187B.] Considered from a Biological Point of View. 477 
We find, therefore, summing up the foregoing faCts, that 
throughout the mammalian community the males are larger 
and heavier than the females, whom they moreover espe- 
cially exceed in thoracic and cerebral development ; that 
they are consequently stronger, more intensely animated, 
and in disposition bolder and fiercer. The very same dif- 
ferences are found in average men as compared with average 
women, with the additional peculiarity that here the superior 
size of brain expresses itself in higher intellectual power. 
It would be ridiculous to suppose that all these diversities, 
structural and functional, are objectless, and do not imply a 
corresponding diversity of duties. This accordingly we find 
to be the case : — The male, at least in all species which 
form unions of any degree of permanence, — whether mono- 
gamous or polygamous, — defends and protects the female 
and her young ones. Thus if a herd of elephants is menaced 
the most powerful tuskers take their station on the side 
where danger appears, whilst the females and the young are 
placed as far as possible out of harm’s way. If bisons are 
attacked by wolves the bulls form a circle enclosing the 
cows and calves. A similar order is adopted by wild horses. 
A gorilla will encounter any danger in defence of his mate, 
and even among baboons the old males will face an ap- 
proaching enemy while the weaker members of the troop 
make good their escape. A lion has been seen in the same 
manner covering the retreat of his lioness and her cubs. 
Other examples might be given were it at all needful, but 
those already stated are surely sufficient to establish the 
principle. Among herbivorous and omnivorous species, 
where food is plentiful, there is no occasion for the male 
to take upon him the duties of provider, but among the 
Carnivora he frequently supports as well as defends his 
family. The lion is in this respeCt a well-known instance. 
We find, therefore, that throughout the class Mammalia 
the respective tasks of the two sexes are precisely such as 
we find in our own species ; the male is the defender and 
provider, wherever such defence and provision are necessary; 
the female is the nurse. The man who brings home to his 
wife his weekly earnings, his professional fees, or his share 
of the profits of a business, merely repeats on a higher scale 
the aCtion of the lion who carries a deer or an antelope to 
his den. Each sex fulfils the tasks for which it is specially 
adapted by Nature, and anything like “subjugation” is 
utterly out of the question. Were the duties of the two 
sexes confounded together, or, still more, were they inverted, 
—the female, for instance, going forth to face danger or to 
