12 TABOO AND GENETICS 



to be found there. Human projects are the 

 primary material of social science. It is in- 

 dispensable to check these against biological 

 fact, in order to ascertain which are feasible 

 and which are not. The biological basis may 

 help in explaining old social structures or in 

 planning new ones ; but much wild social theory 

 has been born of a failure to appreciate the 

 limitations of such material. 



All the so-called higher animals, mammals 

 and others, are divided into two sexes, male and 

 female. Besides the differentiation of germ-cells 

 there are rather obvious differences in the bodies 

 of the two sexes. In common with many other 

 mammals, the human male has a larger and 

 stronger body, on an average, than has the 

 human female. This is true also of the anthro- 

 poid apes, the species which most resemble man 

 physically and are commonly supposed to be 

 his nearest blood relatives in the animal kingdom. 

 It has been true of man himself as far back as 

 we have any records. 



Such differences are only superficial — the real 

 ones go deeper. We are not so much interested 

 in how they originated in the world as in how 

 they do come about in the individual. At least, 

 we can come a good deal nearer ascertaining 

 the latter than the former. In either case, 

 our real purpose is to determine as nearly as 

 possible what the unlikeness really consists 



I 



