642 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



male progenitors of man must have led to a most striking 

 and favorable change in his appearance. 



There can be little doubt that the greater size and 

 strength of man, in comparison with woman, together with 

 his broader shoulders, more developed muscles, rugged out- 

 line of body, his greater courage and pugnacity are all due 

 in chief part to inheritance from his ha 1 !- human male ances~ 

 tors. These characters would, however, have been preserved 

 or even augmented during the long ages of man's savagery, 

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

 general straggle for life and in their contests for wives; a suc- 

 cess which would have insured their leaving a jnore numer- 

 ous progeny than their less favored brethren. It is not proba- 

 ble that the greater strength of man was primarily 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 nations 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. 



Difference in the Mental Powers of the Two Sexes. 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 difference ; but 

 this is at least probable from the analogy of the lower ani- 

 mals which present other secondary sexual characters. No 

 one disputes that the bull differs in disposition from the 

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

 mare, and, as is well known to the keepers of menageries, 

 the males of the larger apes from the females. Woman 

 seems to differ from man in mental disposition, chiefly in 

 her greater tenderness and less selfishness; 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 infant in an 

 eminent degree; therefore it is likely that she would often 

 extend them toward her fellow-creatures, Man is the 



