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Show .316 SEXUAL SELECTION : 1\IAN. l'AilT 1!. CHAPTER XIX. f-iECOXDARY SEXUAL CIIARAC'l.'EHS OF MAN. Di1Terences between man and woman- Causes of such ui IJ'erences anu of certain chnracters common to both sexes - Law of hattlc - Differences in mental powers- anrl voice- On the influence of beauty in determining the maniages of mankind -Attention pai<.l by savages to ornaments- Their iclcas of beauty in woman- The tendency to exaggerate c•:dt natural peculiarity. WITH mankind the differences between the sexes are greater than in most species of Quadrumana, but not so great as in some, for instance, the mandrill. l\Ian on an aYernge is considerably taller, heavier, and stronger than woman, with squarer shoulders and more plainly-pronounced muscles. Owing to the relation which exists between muscular development and the projection of the brows/ the superciliary ridge is generally more strongly marlwrl in man than in woman. His body, and especially his face, is more hairy, and his voice has a different and more powerful tone. In certain tribes the women are said, whether truly I know not, to diU"er slightly in tint from the men; and with Europeans, the women are perhaps the more brightly coloured of the two, as may l>o seen when Loth sexes have been equally exposed to the weather. Man is more courageous, pugnacious, and energetic than woman, and has a more inventive genius. His ' Schnnfl'hausen, translation in ' Anthropological Review,' Oct. 18G8, p. 4:19, 420, 427. CHAP. XIX. SEXUAL DIFFERENCES. 317 brain is absolutely larger, but whether relatively to the larger size of his body, in comparison with that of woman, has not, I believe been fully ascertained. In woman tho face is rounder; the jaws and the base of the skull smaller; the outlines of her body rounder, in parts more prominent; and her pelvis i::; broader than in man; 2 but this latter character may perhaps be considered rather as a primary than a secondary sexual character. She comes to maturity at an earlier age than man. As with animals of all classes, so with man, the distinctive characters of the male sex are not fully developed until he is nearly mature; and if emasculateu they never appear. The board, for instance, is a secondary sexual character, and male children are beardless, though at an early age they have abundant hair on their heads. It is probably clue to the rather late appearance in life of the successive variations, by which man acquired his masculine characters, that they are transmitted to the male sex alone. Male and female children resemble each other closely, like the young of so many other animals in which the adult sexes differ; they likewise resemble the mature female much more closely, than the mature male. Tho female, however, ultimately assumes certain distinctive characters, and in the formation of her skull, is said to be intermcuiate between the child and the man.3 Again, as the young of closely allied though ciistinct species do not differ nearly so much from each other as do the adults, so it is with tho children of the different races o man. Some haYe even maintained that race-differences 2 E ekcr, trn.nslntion in 'Anlhropologico.l Review,' Oct. 18G8, p. 351- 356. 'fhe comparison of lho form of the skull iu men unu women has been followed out with much care by Welckcr. 3 Ecker and Welcker, ibill. p. 35<1, 355; Vog~. 'Lectures on 1\Lw,> Eng. trnnsln.t. p. 81. |
