28 THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS 



as a solution of some of our own social problems, were 

 it not almost certain that the remedy would prove as 

 bad as the disease. 



The subject of " Courtship " in so far as it applies to 

 the human race is one concerning which little can be said. 

 Westermark, Letourneau, Sutherland, and last but by 

 no means least, Darwin, have brought together a mass of 

 facts bearing on the status of women among communities, 

 savage and civilized, ancient and modern, and from 

 these much may be inferred. To this harvest, however, 

 Darwin himself still remains the most important contri- 

 butor on all that directly concerns the " Sexual Selection " 

 theory. Other writers seem to have paid more attention 

 to the laws governing the possession of women than to the 

 discussion of the motives which may have controlled the 

 choice of mates. Instances of amatory dalliance, such 

 as are met with among the inferior apes, and the 

 birds, seem to be wanting. This negative evidence 

 seems to show that, even among the most ancient, 

 the most Ape-like, half-human races of man such 

 dalliance was unknown. And this because primitive 

 man, in his love-making as in everything else, was ac- 

 customed to take what he wanted, or die in the at- 

 tempt. It is to this forcefulness of character that the 

 human race owes its progress throughout the ages. 

 But did he, when desire possessed him, exercise any 

 sort of choice, when this was possible ? What were 

 his standards ? These are unanswerable questions ; at 

 most we can but infer what his behaviour may have been 

 from observations on existing races of mankind. These 

 seem to demonstrate that while some races profess admira- 

 tion for certain of their physical peculiarities, these 

 cannot be attributed to the action of sexual selection. 



