402 
GENERAL SUMMARY. 
Part II. 
The reader who has taken the trouble to go through 
the several chapters devoted to sexual selection, will be 
able to judge how far the conclusions at which I have ar- 
rived are supported by sufficient evidence. If he accepts 
these conclusions, he may, I think, safely extend them 
to mankind ; but it w^ould be superfluous here to repeat 
what I have so lately said on the manner in which 
sexual selection has apparently acted on both the male 
and female side, causing the two sexes of man to differ 
in body and mind, and the several races to differ from 
each other in various characters, as well as from their 
ancient and lowly-organised progenitors. 
He who admits the principle of sexual selection will 
be led to the remarkable conclusion that the cerebral 
system not only regulates most of the existing functions 
of the body, but has indirectly influenced the progressive 
development of various bodily structures and of certain 
mental qualities. Courage, pugnacity, perseverance, 
strength and size of body, weapons of all kinds, musical 
organs, both vocal and instrumental, bright colours, 
stripes and marks, and ornamental appendages, have 
all been indirectly gained by the one sex or the other, 
through the influence of love and jealousy, through the 
appreciation of the beautiful in sound, colour or form, 
and through the exertion of a choice ; and these powers 
of the mind manifestly depend on the development of 
the cerebral system. 
Man scans with scrupulous care the character and 
pedigree of his horses, cattle, and dogs before he 
matches them ; but when he comes to his own marriage 
he rarely, or never, takes any such care. He is impelled 
by nearly the same motives as are the lower animals 
when left to their own free choice, though he is in so far 
superior to them that he highly values mental charms 
