HUMAN AND OTHER SOCIETIES 129 



for the same purpose, namely, in order that 

 valuable food material may not be wasted 

 on comparatively invaluable males. It seems 

 that it is only owing to the necessity of 

 occasional cross-fertilisation, that males are 

 born at all. 



Finally, Human Society may be briefly 

 examined in the light of the new Theory. 

 The fighting instincts of the male are perhaps 

 better developed in man than in any lower 

 animal. Primitive races were perpetually at 

 war and valuable females were the prizes of 

 war. Races were prosperous or otherwise, 

 according as they were good fighters or not ; 

 this resulted in polygamy and great power of 

 reproduction. To-day, the more civilised 

 races do not fight and are therefore not 

 polygamous. The reproductive power of the 

 races of to-day is therefore much curtailed 

 and the relative value of the female very 

 much increased. 



Besides the fighting instinct, the male has 

 a strong instinct to protect females even at 

 the expense of his life, and both males and 

 females have a similar instinct with regard to 

 their children. The habit which the males of 

 savage races have of rendering themselves 

 conspicuous by paint and feathers, may be in 



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