The Descent of Man 



females having been advanced through exercise 

 or habit just as our own taste is gradually 

 improved. In the male, through the fortunate 

 chance of a few feathers not having been modi- 

 fied, we can distinctly see how simple spots with 

 a little fulvous [tawny] shading on one side may 

 have been developed by small steps into the 

 wonderful ball-and-socket ornaments; and it is 

 probable that they were actually thus developed. 



Every one who admits the principle of evolu- 

 tion, and yet feels great difficulty in admitting 

 that female mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, 

 could have acquired the high taste implied by 

 the beauty of the males, and which generally 

 coincides with our own standard, should reflect 

 that the nerve-cells of the brain in the highest as 

 well as in the lowest members of the Vertebrate 

 series, are derived from those of the common pro- 

 genitor of the whole group. It thus becomes 

 intelligible that the brain and mental faculties 

 should be capable under similar conditions of 

 nearly the same course of development, and con- 

 sequently of performing nearly the same func- 

 tions. 



The reader who has taken the trouble to go 

 through the several chapters devoted to sexual 

 selection will be able to judge how far the con- 

 clusions at which I have arrived are supported 

 by sufficient evidence. If he accepts these con- 

 clusions he may, I think, safely extend them to 

 mankind ; but it would be superfluous here to re- 

 peat what I have so lately said on the manner in 

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