204 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



Even in the service of the highest causes it is the 

 short-range emotion of the fight which most power- 

 fully drives men. I was once present at a private 

 meeting at a crisis in British politics when leaders 

 were being chosen. The name of one leader, 

 now a prominent statesman, was put forward with 

 strong and impressive recommendations by a 

 member present. The most urgent qualification 

 of leadership mentioned 'was that he was a man 

 capable of reaching any goal in action if only he 

 were excited by the spirit of combativeness, which it 

 was pointed out was powerfully present in the case 

 in question. In pursuit of principles, and in the 

 quests of the intellect in scientific research, it may 

 also be observed continually that it is the emotions 

 inherited from the environment of the hunt, the 

 chase, and the fight which most powerfully operate 

 in the male mind, and this even in the highest 

 regions of abstract knowledge. 



As compared with this psychology of the male 

 so strongly developed in all the fighting races of 

 the world, the psychology of woman is absolutely 

 distinct. It is separated from that of man by 

 meanings which are poles apart from those just 

 described. The mind of woman, as we shall see 

 more clearly in the next chapter, has in reality 

 outstripped that of man by an entire epoch of 



