have been struggles between the males during many generations for the
possession of the females. But mere bodily strength and size would do
little for victory, unless associated with courage, perseverance, and
determined energy. With social animals, the young males have to pass
through many a contest before they win a female, and the older males
have to retain their females by renewed battles. They have, also, in
the case of mankind, to defend their females, as well as their young,
from enemies of all kinds, and to hunt for their joint subsistence.
But to avoid enemies or to attack them with success, to capture wild
animals, or to fashion weapons, requires the aid of the higher mental
faculties, namely, observation, reason, invention, or imagination.
These various faculties will thus have been continually put to the
test and selected during manhood; they will, moreover, have been
strengthened by use during this same period of life. Consequently,
in accordance with the principle often alluded to, we might expect
that they would at least tend to be transmitted chiefly to the male
offspring at the corresponding period of manhood.
HOW WOMAN COULD BE MADE TO REACH THE STANDARD OF MAN.
[Page 565.]
It must be borne in mind that the tendency in characters acquired by
either sex late in life, to be transmitted to the same sex at the same
age, and of early acquired characters to be transmitted to both sexes,
are rules which, though general, do not always hold. If they always
held good, we might conclude (but I here exceed my proper bounds) that
the inherited effects of the early education of boys and girls would be
transmitted equally to both sexes; so that the present inequality in
mental power between the sexes would not be effaced by a similar course
of early training; nor can it have been caused by their dissimilar
early training. In order that woman should reach the same standard
as man, she ought, when nearly adult, to be trained to energy and
perseverance, and to have her reason and imagination exercised to the
highest point; and then she would probably transmit these qualities
chiefly to her adult daughters. All women, however, could not be thus
raised, unless during many generations those who excelled in the above
robust virtues were married, and produced offspring in larger numbers
than other women. As before remarked of bodily strength, although men
do not now fight for their wives, and this form of selection has passed
away, yet during manhood they generally undergo a severe struggle in
order to maintain themselves and their families; and this will tend to
keep up or even increase their mental powers, and, as a consequence,
the present inequality between the sexes.
“CHARACTERISTIC SELFISHNESS OF MAN.”
[Page 577.]
In most, but not all parts of the world, the men are more ornamented
than the women, and often in a different manner; sometimes, though
rarely, the women are hardly at all ornamented. As the women are made
by savages to perform the greatest share of the work, and as they are
not allowed to eat the best kinds of food, so it accords with the
characteristic selfishness of man that they should not be allowed to
obtain or use the finest ornaments. Lastly, it is a remarkable fact, as
proved by the foregoing quotations, that the same fashions in modifying
the shape of the head, in ornamenting the hair, in painting, tattooing,
in perforating the nose, lips, or ears, in removing or filing the
teeth, etc., now prevail, and have long prevailed, in the most distant
quarters of the world. It is extremely improbable that these practices,
followed by so many distinct nations, should be due to tradition from
any common source. They indicate the close similarity of the mind of
man, to whatever race he may belong, just as do the almost universal
habits of dancing, masquerading, and making rude pictures.
NO UNIVERSAL STANDARD OF BEAUTY AMONG MANKIND.
[Page 584.]
The senses of man and of the lower animals seem to be so constituted
that brilliant colors and certain forms, as well as harmonious and
rhythmical sounds, give pleasure and are called beautiful; but why
this should be so we know not. It is certainly not true that there
is in the mind of man any universal standard of beauty with respect
to the human body. It is, however, possible that certain tastes may
in the course of time become inherited, though there is no evidence
in favor of this belief; and if so each race would possess its own
innate ideal standard of beauty. It has been argued that ugliness
consists in an approach to the structure of the lower animals, and no
doubt this is partly true with the more civilized nations, in which
intellect is highly appreciated; but this explanation will hardly apply
to all forms of ugliness. The men of each race prefer what they are
accustomed to; they can not endure any great change; but they like
variety, and admire each characteristic carried to a moderate extreme.
Men accustomed to a nearly oval face, to straight and regular features,
and to bright colors, admire, as we Europeans know, these points when
strongly developed. On the other hand, men accustomed to a broad face,
with high cheekbones, a depressed nose, and a black skin, admire these
peculiarities when strongly marked. No doubt characters of all kinds
may be too much developed for beauty. Hence a perfect beauty, which
implies many characters modified in a particular manner, will be in
every race a prodigy. As the great anatomist Bichat long ago said, if
every one were cast in the same mold, there would be no such thing as
beauty. If all our women were to become as beautiful as the Venus de’
Medici, we should for a time be charmed; but we should soon wish for
variety; and, as soon as we had obtained variety, we should wish to see
certain characters a little exaggerated beyond the then existing common
standard.
* * * * *
[Page 578.]
It is well known that with many Hottentot women the posterior part of
the body projects in a wonderful manner; they are steatopygous; and Sir
Andrew Smith is certain that this peculiarity is greatly admired by the
men. He once saw a woman who was considered a beauty, and she was so
immensely developed behind, that when seated on level ground she could
not rise, and had to push herself along until she came to a slope. Some
of the women in the various negro tribes have the same peculiarity;
and, according to Burton, the Somal men “are said to choose their wives
by ranging them in a line, and by picking her out who projects farthest
_a tergo_. Nothing can be more hateful to a negro than the opposite
form.”
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BEARD.
[Page 602.]
With respect to the beard in man, if we turn to our best guide, the
Quadrumana, we find beards equally developed in both sexes of many
species, but in some, either confined to the males, or more developed
in them than in the females. From this fact and from the curious
arrangement, as well as the bright colors of the hair about the head
of many monkeys, it is highly probable, as before explained, that
the males first acquired their beards through sexual selection as an
ornament, transmitting them in most cases, equally or nearly so, to
their offspring of both sexes. We know from Eschricht that, with
mankind, the female as well as the male fœtus is furnished with much
hair on the face, especially round the mouth; and this indicates that
we are descended from progenitors of whom both sexes are bearded. It
appears therefore at first sight probable that man has retained his
beard from a very early period, while woman lost her beard at the same
time that her body became almost completely divested of hair. Even
the color of our beards seems to have been inherited from an ape-like
progenitor; for, when there is any difference in tint between the
hair of the head and the beard, the latter is lighter colored in all
monkeys and in man. In those Quadrumana in which the male has a larger
beard than that of the female, it is fully developed only at maturity,
just as with mankind; and it is possible that only the later stages of
development have been retained by man. In opposition to this view of
the retention of the beard from an early period, is the fact of its
great variability in different races, and even within the same race;
for this indicates reversion--long-lost characters being very apt to
vary on reappearance.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARRIAGE-TIE.
[Descent of
Man, page 590.]
Although the manner of the development of the marriage-tie is an
obscure subject, as we may infer from the divergent opinions on
several points between the three authors who have studied it most
closely, namely, Mr. Morgan, Mr. McLennan, and Sir J. Lubbock, yet,
from the foregoing and several other lines of evidence, it seems
probable that the habit of marriage, in any strict sense of the word,
has been gradually developed; and that almost promiscuous, or very
loose, intercourse was once extremely common throughout the world.
Nevertheless, from the strength of the feeling of jealousy all through
the animal kingdom, as well as from the analogy of the lower animals,
more particularly of those which come nearest to man, I can not believe
that absolutely promiscuous intercourse prevailed in times past,
shortly before man attained to his present rank in the zoological
scale. Man, as I have attempted to show, is certainly descended from
some ape-like creature. With the existing Quadrumana, as far as their
habits are known, the males of some species are monogamous, but live
during only a part of the year with the females; of this the orang
seems to afford an instance. Several kinds, for example, some of the
Indian and American monkeys, are strictly monogamous, and associate all
the year round with their wives. Others are polygamous, for example,
the gorilla and several American species, and each family lives
separate.
* * * * *
[Page 591.]
Therefore, looking far enough back in the stream of time, and judging
from the social habits of man as he now exists, the most probable view
is that he aboriginally lived in small communities, each with a single
wife, or, if powerful, with several, whom he jealously guarded against
all other men. Or he may not have been a social animal, and yet have
lived with several wives, like the gorilla; for all the natives “agree
that but one adult male is seen in a band; when the young male grows
up, a contest takes place for mastery, and the strongest, by killing
and driving out the others, establishes himself as the head of the
community.” The younger males, being thus expelled and wandering about,
would, when at last successful in finding a partner, prevent too close
interbreeding within the limits of the same family.
Although savages are now extremely licentious, and although communal
marriages may formerly have largely prevailed, yet many tribes practice
some form of marriage, but of a far more lax nature than that of
civilized nations. Polygamy, as just stated, is almost universally
followed by the leading men in every tribe. Nevertheless, there
are tribes, standing almost at the bottom of the scale, which are
strictly monogamous. This is the case with the Veddahs of Ceylon; they
have a saying, according to Sir J. Lubbock, that “death alone can
separate husband and wife.” An intelligent Kandyan chief, of course a
polygamist, “was perfectly scandalized at the utter barbarism of living
with only one wife, and never parting until separated by death.” It
was, he said, “just like the Wanderoo monkeys.” Whether savages who now
enter into some form of marriage, either polygamous or monogamous, have
retained this habit from primeval times, or whether they have returned
to some form of marriage, after passing through a stage of promiscuous
intercourse, I will not pretend to conjecture.
UNNATURAL SELECTION IN MARRIAGE.
[Descent of
Man, page 617.]
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 the lower animals, when they
are left to their own free choice, though he is in so far superior to
them that he highly values mental charms and virtues. On the other
hand, he is strongly attracted by mere wealth or rank. Yet he might by
selection do something not only for the bodily constitution and frame
of his offspring, but for their intellectual and moral qualities. Both
sexes ought to refrain from marriage, if they are in any marked degree
inferior in body or mind; but such hopes are Utopian, and will never be
even partially realized until the laws of inheritance are thoroughly
known. Every one does good service who aids toward this end. When the
principles of breeding and inheritance are better understood, we shall
not hear ignorant members of our Legislature rejecting with scorn a
plan for ascertaining whether or not consanguineous marriages are
injurious to man.
The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most intricate problem:
all ought to refrain from marriage who can not avoid abject poverty
for their children; for poverty is not only a great evil, but tends
to its own increase by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the
other hand, as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent avoid marriage,
while the reckless marry, the inferior members tend to supplant the
better members of society. Man, like every other animal, has no doubt
advanced to his present high condition through a struggle for existence
consequent on his rapid multiplication; and, if he is to advance still
higher, it is to be feared that he must remain subject to a severe
struggle. Otherwise he would sink into indolence, and the more gifted
men would not be more successful in the battle of life than the less
gifted. Hence our natural rate of increase, though leading to many
and obvious evils, must not be greatly diminished by any means. There
should be open competition for all men; and the most able should not
be prevented by laws or customs from succeeding best, and rearing the
largest number of offspring. Important as the struggle for existence
has been, and even still is, yet, as far as the highest part of man’s
nature is concerned, there are other agencies more important. For
the moral qualities are advanced, either directly or indirectly, much
more through the effects of habit, the reasoning powers, instruction,
religion, etc., than through natural selection; though to this latter
agency may be safely attributed the social instincts which afforded the
basis for the development of the moral sense.
MODIFYING INFLUENCES IN BOTH SEXES.
[Page 596.]
With animals in a state of nature, many characters proper to the males,
such as size, strength, special weapons, courage, and pugnacity, have
been acquired through the law of battle. The semi-human progenitors of
man, like their allies the Quadrumana, will almost certainly have been
thus modified; 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 characters 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 selectors, instead of having been the selected. We recognize such
cases by the females being more highly ornamented than the males--their
ornamental characters 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 Rhesus 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 become more beautiful, according to general 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.
* * * * *
[Page 617.]
He who admits the principle of sexual selection 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 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 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.
“GROUNDS THAT WILL NEVER BE SHAKEN.”
[Descent of
Man, page 606.]
Many of the views which have been advanced are highly speculative, and
some no doubt will prove erroneous; but I have in every case given the
reasons which have led me to one view rather than to another. It seemed
worth while to try how far the principle of evolution would throw light
on some of the more complex problems in the natural history of man.
False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they
often endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do
little harm, for every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their
falseness; and, when this is done, one path toward error is closed and
the road to truth is often at the same time opened.
The main conclusion here arrived at, and now held by many naturalists
who are well competent to form a sound judgment, is that man is
descended from some less highly organized form. The grounds upon which
this conclusion rests will never be shaken, for the close similarity
between man and the lower animals in embryonic development, as well
as in innumerable points of structure and constitution, both of high
and of the most trifling importance--the rudiments which he retains,
and the abnormal reversions to which he is occasionally liable--are
facts which can not be disputed. They have long been known, but until
recently they told us nothing with respect to the origin of man.
Now, when viewed by the light of our knowledge of the whole organic
world, their meaning is unmistakable. The great principle of evolution
stands up clear and firm, when these groups of facts are considered in
connection with others, such as the mutual affinities of the members of
the same group, their geographical distribution in past and present
times, and their geological succession. It is incredible that all these
facts should speak falsely. He who is not content to look, like a
savage, at the phenomena of nature as disconnected, can not any longer
believe that man is the work of a separate act of creation. He will
be forced to admit that the close resemblance of the embryo of man to
that, for instance, of a dog--the construction of his skull, limbs, and
whole frame on the same plan with that of other mammals, independently
of the uses to which the parts may be put--the occasional reappearance
of various structures, for instance of several muscles, which man does
not normally possess, but which are common to the Quadrumana--and a
crowd of analogous facts--all point in the plainest manner to the
conclusion that man is the co-descendant with other mammals of a common
progenitor.
XII.
THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND OTHER ANIMALS.
_The subject is treated under three Principles: the Principle of
Associated Habit; the Principle of Antithesis; and the Principle
of the direct action of the nervous system independent of Will
and Habit._
THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATED HABIT.
[Expression of
the Emotions,
page 29.]
It is notorious how powerful is the force of habit. The most complex
and difficult movements can in time be performed without the least
effort or consciousness. It is not positively known how it comes
that habit is so efficient in facilitating complex movements; but
physiologists admit that “the conducting power of the nervous fibers
increases with the frequency of their excitement.” This applies to the
nerves of motion and sensation, as well as to those connected with
the act of thinking. That some physical change is produced in the
nerve-cells or nerves which are habitually used can hardly be doubted,
for otherwise it is impossible to understand how the tendency to
certain acquired movements is inherited.
* * * * *
[Page 31.]
It is known to every one how difficult or even impossible it is,
without repeated trials, to move the limbs in certain opposed
directions which have never been practiced. Analogous cases occur with
sensations, as in the common experiment of rolling a marble beneath the
tips of two crossed fingers, when it feels exactly like two marbles.
Every one protects himself when falling to the ground by extending his
arms, and as Professor Alison has remarked, few can resist acting thus
when voluntarily falling on a soft bed. A man when going out-of-doors
puts on his gloves quite unconsciously; and this may seem an extremely
simple operation, but he who has taught a child to put on gloves knows
that this is by no means the case.
When our minds are much affected, so are the movements of our bodies.
* * * * *
[Page 30.]
To those who admit the gradual evolution of species, a most striking
instance of the perfection with which the most difficult consensual
movements can be transmitted, is afforded by the hummingbird
Sphinx-moth (_Macroglossa_); for this moth, shortly after its emergence
from the cocoon, as shown by the bloom on its unruffled scales, may be
seen poised stationary in the air, with its long, hair-like proboscis
uncurled and inserted into the minute orifices of flowers; and no one,
I believe, has ever seen this moth learning to perform its difficult
task, which requires such unerring aim.
* * * * *
[Page 32.]
A vulgar man often scratches his head when perplexed in mind; and I
believe that he acts thus from habit, as if he experienced a slightly
uncomfortable bodily sensation, namely, the itching of his head,
to which he is particularly liable, and which he thus relieves.
Another man rubs his eyes when perplexed, or gives a little cough
when embarrassed, acting in either case as if he felt a slightly
uncomfortable sensation in his eyes or windpipe.
From the continued use of the eyes, these organs are especially
liable to be acted on through association under various states of
the mind, although there is manifestly nothing to be seen. A man, as
Gratiolet remarks, who vehemently rejects a proposition, will almost
certainly shut his eyes or turn away his face; but, if he accepts the
proposition, he will nod his head in affirmation and open his eyes
widely. The man acts in this latter case as if he clearly saw the
thing, and in the former case as if he did not, or would not, see it. I
have noticed that persons in describing a horrid sight often shut their
eyes momentarily and firmly, or shake their heads, as if not to see or
to drive away something disagreeable; and I have caught myself, when
thinking in the dark of a horrid spectacle, closing my eyes firmly.
* * * * *
[Page 34.]