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 
I 
