SEXUAL SELECTION. 255 



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 them- 

 selves 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 ofEspring, 

 and thus have become more beautiful, according to gen- 

 eral opinion, than men. Women, however, certainly 

 transmit most of their characters, including some beauty, 

 to their offspring of both sexes ; so that the continued 

 preference by the men of each race for the more attractive 

 women, _ according to their standard of taste, will have 

 tended to modify in the same manner all the individuals 

 of both sexes belonging to the race. 



p ^ He who admits the principle of sexual se- 

 lection will be led to the remarkable conclusion 

 that the nervous system not only regulates most of the 

 existing functions of the body, but has indirectly influ- 

 enced the progressive development of various bodily 

 structures and of certain mental qualities. Courage, 

 pugnacity, perseverance, strength and size of body, weap- 

 ons of all kinds, musical organs, both vocal and instru- 

 mental, bright colors and ornamental appendages, have 

 all been indirectly gained by the one sex or the other, 

 through the exertion of choice, the influence of love and 

 jealousy, and the appreciation of the beautiful in sound, 

 color, or form ; and these powers of the mind manifestly 

 depend on the development of the brain. 



