FALLING IN LOVE 8 



lieve, ig nothin;? moro than tho latest, highest, and most 

 involved exemplification, in the human race, of that almost 

 universal selective process which ^fr. Darwin has cnahled 

 us to recognise throughout tho whole long series of the 

 animal kingdom. The butterfly that circles and eddies in 

 his aerial dance around his observant mate is endeavouring 

 to charm her by the delicacy of his colouring, and to over- 

 come her coyness by the display of his skill. The peacoi'k 

 that struts about in imperial pride under the eyes of his 

 attentive hens, is really contributing to the future beauty 

 and strength of his race by collecting to himself a harem 

 through whom he hands down to posterity the valuable 

 qualities which have gained the aduiiration of liis mates 

 in his own person. Mr. Wallace has shown that to bo 

 beautiful is to be efficient ; and sexual selection is thus, as 

 it were, a mere lateral form of natural selection — a survival 

 of the fittest in the guise of mutual attractiveness and 

 mutual adaptability, producing on the average a maximum 

 of the best properties of the race in the resulting offspring. 

 I need not dwell here upon this aspect of the case, because 

 it is one with which, since the publication of the ' Descent 

 of Man,' all the world has been sufficiently familiar. 



In our own species, the selective process is marked by 

 all the features common to selection throughout the whole 

 animal kingdom ; but it is also, as might be expected, far 

 more specialised, far more individualised, far more cognisant 

 of personal traits and minor pecxiliarities. It is further- 

 more exerted to a far greater extent upon mental and moral 

 as well as physical peculiarities in the individual. 



We cannot fall in love with everybody alike. Some of 

 us faU in love with one person, some with another. This 

 instinctive and deep-seated differential feeling we may 

 regard as the outcome of complementary features, mental, 

 moral, or physical, in the two persons concerned ; and ex* 



