320 SEXUAL SELECTIOX : MAN. [Paut II. 



■\virKli readily pass into devotion. It likewise stirs up in 

 us the sensation of triumph and the glorious ardor for 

 war. Those powerful and mingled feelings may well give 

 rise to the si-nse of sublimity. We can concentrate, as 

 ])r. Seeniaiin observes, greater intensity of feeling in a 

 single musical note than in pages of writing. Nearly 

 the same emotions, but much weaker and less complex, 

 are probably felt by birds when the male pours forth his 

 full volume of song, in rivalry with other males, for the 

 sake of captivating the female. Love is still the com- 

 monest theme of our own songs. As Herbert Spencer 

 remarks, music " arouses dormant sentiments of which we 

 had not conceived the possibility, and do not know the 

 meaning ; or, as Richter says, tell us of things we have 

 not seen and shall not see." " Conversely, when vivid 

 emotions are felt and expressed by the orator or even in 

 common speech, musical cadences and rhythm are instinc- 

 tively used. Monkeys also express strong feelings in dif- 

 ferent tones — anger and impatience by low — fear and 

 pain by high notes." The sensations and ideas excited in 

 us by music, or by the cadences of impassioned oratory, 



*' See the very interesting discussion on the Origin and Function of 

 Music, by Mr. Herbert Spencer, in his collected 'Essays,' 1858, p 359. 

 Mr. Spencer comes to an exactly opposite conclusion to that at which I 

 have arrived. He concludes that the cadences used in emotional speech 

 afford the foundation from which music has been developed ; while I 

 conclude that musical notes and rhythm were first acquired by the male 

 or female progenitors of mankind for the sake of charming the opposite 

 sex. Thus musical tones became firmly associated with some of the 

 strongest passions an animal is capable of feeling, and are consequently 

 used instinctively, or through association, when strong emotions are ex- 

 pressed in speech. Mr. Spencer does not offer any satisfactory explana- 

 tion, nor can I, why high or deep notes should be exi)ressivc, both with 

 man and the lower animals, of certain emotions. Mr. Spencer gives also 

 an interesting discussion on the relations between poetry, recitative, and 

 8ong. 



" Rcngger, ' Siiugethiere von Paraguay,' s. 49. 



