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■ ; 766 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



^. \ With animals in a state of nature, many characters proper 

 tV-' the males, such as size, strength, special weapons, courage, 

 and pugnacity, have been acquired through the law of bat- 

 tle. The semi-human progenitors of man, like their allies, 

 the Quadrumana, will almost certainly have been thus modi- 

 fied; and, as savages still fight for the possession of their 

 women, a similar process of selection has probably gone on 

 in a greater or less degree to the present day. Other char- 

 acters proper to the males of the lower animals, such as 

 bright colors and various ornaments, have been acquired 

 by the more attractive males having been preferred by the 

 females. There are, however, exceptional cases in which 

 the males are the selecters, instead of having been the se- 

 lected. We recognize such cases by the females being more 

 highly ornamented than the males — their ornamental charac- 

 ters having been transmitted exclusively or chiefly to their 

 female offspring. One such case has been described in the 

 order to which man belongs, that of the Ehesus monkey. 

 Man is more powerful in body and mind than woman, 

 and in the savage state he keeps her in a far more abject 

 state of bondage than does the male of any other animal; 

 therefore it is not surprising that he should have gained 

 the power of selection. Women are everywhere conscious 

 of the value of their own beauty; and when they have the 

 means, they take more delight in decorating themselves 

 with all sorts of ornaments than do men. They borrow 

 the plumes of male birds, with which nature has decked 

 this sex in order to charm the females. As women have 

 long been selected for beauty, it is not surprising that some 

 of their successive variations should have been transmitted 

 exclusively to the same sex ; consequently that they should 

 have transmitted beauty in a somewhat higher degree to 

 their female than to their male offspring, and thus have be- 

 come more beautiful, according to general opinion, than men. 

 Women, however, certainly transmit most of their charac- 

 ters, including some beauty, to their offspring of both sexes; 

 so that the continued preference by the men of each race for 



