224 THE TREND OF THE RACE 
dislike, either before or after marriage. Preference on the part of 
the women, steadily acting in any one direction, would ultimately 
affect the character of the tribe; for the women would generally 
choose not merely the handsomest men, but those who were at 
the same time best able to defend and support them. Such well- 
endowed pairs would commonly rear a larger number of offspring 
than the less favored. The same result would obviously follow in 
a still more marked manner if there was selection on both sides, 
that is, if the more attractive and powerful men were to prefer 
and were preferred by the more attractive women. And this 
double form of selection seems actually to have occurred, es- 
pecially during the earlier periods of our long history.” 
Further evidence in the same direction is adduced by Wester- 
marck who cites many illustrations that support his contention. 
“Tt would be a mistake,”’ this author observes, ‘‘to suppose that, 
among the lower races, women are, as a rule, married without 
having any voice of their own in the matter. Their liberty of 
selection, on the contrary, is very considerable, and, however 
down-trodden, they well know how to make their influence felt”’ 
(History of Human Marriage, p. 212). Howard (History of Matri- 
monial Institutions, I, 216) states that ‘‘The facts appear to 
demonstrate that woman’s original liberty of selection has never 
been entirely lost. It is evident that wife-purchase, though 
sometimes the means of degradation, even of marital bondage, is 
compatible with a high degree of matrimonial choice.” 
The evidence adduced by Darwin and Westermarck has been 
criticised by Finck who attempts to show that female choice has 
been so restricted by most uncivilized peoples that its influence 
is practically a negligible factor. It is true that with child be- 
trothals, marriage by purchase, or capture, the force of parental 
authority, and the influence of custom, taboos, etc., woman is 
commonly disposed of with as little regard to her inclinations 
as if she were a cow or asheep. Several recent studies of primitive 
peoples, however, have yielded considerable evidence that sup- 
ports the conclusions of Darwin and Westermarck. If there has 
been a rather extensive period of our history in which female 
