SEXUAL SELECTION IN REt'aTION TO MAN 7727 



numerous progeny than their les5j favored brethren. It is 

 not probable that the greater st;?Sngth of man was primarily 

 acquired through the inherited effects of his having worked 

 harder than woman for his own sabsistence and that of his 

 family; for the women in all barbarous nations are com- 

 pelled to work at least as hard as the mea. With civilized 

 people the arbitrament of battle for the possession of the 

 women has long ceased; on the other hand, the men, as a 

 general rule, have to work harder than the women for their 

 joint subsistence, and thus their greater strength will have 

 been kept up. 



Differences in the Mental Powers of the Tiuo Sexes. — With 

 respect to differences of this nature between man and woman, 

 it is probable that sexual selection has played a highly im- 

 portant part. I am aware that some writers doubt whether 

 there is any such inherent difference; but this is at least 

 probable from the analogy of the lower animals which pre- 

 sent other secondary sexual characters. No one disputes 

 that the bull differs in disposition from the cow, the wild 

 boar from the sow, the stallion from the mare, and, as is 

 well known to the keepers of menageries, the males of the 

 larger apes from the females. Woman seems to differ from 

 man in mental disposition, chiefly in her greater tenderness 

 and less selfishness; and this holds good even with savages, 

 as shown by a well-known passage in Mungo Park's Travels, 

 and by statements made by many other travellers. Woman, 

 owing to her maternal instincts, displays these qualities to- 

 ward her infants in an eminent degree ; therefore it is likely 

 that she would often extend them toward her fellow-creat- 

 ures. Man is the rival of other men ; he delights in com- 

 petition, and this leads to ambition which passes too easily 

 into selfishness. These latter qualities seem to be his nat- 

 ural and unfortunate birthright. It is generally admitted 

 that with woman the powers of intuition, of rapid percep- 

 tion, and perhaps of imitation, are more strongly marked 

 than in man; but some, at least, of these faculties are char- 



