222 PROBLEMS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION 



on the offspring of the latter. Where the arbitrament is by 

 battle among the males, the working of sexual selection needs 

 no explaining. Generally it may be said to take the place of the 

 scientific breeder of domestic animals, who not only eliminates 

 the worst but selects the best. 



Does sexual selection play the same part in the human race ? 

 The most people would say " not," and most decidedly. 

 Questions of money interfere, no doubt. But the fame of 

 heiresses is so great that their number and importance is much 

 exaggerated. Moreover, there is occasionally (very rarely, it 

 must be owned, but such cases do occur) an heiress who, in 

 spite of her large fortune, is left without suitors. And, after 

 all, we are concerned, not with the wealthy classes, but with the 

 great mass who are called the workers. Among them there are 

 no great accumulations of capital, and a capable workman has no 

 need to marry money if he wishes to get on in life. A young 

 workman wishes someone to keep house for him, and he will 

 shrink from marrying a girl who is likely to be too sickly to 

 make his home comfortable. It is clear from the nature of the 

 case that he can never be indifferent to such a question as 

 physical vigour. And there is no need to lay stress upon the 

 abhorrence that is felt for any serious deformity. 



The case, no doubt, is far from simple. Certain accomplish- 

 ments beyond mere health and strength are wanted such 

 things as sewing, washing, cooking. But the acquirement of 

 such accomplishments requires energy, and energy is largely 

 dependent on health. 



It must be owned that it is impossible to produce any statistics 

 bearing on such a question as this, and it is becoming the fashion 

 to accept no proposition that does not admit of statistical proof. 

 For all this there is reason to believe that sexual selection among 

 the poorer classes, and to a less degree among the rich, operates 

 to a considerable extent in the same way as among wild species. 

 It gives emphasis to Natural Selection and makes it more drastic. 

 It tends towards the pairing of the more vigorous with the more 

 vigorous and the inferior with the inferior, thus preparing the 

 ground for the working of Natural Selection. 



