantly 

 contradicted by what evidence there is, it is difficult to say 

 what might not be explained by a series of parallel assump- 



* Op. cit. p. 172. t Op. cit. p. 178. 



