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Show 326 SEXUAL ~ELEUT!ON: 1\IAN. PAin' II. for tho women in all barLarous nations nrc compelled to work at least as hard as the men. vVith civilised people the arbitrament of battle for tbe possession of tho women has long ceased; on the other hand, tho men, as a general rule, have to work harder than the women for their mntnal subsistence; and thus their greater ~:;trength will have been kept up. Difference in the Mental Powe1·s of the iu·o Sexes.'\ Vith r spect to difTorences of this nature between man and woman, it is probable that sexual selection has played a very important part. I am aware that some writcrc; donbt whether there is any inherent difference; Lut this is at least probable from the analogy of the lower animaJs which pre ent other secondary sexual characters. No ono will dispute that the bull difTers in disposition from the cow, the wild-Loar from tho sow, the r-;tallion from the mare, and, as is wolllmown to tho keepers of menageries, tho males of tho l<'trger apes from the females. Woman seems to differ from man in mental disposition, chiefly in her greater tenderness and less selfishnc s ; and this holds good oven with samge , as shewn by a well-known pus~n,ge in Mungo Park's Travels, and by statements made Ly many other travellers. Woman, owing to her maternal jnstincts, displays these qnalities towards her infuntf' in un eminent degree; therefore it is likely tl1at she should often extend them towards her fellow-croaturef:. Man is the rival of other men; he delights in coml) etition, and this leads to ambition which passes too easily into selfishness. 1'hesc latter qualities seem to be his natural and unfortunate Lirthright. It is gene· rally admitted that with woman the powers of intuition, of rapid perception, and perhaps of imitation, arc more strongly marked than iu man; Lut some, at least, of <CIIAP. XlX. l\1ENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND WOl\IAN. 327 these faculties are characteristic of tho lower races, and th01·efore of a past and lower state of civili~:>ation. The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shewn by man attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than woman c:an .attain-whether requiring deep thought, reason, or imagination, or merely the use of the sen,es and hands. If two lists were made of the most eminent men and women in poetry, painting, sculpture, music, -comprising composition and performance, history, science, and philo ·ophy, with half-a-dozen names under ench subject, the two lists would not bear comparison. vVe may al o infer, from tho law of tho deviation of averages, so well illustrated by Mr. Galton, in his work on 'Hereditary Genius,' that if men arc capable of decided eminence over women in many. subjects, the average staudard of mental pO'I.vor in man must be .above that of woman. 'fho half-human male progenitors of man, and men iu a savage state, have struggled together during many .generations for the po session of the females. Bnt mere bodily strength and size would do little for vietory, unless associated 'vvith courage, perseverance, and determined energy. With social animals, tho young males have to pass through many a contest Lefore they win a female, and the older males have to retain their females by renewed battleR. They have, also, in the case of man, 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, and to invent .aud fashion weapons, requires the aid of the higher mental faculties, namely, observation, reason, inven: tion, or imagination. These various faculties will thm; have been continually put to the test, and selected |