WITH mankind
the differences between the
sexes are greater
than in most of the Quadrumana,
but not so great as in some,
for instance, the mandrill. Man
on an average 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 marked 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 races
the women are said to differ
slightly in tint from the men.
For instance, Schweinfurth, in
speaking of a negress belonging
to the Monbuttoos, who inhabit
the interior of Africa a few
degrees north of the equator,
says, "Like all her race, she
had a skin several shades lighter
than her husband's, being something
of the colour of half-roasted
coffee."*(2) As the women labour
in the fields and are quite unclothed,
it is not likely that they differ
in colour from the men owing
to less exposure to the weather.
European women are perhaps the
brighter coloured of the two
sexes, as may be seen when both
have been equally exposed.
* Schaaffhausen, translation,
in Anthropological Review, Oct.,
1868, pp. 419, 420, 427.
*(2) The Heart of Africa, English
transl., 1873, vol i., p. 544.
Man is more courageous, pugnacious
and energetic than woman, and
has a more inventive genius.
His brain is absolutely larger,
but whether or not proportionately
to his larger body, has not,
I believe, been fully ascertained.
In woman the face is rounder;
the jaws and the base of the
skull smaller; the outlines of
the body rounder, in parts more
prominent; and her pelvis is
broader than in man;* 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.
* Ecker, translation, in Anthropological
Review, Oct., 1868, pp. 351-356.
The comparison of the form of
the skull in men and women has
been followed out with much care
by Welcker.
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 emasculated
they never appear. The beard,
for instance, is a secondary
sexual character, and male children
are beardless, though at an early
age they have abundant hair on
the head. It is probably due
to the rather late appearance
in life of the successive variations
whereby man has 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 widely; they likewise
resemble the mature female much
more closely than the mature
male. The female, however, ultimately
assumes certain distinctive characters,
and in the formation of her skull,
is said to be intermediate between
the child and the man.* Again,
as the young of closely allied
though distinct species do not
differ nearly so much from each
other as do the adults, so it
is with the children of the different
races of man. Some have even
maintained that race-differences
cannot be detected in the infantile
skull.*(2) In regard to colour,
the new-born negro child is reddish
nut-brown, which soon becomes
slaty-grey; the black colour
being fully developed within
a year in the Soudan, but not
until three years in Egypt. The
eyes of the negro are at first
blue, and the hair chestnut-brown
rather than black, being curled
only at the ends. The children
of the Australians immediately
after birth are yellowish-brown,
and become dark at a later age.
Those of the Guaranys of Paraguay
are whitish-yellow, but they
acquire in the course of a few
weeks the yellowish-brown tint
of their parents. Similar observations
have been made in other parts
of America.*(3)
* Ecker and Welcker, ibid.,
pp. 352, 355; Vogt, Lectures
on Man, Eng. translat., p. 81.
*(2) Schaaffhausen, Anthropolog.
Review, ibid., p. 429.
*(3) Pruner-Bey,
on negro infants as quoted
by Vogt, Lectures on
Man, Eng. translat., 1864, p.
189: for further facts on negro
infants, as quoted from Winterbottom
and Camper, see Lawrence, Lectures
on Physiology, &c., 1822, p.
451. For the infants of the Guaranys,
see Rengger, Saugethiere, &c.,
s. 3. See also Godron, De l'Espece,
tom. ii., 1859, p. 253. For the
Australians, Waitz, Introduction
to Anthropology, Eng. translat.,
1863, p. 99.
I have specified the foregoing
differences between the male
and female sex in mankind, because
they are curiously like those
of the Quadrumana. With these
animals the female is mature
at an earlier age than the male;
at least this is certainly the
case in Cebus azarae.* The males
of most species are larger and
stronger than the females, of
which fact the gorilla affords
a well-known instance. Even in
so trifling a character as the
greater prominence of the superciliary
ridge, the males of certain monkeys
differ from the females,*(2)
and agree in this respect with
mankind. In the gorilla and certain
other monkeys, the cranium of
the adult male presents a strongly-marked
sagittal crest, which is absent
in the female; and Ecker found
a trace of a similar difference
between the two sexes in the
Australians.*(3) With monkeys
when there is any difference
in the voice, that of the male
is the more powerful. We have
seen that certain male monkeys
have a well-developed beard,
which is quite deficient, or
much less developed in the female.
No instance is known of the beard,
whiskers, or moustache being
larger in the female than in
the male monkey. Even in the
colour of the beard there is
a curious parallelism between
man and the Quadrumana, for with
man when the beard differs in
colour from the hair of the head,
as is commonly the case, it is,
I believe, almost always of a
lighter tint, being often reddish.
I have repeatedly observed this
fact in England; but two gentlemen
have lately written to me, saying
that they form an exception to
the rule. One of these gentlemen
accounts for the fact by the
wide difference in colour of
the hair on the paternal and
maternal sides of his family.
Both had been long aware of this
peculiarity (one of them having
often been accused of dyeing
his beard), and had been thus
led to observe other men, and
were convinced that the exceptions
were very rare. Dr. Hooker attended
to this little point for me in
Russia, and found no exception
to the rule. In Calcutta, Mr.
J. Scott, of the Botanic Gardens,
was so kind as to observe the
many races of men to be seen
there, as well as in some other
parts of India, namely, two races
of Sikhim, the Bhoteas, Hindoos,
Burmese, and Chinese, most of
which races have very little
hair on the face; and he always
found that when there was any
difference in colour between
the hair of the head and the
beard, the latter was invariably
lighter. Now with monkeys, as
has already been stated, the
beard frequently differs strikingly
in colour from the hair of the
head, and in such cases it is
always of a lighter hue, being
often pure white, sometimes yellow
or reddish.*(4)
* Rengger, Saugethiere, &c.,
1830, s. 49.
*(2) As in Macacus cynomolgus
(Desmarest, Mammalogie, p. 65),
and in Hylobates agilis (Geoffroy
St-Hilaire and F. Cuvier, Histoire
Nat. des Mammiferes, 1824, tom.
i., p. 2).
*(3) Anthropological Review,
Oct., 1868, p. 353.
*(4) Mr. Blyth
informs me that he has only
seen one instance
of the beard, whiskers, &c.,
in a monkey becoming white with
old age, as is so commonly the
case with us. This, however,
occurred in an aged Macacus cynomolgus,
kept in confinement, whose moustaches
were "remarkably long and human-like." Altogether
this old monkey presented a ludicrous
resemblance to one of the reigning
monarchs of Europe, after whom
he was universally nicknamed.
In certain races of man the hair
on the head hardly ever becomes
grey; thus Mr. D. Forbes has
never, as he informs me, seen
an instance with the Aymaras
and Quechuas of South America.
In regard to the general hairiness
of the body, the women in all
races are less hairy than the
men; and in some few Quadrumana
the under side of the body of
the female is less hairy than
that of the male.* Lastly, male
monkeys, like men, are bolder
and fiercer than the females.
They lead the troop, and when
there is danger, come to the
front. We thus see how close
is the parallelism between the
sexual differences of man and
the Quadrumana. With some few
species, however, as with certain
baboons, the orang and the gorilla,
there is a considerably greater
difference between the sexes,
as in the size of the canine
teeth, in the development and
colour of the hair, and especially
in the colour of the naked parts
of the skin, than in mankind.
* This is the case with the
females of several species of
Hylobates; see Geoffroy St-Hilaire
and F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des
Mamm., tom. i. See also, on H.
lar., Penny Cyclopedia, vol.
ii., pp. 149, 150.
All the secondary sexual characters
of man are highly variable, even
within the limits of the same
race; and they differ much in
the several races. These two
rules hold good generally throughout
the animal kingdom. In the excellent
observations made on board the
Novara,* the male Australians
were found to exceed the females
by only 65 millim. in height,
whilst with the Javans the average
excess was 218 millim.; so that
in this latter race the difference
in height between the sexes is
more than thrice as great as
with the Australians. Numerous
measurements were carefully made
of the stature, the circumference
of the neck and chest, the length
of the back-bone and of the arms,
in various races; and nearly
all these measurements shew that
the males differ much more from
one another than do the females.
This fact indicates that, as
far as these characters are concerned,
it is the male which has been
chiefly modified, since the several
races diverged from their common
stock.
* The results were deduced by
Dr. Weisbach from the measurements
made by Drs. K. Scherzer and
Schwarz, see Reise der Novara:
Anthropolog. Theil, 1867, ss.
216, 231, 234, 236, 239, 269.
The development
of the beard and the hairiness
of the body
differ remarkably in the men
of distinct races, and even in
different tribes or families
of the same race. We Europeans
see this amongst ourselves. In
the Island of St. Kilda, according
to Martin,* the men do not acquire
beards until the age of thirty
or upwards, and even then the
beards are very thin. On the
Europaeo-Asiatic continent, beards
prevail until we pass beyond
India; though with the natives
of Ceylon they are often absent,
as was noticed in ancient times
by Diodorus.*(2) Eastward of
India beards disappear, as with
the Siamese, Malays, Kalmucks,
Chinese, and Japanese; nevertheless,
the Ainos,*(3) who inhabit the
northernmost islands of the Japan
Archipelago, are the hairiest
men in the world. With negroes
the beard is scanty or wanting,
and they rarely have whiskers;
in both sexes the body is frequently
almost destitute of fine down.*(4)
On the other hand, the Papuans
of the Malay Archipelago, who
are nearly as black as negroes,
possess well-developed beards.*(5)
In the Pacific Ocean the inhabitants
of the Fiji Archipelago have
large bushy beards, whilst those
of the not distant archipelagoes
of Tonga and Samoa are beardless;
but these men belong to distinct
races. In the Ellice group all
the inhabitants belong to the
same race; yet on one island
alone, namely Nunemaya, "the
men have splendid beards"; whilst
on the other islands "they have,
as a rule, a dozen straggling
hairs for a beard."*(6)
* Voyage to St. Kilda (3rd ed.,
1753), p. 37.
*(2) Sir J. E. Tennent, Ceylon,
vol. ii., 1859, p. 107.
*(3) Quatrefages, Revue des
Cours Scientifiques, Aug. 29,
1868, p. 630; Vogt, Lectures
on Man, Eng. trans., p. 127.
*(4) On the
beards of negroes, Vogt, Lectures, &c.,
p. 127; Waitz, Introduct. to
Anthropology,
Engl. translat., 1863, vol. i.,
p. 96. It is remarkable that
in the United States (Investigations
in Military and Anthropological
Statistics of American Soldiers,
1869, p. 569) the pure negroes
and their crossed offspring seem
to have bodies almost as hairy
as Europeans.
*(5) Wallace, The Malay Arch.,
vol. ii., 1869, p. 178.
*(6) Dr. J. Barnard Davis on
Oceanic Races, in Anthropological
Review, April, 1870, pp. 185,
191.
Throughout the great American
continent the men may be said
to be beardless; but in almost
all the tribes a few short hairs
are apt to appear on the face,
especially in old age. With the
tribes of North America, Catlin
estimates that eighteen out of
twenty men are completely destitute
by nature of a beard; but occasionally
there may be seen a man, who
has neglected to pluck out the
hairs at puberty, with a soft
beard an inch or two in length.
The Guaranys of Paraguay differ
from all the surrounding tribes
in having a small beard, and
even some hair on the body, but
no whiskers.* I am informed by
Mr. D. Forbes, who particularly
attended to this point, that
the Aymaras and Quechuas of the
Cordillera are remarkably hairless,
yet in old age a few straggling
hairs occasionally appear on
the chin. The men of these two
tribes have very little hair
on the various parts of the body
where hair grows abundantly in
Europeans, and the women have
none on the corresponding parts.
The hair on the head, however,
attains an extraordinary length
in both sexes, often reaching
almost to the ground; and this
is likewise the case with some
of the N. American tribes. In
the amount of hair, and in the
general shape of the body, the
sexes of the American aborigines
do not differ so much from each
other, as in most other races.*(2)
This fact is analogous with what
occurs with some closely allied
monkeys; thus the sexes of the
chimpanzee are not as different
as those of the orang or gorilla.*(3)
* Catlin, North American Indians,
3rd. ed., 1842, vol. ii., p.
227. On the Guaranys, see Azara,
Voyages dans l'Amerique Merid.,
tom. ii., 1809, p. 85; also Rengger,
Saugethiere von Paraguay, s.
3.
*(2) Prof. and Mrs. Agassiz
(Journey in Brazil, p. 530) remark
that the sexes of the American
Indians differ less than those
of the negroes and of the higher
races. See also Rengger, ibid.,
p. 3, on the Guaranys.
*(3) Rutimeyer, Die Grenzen
der Thierwelt; eine Betrachtung
zu Darwin's Lehre, 1868, s. 54.
In the previous
chapters we have seen that
with mammals,
birds, fishes, insects, &c.,
many characters, which there
is every reason to believe were
primarily gained through sexual
selection by one sex, have been
transferred to the other. As
this same form of transmission
has apparently prevailed much
with mankind, it will save useless
repetition if we discuss the
origin of characters peculiar
to the male sex together with
certain other characters common
to both sexes.
Law of Battle.-
With savages, for instance,
the Australians,
the women are the constant cause
of war both between members of
the same tribe and between distinct
tribes. So no doubt it was in
ancient times; "nam fuit ante
Helenam mulier teterrima belli
causa." With some of the North
American Indians, the contest
is reduced to a system. That
excellent observer, Hearne,*
says:- "It has ever been the
custom among these people for
the men to wrestle for any woman
to whom they are attached; and,
of course, the strongest party
always carries off the prize.
A weak man, unless he be a good
hunter, and well-beloved, is
seldom permitted to keep a wife
that a stronger man thinks worth
his notice. This custom prevails
throughout all the tribes, and
causes a great spirit of emulation
among their youth, who are upon
all occasions, from their childhood,
trying their strength and skill
in wrestling." With the Guanas
of South America, Azara states
that the men rarely marry till
twenty years old or more, as
before that age they cannot conquer
their rivals.
* A Journey
from Prince of Wales Fort,
8vo ed., Dublin, 1796,
p. 104. Sir J. Lubbock (Origin
of Civilisation, 1870, p. 69)
gives other and similar cases
in North America. For the Guanas
of South America see Azara, Voyages, &c.,
tom. ii., p. 94.
Other similar facts could be
given; but even if we had no
evidence on this head, we might
feel almost sure, from the analogy
of the higher Quadrumana,* that
the law of battle had prevailed
with man during the early stages
of his development. The occasional
appearance at the present day
of canine teeth which project
above the others, with traces
of diastema or open space for
the reception of the opposite
canines, is in all probability
a case of reversion to a former
state, when the progenitors of
man were provided with these
weapons, like so many existing
male Quadrumana. It was remarked
in a former chapter that as man
gradually became erect, and continually
used his hands and arms for fighting
with sticks and stones, as well
as for the other purposes of
life, he would have used his
jaws and teeth less and less.
The jaws, together with their
muscles, would then have been
reduced through disuse, as would
the teeth through the not well
understood principles of correlation
and economy of growth; for we
everywhere see that parts, which
are no longer of service, are
reduced in size. By such steps
the original inequality between
the jaws and teeth in the two
sexes of mankind would ultimately
have been obliterated. The case
is almost parallel with that
of many male ruminants, in which
the canine teeth have been reduced
to mere rudiments, or have disappeared,
apparently in consequence of
the development of horns. As
the prodigious difference between
the skulls of the two sexes in
the orang and gorilla stands
in close relation with the development
of the immense canine teeth in
the males, we may infer that
the reduction of the jaws and
teeth in the early male progenitors
of man must have led to a most
striking and favourable change
in his appearance.
* On the fighting of the male
gorillas, see Dr. Savage, in
Boston Journal of Natural History,
vol. v., 1847, p. 423. On Presbytis
entellus, see the Indian Field,
1859, p. 146.
There can be little doubt that
the greater size and strength
of man, in comparison with woman,
together with his broader shoulders,
more developed muscles, rugged
outline of body, his greater
courage and pugnacity, are all
due in chief part to inheritance
from his half-human male ancestors.
These characters would, however,
have been preserved or even augmented
during the long ages of man's
savagery, by the success of the
strongest and boldest men, both
in the general struggle for life
and in their contests for wives;
a success which would have ensured
their leaving a more numerous
progeny than their less favoured
brethren. It is not probable
that the greater strength of
man was primarily acquired through
the inherited effects of his
having worked harder than woman
for his own subsistence and that
of his family; for the women
in all barbarous nations are
compelled to work at least as
hard as the men. With civilised
people the arbitrament of battle
for the possession of the women
has long ceased; on the other
hand, the men, as a general rule,
have to work harder than the
women for their joint subsistence,
and thus their greater strength
will have been kept up.
Difference in the Mental Powers
of the two Sexes.- With respect
to differences of this nature
between man and woman, it is
probable that sexual selection
has played a highly important
part. I am aware that some writers
doubt whether there is any such
inherent difference; but this
is at least probable from the
analogy of the lower animals
which present other secondary
sexual characters. No one disputes
that the bull differs in disposition
from the cow, the wild-boar from
the sow, the stallion from the
mare, and, as is well known to
the keepers of menageries, the
males of the larger apes from
the females. Woman seems to differ
from man in mental disposition,
chiefly in her greater tenderness
and less selfishness; and this
holds good even with savages,
as shewn by a well-known passage
in Mungo Park's Travels, and
by statements made by many other
travellers. Woman, owing to her
maternal instincts, displays
these qualities towards her infants
in an eminent degree; therefore
it is likely that she would often
extend them towards her fellow-creatures.
Man is the rival of other men;
he delights in competition, and
this leads to ambition which
passes too easily into selfishness.
These latter qualities seem to
be his natural and unfortunate
birthright. It is generally admitted
that with woman the powers of
intuition, of rapid perception,
and perhaps of imitation, are
more strongly marked than in
man; but some, at least, of these
faculties are characteristic
of the lower races, and therefore
of a past and lower state of
civilisation.
The chief distinction in the
intellectual powers of the two
sexes is shewn by man's attaining
to a higher eminence, in whatever
he takes up, than can woman-
whether requiring deep thought,
reason, or imagination, or merely
the use of the senses and hands.
If two lists were made of the
most eminent men and women in
poetry, painting, sculpture,
music (inclusive both of composition
and performance), history, science,
and philosophy, with half-a-dozen
names under each subject, the
two lists would not bear comparison.
We may also infer, from the law
of the deviation from averages,
so well illustrated by Mr. Galton,
in his work on Hereditary Genius,
that if men are capable of a
decided pre-eminence over women
in many subjects, the average
of mental power in man must be
above that of woman.
Amongst the half-human progenitors
of man, and amongst savages,
there 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, and 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.
Now, when two men are put into
competition, or a man with a
woman, both possessed of every
mental quality in equal perfection,
save that one has higher energy,
perseverance, and courage, the
latter will generally become
more eminent in every pursuit,
and will gain the ascendancy.*
He may be said to possess genius-
for genius has been declared
by a great authority to be patience;
and patience, in this sense,
means unflinching, undaunted
perseverance. But this view of
genius is perhaps deficient;
for without the higher powers
of the imagination and reason,
no eminent success can be gained
in many subjects. These latter
faculties, as well as the former,
will have been developed in man,
partly through sexual selection,-
that is, through the contest
of rival males, and partly through
natural selection, that is, from
success in the general struggle
for life; and as in both cases
the struggle will have been during
maturity, the characters gained
will have been transmitted more
fully to the male than to the
female offspring. It accords
in a striking manner with this
view of the modification and
re-inforcement of many of our
mental faculties by sexual selection,
that, firstly, they notoriously
undergo a considerable change
at puberty,*(2) and, secondly,
that eunuchs remain throughout
life inferior in these same qualities.
Thus, man has ultimately become
superior to woman. It is, indeed,
fortunate that the law of the
equal transmission of characters
to both sexes prevails with mammals;
otherwise, it is probable that
man would have become as superior
in mental endowment to woman,
as the peacock is in ornamental
plumage to the peahen.
* J. Stuart
Mill remarks (The Subjection
of Women, 1869, p.
122), "The things in which man
most excels woman are those which
require most plodding, and long
hammering at single thoughts." What
is this but energy and perseverance?
*(2) Maudsley, Mind and Body,
p. 31.
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.*
* An observation
by Vogt bears on this subject:
he says, "It
is a remarkable circumstance,
that the difference between the
sexes, as regards the cranial
cavity, increases with the development
of the race, so that the male
European excels much more the
female, than the negro the negress.
Welcker confirms this statement
of Huschke from his measurements
of negro and German skulls." But
Vogt admits (Lectures on Man,
Eng. translat., 1864, p. 81)
that more observations are requisite
on this point.
Voice and Musical
Powers.- In some species of
Quadrumana there
is a great difference between
the adult sexes, in the power
of their voices and in the development
of the vocal organs; and man
appears to have inherited this
difference from his early progenitors.
His vocal cords are about one-third
longer than in woman, or than
in boys; and emasculation produces
the same effect on him as on
the lower animals, for it "arrests
that prominent growth of the
thyroid, &c., which accompanies
the elongation of the cords."*
With respect to the cause of
this difference between the sexes,
I have nothing to add to the
remarks in the last chapter on
the probable effects of the long-continued
use of the vocal organs by the
male under the excitement of
love, rage and jealousy. According
to Sir Duncan Gibb,*(2) the voice
and the form of the larynx differ
in the different races of mankind;
but with the Tartars, Chinese, &c.,
the voice of the male is said
not to differ so much from that
of the female, as in most other
races.
* Owen, Anatomy of Vertebrates,
vol. iii., p. 603.
*(2) Journal of the Anthropological
Society, April, 1869, pp. lvii.
and lxvi.
The capacity and love for singing
or music, though not a sexual
character in man, must not here
be passed over. Although the
sounds emitted by animals of
all kinds serve many purposes,
a strong case can be made out,
that the vocal organs were primarily
used and perfected in relation
to the propagation of the species.
Insects and some few spiders
are the lowest animals which
voluntarily produce any sound;
and this is generally effected
by the aid of beautifully constructed
stridulating organs, which are
often confined to the males.
The sounds thus produced consist,
I believe in all cases, of the
same note, repeated rhythmically;*
and this is sometimes pleasing
even to the ears of man. The
chief and, in some cases, exclusive
purpose appears to be either
to call or charm the opposite
sex.
* Dr. Scudder, "Notes on Stridulation," in
Proc. Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist.,
vol. xi., April, 1868.
The sounds produced by fishes
are said in some cases to be
made only by the males during
the breeding-season. All the
air-breathing Vertebrata, necessarily
possess an apparatus for inhaling
and expelling air, with a pipe
capable of being closed at one
end. Hence when the primeval
members of this class were strongly
excited and their muscles violently
contracted, purposeless sounds
would almost certainly have been
produced; and these, if they
proved in any way serviceable,
might readily have been modified
or intensified by the preservation
of properly adapted variations.
The lowest vertebrates which
breathe air are amphibians; and
of these, frogs and toads possess
vocal organs, which are incessantly
used during the breeding-season,
and which are often more highly
developed in the male than in
the female. The male alone of
the tortoise utters a noise,
and this only during the season
of love. Male alligators roar
or bellow during the same season.
Every one knows how much birds
use their vocal organs as a means
of courtship; and some species
likewise perform what may be
called instrumental music.
In the class
of mammals, with which we are
here more particularly
concerned, the males of almost
all the species use their voices
during the breeding-season much
more than at any other time;
and some are absolutely mute
excepting at this season. With
other species both sexes, or
only the females, use their voices
as a love-call. Considering these
facts, and that the vocal organs
of some quadrupeds are much more
largely developed in the male
than in the female, either permanently
or temporarily during the breeding-season;
and considering that in most
of the lower classes the sounds
produced by the males, serve
not only to call but to excite
or allure the female, it is a
surprising fact that we have
not as yet any good evidence
that these organs are used by
male mammals to charm the females.
The American Mycetes caraya perhaps
forms an exception, as does the
Hylobates agilis, an ape allied
to man. This gibbon has an extremely
loud but musical voice. Mr. Waterhouse
states,* "It appeared to me that
in ascending and descending the
scale, the intervals were always
exactly half-tones; and I am
sure that the highest note was
the exact octave to the lowest.
The quality of the notes is very
musical; and I do not doubt that
a good violinist would be able
to give a correct idea of the
gibbon's composition, excepting
as regards its loudness." Mr.
Waterhouse then gives the notes.
Professor Owen, who is a musician,
confirms the foregoing statement,
and remarks, though erroneously,
that this gibbon "alone of brute
mammals may be said to sing." It
appears to be much excited after
its performance. Unfortunately,
its habits have never been closely
observed in a state of nature;
but from the analogy of other
animals, it is probable that
it uses its musical powers more
especially during the season
of courtship.
* Given in W. C. L. Martin's
General Introduction to Natural
History of Mamm. Animals, 1841,
p. 432; Owen, Anatomy of Vertebrates,
vol. iii, p. 600.
This gibbon
is not the only species in
the genus which sings,
for my son, Francis Darwin, attentively
listened in the Zoological Gardens
to H. leuciscus whilst singing
a cadence of three notes, in
true musical intervals and with
a clear musical tone. It is a
more surprising fact that certain
rodents utter musical sounds.
Singing mice have often been
mentioned and exhibited, but
imposture has commonly been suspected.
We have, however, at last a clear
account by a well-known observer,
the Rev. S. Lockwood,* of the
musical powers of an American
species, the Hesperomys cognatus,
belonging to a genus distinct
from that of the English mouse.
This little animal was kept in
confinement, and the performance
was repeatedly heard. In one
of the two chief songs, "the
last bar would frequently be
prolonged to two or three; and
she would sometimes change from
C sharp and D, to C natural and
D, then warble on these two notes
awhile, and wind up with a quick
chirp on C sharp and D. The distinctness
between the semitones was very
marked, and easily appreciable
to a good ear." Mr. Lockwood
gives both songs in musical notation;
and adds that though this little
mouse "had no ear for time, yet
she would keep to the key of
B (two flats) and strictly in
a major key." ... "Her soft clear
voice falls an octave with all
the precision possible; then
at the wind up, it rises again
into a very quick trill on C
sharp and D."
* American Naturalist, 1871,
p. 761.
A critic has
asked how the ears of man,
and he ought to have
added of other animals, could
have been adapted by selection
so as to distinguish musical
notes. But this question shows
some confusion on the subject;
a noise is the sensation resulting
from the co-existence of several
aerial "simple vibrations" of
various periods, each of which
intermits so frequently that
its separate existence cannot
be perceived. It is only in the
want of continuity of such vibrations,
and in their want of harmony
inter se, that a noise differs
from a musical note. Thus, an
ear to be capable of discriminating
noises- and the high importance
of this power to all animals
is admitted by every one- must
be sensitive to musical notes.
We have evidence of this capacity
even low down in the animal scale;
thus, crustaceans are provided
with auditory hairs of different
lengths, which have been seen
to vibrate when the proper musical
notes are struck.* As stated
in a previous chapter, similar
observations have been made on
the hairs of the antennae of
gnats. It has been positively
asserted by good observers that
spiders are attracted by music.
It is also well known that some
dogs howl when hearing particular
tones.*(2) Seals apparently appreciate
music, and their fondness for
it "was well known to the ancients,
and is often taken advantage
of by the hunters at the present
day."*(3)
* Helmholtz, Theorie Phys. de
la Musique, 1868, p. 187.
*(2) Several accounts have been
published to this effect. Mr.
Peach writes to me that an old
dog of his howls when B flat
is sounded on the flute, and
to no other note. I may add another
instance of a dog always whining,
when one note on a concertina,
which was out of tune, was played.
*(3) Mr. R. Brown, in Proc.
Zool. Soc., 1868, p. 410.
Therefore, as
far as the mere perception
of musical notes is
concerned, there seems no special
difficulty in the case of man
or of any other animal. Helmholtz
has explained on physiological
principles why concords are agreeable,
and discords disagreeable to
the human ear; but we are little
concerned with these, as music
in harmony is a late invention.
We are more concerned with melody,
and here again, according to
Helmholtz, it is intelligible
why the notes of our musical
scale are used. The ear analyses
all sounds into their component "simple
vibrations," although we are
not conscious of this analysis.
In a musical note the lowest
in pitch of these is generally
predominant, and the others which
are less marked are the octave,
the twelfth, the second octave, &c.,
all harmonies of the fundamental
predominant note; any two notes
of our scale have many of these
harmonic over-tones in common.
It seems pretty clear then, that
if an animal always wished to
sing precisely the same song,
he would guide himself by sounding
those notes in succession, which
possess many overtones in common-
that is, he would choose for
his song, notes which belong
to our musical scale.
But if it be further asked why
musical tones in a certain order
and rhythm give man and other
animals pleasure, we can no more
give the reason than for the
pleasantness of certain tastes
and smells. That they do give
pleasure of some kind to animals,
we may infer from their being
produced during the season of
courtship by many insects, spiders,
fishes, amphibians, and birds;
for unless the females were able
to appreciate such sounds and
were excited or charmed by them,
the persevering efforts of the
males, and the complex structures
often possessed by them alone,
would be useless; and this it
is impossible to believe.
Human song is
generally admitted to be the
basis or origin of
instrumental music. As neither
the enjoyment nor the capacity
of producing musical notes are
faculties of the least use to
man in reference to his daily
habits of life, they must be
ranked amongst the most mysterious
with which he is endowed. They
are present, though in a very
rude condition, in men of all
races, even the most savage;
but so different is the taste
of the several races, that our
music gives no pleasure to savages,
and their music is to us in most
cases hideous and unmeaning.
Dr. Seemann, in some interesting
remarks on this subject,* "doubt
whether even amongst the nations
of western Europe, intimately
connected as they are by close
and frequent intercourse, the
music of the one is interpreted
in the same sense by the others.
By travelling eastwards we find
that there is certainly a different
language of music. Songs of joy
and dance-accompaniments are
no longer, as with us, in the
major keys, but always in the
minor." Whether or not the half-human
progenitors of man possessed,
like the singing gibbons, the
capacity of producing, and therefore
no doubt of appreciating, musical
notes, we know that man possessed
these faculties at a very remote
period. M. Lartet has described
two flutes made out of the bones
and horns of the reindeer, found
in caves together with flint
tools and the remains of extinct
animals. The arts of singing
and of dancing are also very
ancient, and are now practised
by all or nearly all the lowest
races of man. Poetry, which may
be considered as the offspring
of song, is likewise so ancient,
that many persons have felt astonished
that it should have arisen during
the earliest ages of which we
have any record.
* Journal of Anthropological
Society, Oct., 1870, p. clv.
See also the several later chapters
in Sir John Lubbock's Prehistoric
Times, 2nd ed., 1869, which contain
an admirable account of the habits
of savages.
We see that the musical faculties,
which are not wholly deficient
in any race, are capable of prompt
and high development, for Hottentots
and Negroes have become excellent
musicians, although in their
native countries they rarely
practise anything that we should
consider music. Schweinfurth,
however, was pleased with some
of the simple melodies which
he heard in the interior of Africa.
But there is nothing anomalous
in the musical faculties lying
dormant in man: some species
of birds which never naturally
sing, can without much difficulty
be taught to do so; thus a house-sparrow
has learnt the song of a linnet.
As these two species are closely
allied, and belong to the order
of Insessores, which includes
nearly all the singing-birds
in the world, it is possible
that a progenitor of the sparrow
may have been a songster. It
is more remarkable that parrots,
belonging to a group distinct
from the Insessores, and having
differently constructed vocal
organs, can be taught not only
to speak, but to pipe or whistle
tunes invented by man, so that
they must have some musical capacity.
Nevertheless it would be very
rash to assume that parrots are
descended from some ancient form
which was a songster. Many cases
could be advanced of organs and
instincts originally adapted
for one purpose, having been
utilised for some distinct purpose.*
Hence the capacity for high musical
development which the savage
races of man possess, may be
due either to the practice by
our semi-human progenitors of
some rude form of music, or simply
to their having acquired the
proper vocal organs for a different
purpose. But in this latter ease
we must assume, as in the above
instance of parrots, and as seems
to occur with many animals, that
they already possessed some sense
of melody.
* Since this
chapter was printed, I have
seen a valuable article
by Mr. Chauncey Wright (North
American Review, Oct., 1870,
page 293), who, in discussing
the above subject, remarks, "There
are many consequences of the
ultimate laws or uniformities
of nature, through which the
acquisition of one useful power
will bring with it many resulting
advantages as well as limiting
disadvantages, actual or possible,
which the principle of utility
may not have comprehended in
its action." As I have attempted
to shew in an early chapter of
this work, this principle has
an important bearing on the acquisition
by man of some of his mental
characteristics.
Music arouses
in us various emotions, but
not the more terrible
ones of horror, fear, rage, &c.
It awakens the gentler feelings
of tenderness and love, which
readily pass into devotion. In
the Chinese annals it is said, "Music
hath the power of making heaven
descend upon earth." It likewise
stirs up in us the sense of triumph
and the glorious ardour for war.
These powerful and mingled feelings
may well give rise to the sense
of sublimity. We can concentrate,
as Dr. Seemann observes, greater
intensity of feeling in a single
musical note than in pages of
writing. It is probable that
nearly the same emotions, but
much weaker and far less complex,
are felt by birds when the male
pours forth his full volume of
song, in rivalry with other males,
to captivate the female. Love
is still the commonest theme
of our songs. As Herbert Spencer
remarks, "music arouses dormant
sentiments of which we had not
conceived the possibility, and
do not know the meaning; or,
as Richter says, tells us of
things we have not seen and shall
not see." Conversely, when vivid
emotions are felt and expressed
by the orator, or even in common
speech, musical cadences and
rhythm are instinctively used.
The negro in Africa when excited
often bursts forth in song; "another
will reply in song, whilst the
company, as if touched by a musical
wave, murmur a chorus in perfect
unison."* Even monkeys express
strong feelings in different
tones- anger and impatience by
low,- fear and pain by high notes.*(2)
The sensations and ideas thus
excited in us by music, or expressed
by the cadences of oratory, appear
from their vagueness, yet depth,
like mental reversions to the
emotions and thoughts of a long-past
age.
* Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom
of Man, 1872, p. 441, and African
Sketch Book, 1873, vol. ii.,
p. 313.
*(2) Rengger, Saugethiere von
Paraguay, s. 49.
All these facts with respect
to music and impassioned speech
become intelligible to a certain
extent, if we may assume that
musical tones and rhythm were
used by our half-human ancestors,
during the season of courtship,
when animals of all kinds are
excited not only by love, but
by the strong passions of jealousy,
rivalry, and triumph. From the
deeply-laid principle of inherited
associations, musical tones in
this case would be likely to
call up vaguely and indefinitely
the strong emotions of a long-past
age. As we have every reason
to suppose that articulate speech
is one of the latest, as it certainly
is the highest, of the arts acquired
by man, and as the instinctive
power of producing musical notes
and rhythms is developed low
down in the animal series, it
would be altogether opposed to
the principle of evolution, if
we were to admit that man's musical
capacity has been developed from
the tones used in impassioned
speech. We must suppose that
the rhythms and cadences of oratory
are derived from previously developed
musical powers.* We can thus
understand how it is that music,
dancing, song, and poetry are
such very ancient arts. We may
go even further than this, and,
as remarked in a former chapter,
believe that musical sounds afforded
one of the bases for the development
of language.*(2)
* See the very
interesting discussion on the "Origin and Function of
Music," by Mr. Herbert Spencer,
in his collected Essays, 1858,
p. 359. Mr. Spencer comes to
an exactly opposite conclusion
to that at which I have arrived.
He concludes, as did Diderot
formerly, that the cadences used
in emotional speech afford the
foundation from which music has
been developed; whilst I conclude
that musical notes and rhythm
were first acquired by the male
or female progenitors of mankind
for the sake of charming the
opposite sex. Thus musical tones
became firmly associated with
some of the strongest passions
an animal is capable of feeling,
and are consequently used instinctively,
or through association when strong
emotions are expressed in speech.
Mr. Spencer does not offer any
satisfactory explanation, nor
can I, why high or deep notes
should be expressive, both with
man and the lower animals, of
certain emotions. Mr. Spencer
gives also an interesting discussion
on the relations between poetry,
recitative and song.
*(2) I find
in Lord Monboddo's Origin of
Language, vol. i.,
1774, p. 469, that Dr. Blacklock
likewise thought "that the first
language among men was music,
and that before our ideas were
expressed by articulate sounds,
they were communicated by tones
varied according to different
degrees of gravity and acuteness."
As the males of several quadrumanous
animals have their vocal organs
much more developed than in the
females, and as a gibbon, one
of the anthropomorphous apes,
pours forth a whole octave of
musical notes and may be said
to sing, it appears probable
that the progenitors of man,
either the males or females or
both sexes, before acquiring
the power of expressing their
mutual love in articulate language,
endeavoured to charm each other
with musical notes and rhythm.
So little is known about the
use of the voice by the Quadrumana
during the season of love, that
we have no means of judging whether
the habit of singing was first
acquired by our male or female
ancestors. Women are generally
thought to possess sweeter voices
than men, and as far as this
serves as any guide, we may infer
that they first acquired musical
powers in order to attract the
other sex.* But if so, this must
have occurred long ago, before
our ancestors had become sufficiently
human to treat and value their
women merely as useful slaves.
The impassioned orator, bard,
or musician, when with his varied
tones and cadences he excites
the strongest emotions in his
hearers, little suspects that
he uses the same means by which
his half-human ancestors long
ago aroused each other's ardent
passions, during their courtship
and rivalry.
* See an interesting discussion
on this subject by Haeckel, Generelle
Morphologie, B. ii., 1866, s.
246.
The Influence of Beauty in determining
the Marriages of Mankind.- In
civilised life man is largely,
but by no means exclusively,
influenced in the choice of his
wife by external appearance;
but we are chiefly concerned
with primeval times, and our
only means of forming a judgment
on this subject is to study the
habits of existing semi-civilised
and savage nations. If it can
be shewn that the men of different
races prefer women having various
characteristics, or conversely
with the women, we have then
to enquire whether such choice,
continued during many generations,
would produce any sensible effect
on the race, either on one sex
or both according to the form
of inheritance which has prevailed.
It will be well
first to shew in some detail
that savages pay
the greatest attention to their
personal appearance.* That they
have a passion for ornament is
notorious; and an English philosopher
goes so far as to maintain that
clothes were first made for ornament
and not for warmth. As Professor
Waitz remarks, "however poor
and miserable man is, he finds
a pleasure in adorning himself." The
extravagance of the naked Indians
of South America in decorating
themselves is shewn "by a man
of large stature gaining with
difficulty enough by the labour
of a fortnight to procure in
exchange the chica necessary
to paint himself red."*(2) The
ancient barbarians of Europe
during the Reindeer period brought
to their caves any brilliant
or singular objects which they
happened to find. Savages at
the present day everywhere deck
themselves with plumes, necklaces,
armlets, ear-rings, &c. They
paint themselves in the most
diversified manner. "If painted
nations," as Humboldt observes, "had
been examined with the same attention
as clothed nations, it would
have been perceived that the
most fertile imagination and
the most mutable caprice have
created the fashions of painting,
as well as those of garments."
* A full and excellent account
of the manner in which savages
in all parts of the world ornament
themselves, is given by the Italian
traveller, Professor Mantegazza,
Rio de la Plata, Viaggi e Studi,
1867, pp. 525-545; all the following
statements, when other references
are not given, are taken from
this work. See, also, Waitz,
Introduction to Anthropology,
Eng. translat., vol. i., 1863,
p. 275, et passim. Lawrence also
gives very full details in his
Lectures on Physiology, 1822.
Since this chapter was written
Sir J. Lubbock has published
his Origin of Civilisation, 1870,
in which there is an interesting
chapter on the present subject,
and from which (pp. 42, 48) I
have taken some facts about savages
dyeing their teeth and hair,
and piercing their teeth.
*(2) Humboldt, Personal Narrative,
Eng. translat., vol. iv., p.
515; on the imagination shewn
in painting the body, p. 522;
on modifying the form of the
calf of the leg, p. 466.
In one part
of Africa the eyelids are coloured
black; in another
the nails are coloured yellow
or purple. In many places the
hair is dyed of various tints.
In different countries the teeth
are stained black, red, blue, &c.,
and in the Malay Archipelago
it is thought shameful to have
white teeth "like those of a
dog." Not one great country can
be named, from the polar regions
in the north to New Zealand in
the south, in which the aborigines
do not tattoo themselves. This
practice was followed by the
Jews of old, and by the ancient
Britons. In Africa some of the
natives tattoo themselves, but
it is a much more common practice
to raise protuberances by rubbing
salt into incisions made in various
parts of the body; and these
are considered by the inhabitants
of Kordofan and Darfur "to be
great personal attractions." In
the Arab countries no beauty
can be perfect until the cheeks "or
temples have been gashed."* In
South America, as Humboldt remarks, "a
mother would be accused of culpable
indifference towards her children,
if she did not employ artificial
means to shape the calf of the
leg after the fashion of the
country." In the Old and New
Worlds the shape of the skull
was formerly modified during
infancy in the most extraordinary
manner, as is still the case
in many places, and such deformities
are considered ornamental. For
instance, the savages of Colombia*(2)
deem a much flattened head "an
essential point of beauty."
* The Nile Tributaries, 1867;
The Albert N'yanza, 1866, vol.
i., p. 218.
*(2) Quoted by Prichard, Physical
History of Mankind, 4th ed.,
vol. i., 1851, p. 321.
The hair is
treated with especial care
in various countries; it
is allowed to grow to full length,
so as to reach to the ground,
or is combed into "a compact
frizzled mop, which is the Papuan's
pride and glory."* In northern
Africa "a man requires a period
of from eight to ten years to
perfect his coiffure." With other
nations the head is shaved, and
in parts of South America and
Africa even the eyebrows and
eyelashes are eradicated. The
natives of the Upper Nile knock
out the four front teeth, saying
that they do not wish to resemble
brutes. Further south, the Bakotas
knock out only the two upper
incisors, which, as Livingstone*(2)
remarks, gives the face a hideous
appearance, owing to the prominence
of the lower jaw; but these people
think the presence of the incisors
most unsightly, and on beholding
some Europeans, cried out, "Look
at the great teeth!" The chief
Sebituani tried in vain to alter
this fashion. In various parts
of Africa and in the Malay Archipelago
the natives file the incisors
into points like those of a saw,
or pierce them with holes, into
which they insert studs.
* On the Papuans, Wallace, The
Malay Archipelago, vol. ii.,
p. 445. On the coiffure of the
Africans, Sir S. Baker, The Albert
N'yanza, vol. i., p. 210.
*(2) Travels, p. 533.
As the face
with us is chiefly admired
for its beauty, so with
savages it is the chief seat
of mutilation. In all quarters
of the world the septum, and
more rarely the wings of the
nose are pierced; rings, sticks,
feathers, and other ornaments
being inserted into the boles.
The ears are everywhere piereed
and similarly ornamented, and
with the Botocudos and Lenguas
of South America the hole is
gradually so much enlarged that
the lower edge touches the shoulder.
In North and South America and
in Africa either the upper or
lower lip is pierced; and with
the Botocudos the hole in the
lower lip is so large that a
disc of wood, four inches in
diameter, is placed in it. Mantegazza
gives a curious account of the
shame felt by a South American
native, and of the ridicule which
he excited, when he sold his
tembeta,- the large coloured
piece of wood which is passed
through the hole. In central
Africa the women perforate the
lower lip and wear a crystal,
which, from the movement of the
tongue, has "a wriggling motion,
indescribably ludicrous during
conversation." The wife of the
chief of Latooka told Sir S.
Baker* that Lady Baker "would
be much improved if she would
extract her four front teeth
from the lower jaw, and wear
the long pointed polished crystal
in her under lip." Further south
with the Makalolo, the upper
lip is perforated, and a large
metal and bamboo ring, called
a pelele, is worn in the hole. "This
caused the lip in one case to
project two inches beyond the
tip of the nose; and when the
lady smiled, the contraction
of the muscles elevated it over
her eyes. 'Why do the women wear
these things?' the venerable
chief, Chinsurdi, was asked.
Evidently surprised at such a
stupid question, he replied,
'For beauty! They are the only
beautiful things women have;
men have beards, women have none.
What kind of a person would she
be without the pelele? She would
not be a woman at all with a
mouth like a man, but no beard.'"*(2)
* The Albert N'Yanza, 1866,
vol. i., p. 217.
*(2) Livingstone, British Association,
1860; report given in the Athenaeum,
July 7, 1860, p. 29.
Hardly any part
of the body, which can be unnaturally
modified,
has escaped. The amount of suffering
thus caused must have been extreme,
for many of the operations require
several years for their completion,
so that the idea of their necessity
must be imperative. The motives
are various; the men paint their
bodies to make themselves appear
terrible in battle; certain mutilations
are connected with religious
rites, or they mark the age of
puberty, or the rank of the man,
or they serve to distinguish
the tribes. Amongst savages the
same fashions prevail for long
periods,* and thus mutilations,
from whatever cause first made,
soon come to be valued as distinctive
marks. But self-adornment, vanity,
and the admiration of others,
seem to be the commonest motives.
In regard to tattooing, I was
told by the missionaries in New
Zealand that when they tried
to persuade some girls to give
up the practice, they answered, "We
must just have a few lines on
our lips; else when we grow old
we shall be so very ugly." With
the men of New Zealand, a most
capable judge*(2) says, "to have
fine tattooed faces was the great
ambition of the young, both to
render themselves attractive
to the ladies, and conspicuous
in war." A star tattooed on the
forehead and a spot on the chin
are thought by the women in one
part of Africa to be irresistible
attractions.*(3) 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, &c., 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.
* Sir S. Baker
(ibid., vol. i., p. 210) speaking
of the natives
of central Africa says, "Every
tribe has a distinct and unchanging
fashion for dressing the hair." See
Agassiz (Journey in Brazil, 1868,
p. 318) on invariability of the
tattooing of Amazonian Indians.
*(2) Rev. R. Taylor, New Zealand
and its Inhabitants, 1855, p.
152.
*(3) Mantegazza, Viaggi e Studi,
p. 542.
Having made
these preliminary remarks on
the admiration felt
by savages for various ornaments,
and for deformities most unsightly
in our eyes, let us see how far
the men are attracted by the
appearance of their women, and
what are their ideas of beauty.
I have heard it maintained that
savages are quite indifferent
about the beauty of their women,
valuing them solely as slaves;
it may therefore be well to observe
that this conclusion does not
at all agree with the care which
the women take in ornamenting
themselves, or with their vanity.
Burchell* gives an amusing account
of a bush-woman who used as much
grease, red ochre, and shining
powder "as would have ruined
any but a very rich husband." She
displayed also "much vanity and
too evident a consciousness of
her superiority." Mr. Winwood
Reade informs me that the negroes
of the west coast often discuss
the beauty of their women. Some
competent observers have attributed
the fearfully common practice
of infanticide partly to the
desire felt by the women to retain
their good looks.*(2) In several
regions the women wear charms
and use love-philters to gain
the affections of the men; and
Mr. Brown enumerates four plants
used for this purpose by the
women of north-western America.*(3)
* Travels in South Africa, 1824,
vol. i.. p. 414.
*(2) See, for
references, Gerland, Uber das
Aussterben der Naturvolker,
1868, ss. 51, 53, 55; also Azara,
Voyages, &c., tom. ii., p. 116.
*(3) On the vegetable productions
used by the north-western American
Indians, see Pharmaceutical Journal,
vol. x.
Hearne,* an
excellent observer, who lived
many years with the
American Indians, says, in speaking
of the women, "Ask a northern
Indian what is beauty, and he
will answer, a broad flat face,
small eyes, high cheek-bones,
three or four broad black lines
across each cheek, a low forehead,
a large broad chin, a clumsy
hook nose, a tawny hide, and
breasts hanging down to the belt." Pallas,
who visited the northern parts
of the Chinese empire, says, "those
women are preferred who have
the Mandschu form; that is to
say, a broad face, high cheek-bones,
very broad noses, and enormous
ears";*(2) and Vogt remarks that
the obliquity of the eye, which
is proper to the Chinese and
Japanese, is exaggerated in their
pictures for the purpose, as
it "seems, of exhibiting its
beauty, as contrasted with the
eye of the red-haired barbarians." It
is well known, as Huc repeatedly
remarks, that the Chinese of
the interior think Europeans
hideous, with their white skins
and prominent noses. The nose
is far from being too prominent,
according to our ideas, in the
natives of Ceylon; yet "the Chinese
in the seventh century, accustomed
to the flat features of the Mongol
races, were surprised at the
prominent noses of the Cingalese;
and Thsang described them as
having 'the beak of a bird, with
the body of a man.'"
* A Journey from Prince of Wales
Fort, 8vo. ed., 1796, p. 89.
*(2) Quoted by Prichard, Physical
History of Mankind, 3rd ed.,
vol. iv., 1844, p. 519; Vogt,
Lectures on Man, Eng. translat.,
p. 129. On the opinion of the
Chinese on the Cingalese, E.
Tennent, Ceylon, 1859, vol. ii.,
p. 107.
Finlayson, after
minutely describing the people
of Cochin China, says
that their rounded heads and
faces are their chief characteristics;
and, he adds, "the roundness
of the whole countenance is more
striking in the women, who are
reckoned beautiful in proportion
as they display this form of
face." The Siamese have small
noses with divergent nostrils,
a wide mouth, rather thick lips,
a remarkably large face, with
very high and broad cheek-bones.
It is, therefore, not wonderful
that "beauty, according to our
notion, is a stranger to them.
Yet they consider their own females
to be much more beautiful than
those of Europe."*
* Prichard, as taken from Crawfurd
and Finlayson, Phys. Hist. of
Mankind, vol. iv., pp. 534, 535.
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 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."*(2)
* Idem illustrissimus viator
dixit mihi praecinctorium vel
tabulam foeminae, quod nobis
teterrimum est, quondam permagno
aestimari ab hominibus in hac
gente. Nunc res mutata est, et
censent talem conformationem
minime optandam esse.
*(2) The Anthropological Review,
November, 1864, p. 237. For additional
references, see Waitz, Introduction
to Anthropology, Eng. translat.,
1863, vol. i., p. 105.
With respect
to colour, the negroes rallied
Mungo Park on
the whiteness of his skin and
the prominence of his nose, both
of which they considered as "unsightly
and unnatural conformations." He
in return praised the glossy
jet of their skins and the lovely
depression of their noses; this
they said was "honeymouth," nevertheless
they gave him food. The African
Moors, also, "knitted their brows
and seemed to shudder" at the
whiteness of his skin. On the
eastern coast, the negro boys
when they saw Burton, cried out, "Look
at the white man; does he not
look like a white ape?" On the
western coast, as Mr. Winwood
Reade informs me, the negroes
admire a very black skin more
than one of a lighter tint. But
their horror of whiteness may
be attributed, according to this
same traveller, partly to the
belief held by most negroes that
demons and spirits are white,
and partly to their thinking
it a sign of ill-health.
The Banyai of
the more southern part of the
continent are negroes,
but "a great many of them are
of a light coffee-and-milk colour,
and, indeed, this colour is considered
handsome throughout the whole
country"; so that here we have
a different standard of taste.
With the Kaffirs, who differ
much from negroes, "the skin,
except among the tribes near
Delagoa Bay, is not usually black,
the prevailing colour being a
mixture of black and red, the
most common shade being chocolate.
Dark complexions, as being most
common, are naturally held in
the highest esteem. To be told
that he is light-coloured, or
like a white man, would be deemed
a very poor compliment by a Kaffir.
I have heard of one unfortunate
man who was so very fair that
no girl would marry him." One
of the titles of the Zulu king
is, "You who are black."* Mr.
Galton, in speaking to me about
the natives of S. Africa, remarked
that their ideas of beauty seem
very different from ours; for
in one tribe two slim, slight,
and pretty girls were not admired
by the natives.
* Mungo Park's Travels in Africa
4to., 1816, pp. 53, 131. Burton's
statement is quoted by Schaaffhausen,
Archiv. fur Anthropologie, 1866,
s. 163. On the Banyai, Livingstone,
Travels, p. 64. On the Kaffirs,
the Rev. J. Shooter, The Kafirs
of Natal and the Zulu Country,
1857, p. 1.
Turning to other
quarters of the world; in Java,
a yellow,
not a white girl, is considered,
according to Madame Pfeiffer,
a beauty. A man of Cochin China "spoke
with contempt of the wife of
the English Ambassador, that
she had white teeth like a dog,
and a rosy colour like that of
potato-flowers." We have seen
that the Chinese dislike our
white skin, and that the N. Americans
admire "a tawny hide." In S.
America, the Yuracaras, who inhabit
the wooded, damp slopes of the
eastern Cordillera, are remarkably
pale-coloured, as their name
in their own language expresses;
nevertheless they consider European
women as very inferior to their
own.*
* For the Javans and Cochin-Chinese,
see Waitz, Introduct. to Anthropology,
Eng. translat., vol. i., p. 305.
On the Yuracaras, A. d'Orbigny,
as quoted in Prichard, Physical
History of Mankind, vol. v.,
3rd ed., p. 476.
In several of
the tribes of North America
the hair on the
head grows to a wonderful length;
and Catlin gives a curious proof
how much this is esteemed, for
the chief of the Crows was elected
to this office from having the
longest hair of any man in the
tribe, namely ten feet and seven
inches. The Aymaras and Quechuas
of S. America, likewise have
very long hair; and this, as
Mr. D. Forbes informs me, is
so much valued as a beauty, that
cutting it off was the severest
punishment which he could inflict
on them. In both the northern
and southern halves of the continent
the natives sometimes increase
the apparent length of their
hair by weaving into it fibrous
substances. Although the hair
on the head is thus cherished,
that on the face is considered
by the North American Indians "as
very vulgar," and every hair
is carefully eradicated. This
practice prevails throughout
the American continent from Vancouver's
Island in the north to Tierra
del Fuego in the south. When
York Minster, a Fuegian on board
the Beagle, was taken back to
his country, the natives told
him be ought to pull out the
few short hairs on his face.
They also threatened a young
missionary, who was left for
a time with them, to strip him
naked, and pluck the hair from
his face and body, yet he was
far from being a hairy man. This
fashion is carried so far that
the Indians of Paraguay eradicate
their eyebrows and eyelashes,
saying that they do not wish
to be like horses.*
* North American Indians, by
G. Catlin, 3rd ed., 1842, vol.
i., p. 49; vol. ii, p. 227. On
the natives of Vancouver's Island,
see Sproat, Scenes and Studies
of Savage Life, 1868, p. 25.
On the Indians of Paraguay, Azara,
Voyages, tom. ii., p. 105.
It is remarkable
that throughout the world the
races which are
almost completely destitute of
a beard dislike hairs on the
face and body, and take pains
to eradicate them. The Kalmucks
are beardless, and they are well
known, like the Americans, to
pluck out all straggling hairs;
and so it is with the Polynesians,
some of the Malays, and the Siamese.
Mr. Veitch states that the Japanese
ladies "all objected to our whiskers,
considering them very ugly, and
told us to cut them off, and
be like Japanese men." The New
Zealanders have short, curled
beards; yet they formerly plucked
out the hairs on the face. They
had a saying that "there is no
woman for a hairy man"; but it
would appear that the fashion
has changed in New Zealand, perhaps
owing to the presence of Europeans,
and I am assured that beards
are now admired by the Maories.*
* On the Siamese,
Prichard, ibid., vol. iv.,
p. 533. On the
Japanese, Veitch in Gardeners'
Chronicle, 1860, p. 1104. On
the New Zealanders, Mantegazza,
Viaggi e Studi, 1867, p. 526.
For the other nations mentioned,
see references in Lawrence, Lectures
on Physiology, &c., 1822, p.
272.
On the other
hand, bearded races admire
and greatly value their
beards; among the Anglo-Saxons
every part of the body had a
recognised value; "the loss of
the beard being estimated at
twenty shillings, while the breaking
of a thigh was fixed at only
twelve."* In the East men swear
solemnly by their beards. We
have seen that Chinsurdi, the
chief of the Makalolo in Africa,
thought that beards were a great
ornament. In the Pacific the
Fijian's beard is "profuse and
bushy, and is his greatest pride";
whilst the inhabitants of the
adjacent archipelagoes of Tonga
and Samoa are "beardless, and
abhor a rough chin." In one island
alone of the Ellice group "the
men are heavily bearded, and
not a little proud thereof."*(2)
* Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation,
1870, p. 321.
*(2) Dr. Barnard Davis quotes
Mr. Prichard and others for these
facts in regard to the Polynesians,
in Anthropolog. Review, April,
1870, pp. 185, 191.
We thus see how widely the different
races of man differ in their
taste for the beautiful. In every
nation sufficiently advanced
to have made effigies of their
gods or of their deified rulers,
the sculptors no doubt have endeavoured
to express their highest ideal
of beauty and grandeur.* Under
this point of view it is well
to compare in our mind the Jupiter
or Apollo of the Greeks with
the Egyptian or Assyrian statues;
and these with the hideous bas-reliefs
on the ruined buildings of Central
America.
* Ch. Comte has remarks to this
effect in his Traite de Legislation,
3rd ed., 1837, p. 136.
I have met with
very few statements opposed
to this conclusion. Mr.
Winwood Reade, however, who has
had ample opportunities for observation,
not only with the negroes of
the west coast of Africa, but
with those of the interior who
have never associated with Europeans,
is convinced that their ideas
of beauty are on the whole the
same as ours; and Dr. Rohlfs
writes to me to the same effect
with respect to Bornu and the
countries inhabited by the Pullo
tribes. Mr. Reade found that
he agreed with the negroes in
their estimation of the beauty
of the native girls; and that
their appreciation of the beauty
of European women corresponded
with ours. They admire long hair,
and use artificial means to make
it appear abundant; they admire
also a beard, though themselves
very scantily provided. Mr. Reade
feels doubtful what kind of nose
is most appreciated; a girl has
been heard to say, "I do not
want to marry him, he has got
no nose"; and this shows that
a very flat nose is not admired.
We should, however, bear in mind
that the depressed, broad noses
and projecting jaws of the negroes
of the west coast are exceptional
types with the inhabitants of
Africa. Notwithstanding the foregoing
statements, Mr. Reade admits
that negroes "do not like the
colour of our skin; they look
on blue eyes with aversion, and
they think our noses too long
and our lips too thin." He does
not think it probable that negroes
would ever prefer the most beautiful
European woman, on the mere grounds
of physical admiration, to a
good-looking negress.*
* The African Sketch Book, vol.
ii., 1873, pp. 253, 394, 521.
The Fuegians, as I have been
informed by a missionary who
long resided with them, consider
European women as extremely beautiful;
but from what we have seen of
the judgment of the other aborigines
of America, I cannot but think
that this must be a mistake,
unless indeed the statement refers
to the few Fuegians who have
lived for some time with Europeans,
and who must consider us as superior
beings. I should add that a most
experienced observer, Capt. Burton,
believes that a woman whom we
consider beautiful is admired
throughout the world. Anthropological
Review, March, 1864, p. 245.
The general
truth of the principle, long
ago insisted on by Humboldt,*
that man admires and often tries
to exaggerate whatever characters
nature may have given him, is
shown in many ways. The practice
of beardless races extirpating
every trace of a beard, and often
all the hairs on the body affords
one illustration. The skull has
been greatly modified during
ancient and modern times by many
nations; and there can be little
doubt that this has been practised,
especially in N. and S. America,
in order to exaggerate some natural
and admired peculiarity. Many
American Indians are known to
admire a head so extremely flattened
as to appear to us idiotic. The
natives on the northwestern coast
compress the head into a pointed
cone; and it is their constant
practice to gather the hair into
a knot on the top of the head,
for the sake, as Dr. Wilson remarks, "of
increasing the apparent elevation
of the favourite conoid form." The
inhabitants of Arakhan admire
a broad, smooth forehead, and
in order to produce it, they
fasten a plate of lead on the
heads of the new-born children.
On the other hand, "a broad,
well-rounded occiput is considered
a great beauty" by the natives
of the Fiji Islands.*(2)
* Personal Narrative, Eng. translat.,
vol. iv., p. 518, and elsewhere.
Mantegazza, in his Viaggi e Studi,
strongly insists on this same
principle.
*(2) On the skulls of the American
tribes, see Nott and Gliddon,
Types of Mankind, 1854, p. 440;
Prichard, Physical History of
Mankind, vol. i., 3rd ed., p.
321; on the natives of Arakhan,
ibid., vol. iv., p. 537. Wilson,
Physical Ethnology, Smithsonian
Institution, 1863, p. 288; on
the Fijians, p. 290. Sir J. Lubbock
(Prehistoric Times, 2nd ed.,
1869, p. 506) gives an excellent
resume on this subject.
As with the
skull, so with the nose; the
ancient Huns during
the age of Attila were accustomed
to flatten the noses of their
infants with bandages, "for the
sake of exaggerating a natural
conformation." With the Tahitians,
to be called long-nose is considered
as an insult, and they compress
the noses and foreheads of their
children for the sake of beauty.
The same holds with the Malays
of Sumatra, the Hottentots, certain
Negroes, and the natives of Brazil.*
The Chinese have by nature unusually
small feet;*(2) and it is well
known that the women of the upper
classes distort their feet to
make them still smaller. Lastly,
Humboldt thinks that the American
Indians prefer colouring their
bodies with red paint in order
to exaggerate their natural tint;
and until recently European women
added to their naturally bright
colours by rouge and white cosmetics;
but it may be doubted whether
barbarous nations have generally
had any such intention in painting
themselves.
* On the Huns, Godron, De l'Espece,
tom. ii., 1859, p. 300. On the
Tahitians, Waitz, Anthropology,
Eng. translat., vol. i., p. 305.
Marsden, quoted by Prichard,
Phys. Hist. of Mankind, 3rd edit.,
vol. v., p. 67. Lawrence, Lectures
on Physiology, p. 337.
*(2) This fact was ascertained
in the Reise der Novara: Anthropolog.
Theil., Dr. Weisbach, 1867, s.
265.
In the fashions
of our own dress we see exactly
the same principle
and the same desire to carry
every point to an extreme; we
exhibit, also, the same spirit
of emulation. But the fashions
of savages are far more permanent
than ours; and whenever their
bodies are artificially modified,
this is necessarily the case.
The Arab women of the Upper Nile
occupy about three days in dressing
their hair; they never imitate
other tribes, "but simply vie
with each other in the superlativeness
of their own style." Dr. Wilson,
in speaking of the compressed
skulls of various American races,
adds, "such usages are among
the least eradicable, and long
survive the shock of revolutions
that change dynasties and efface
more important national peculiarities."*
The same principle comes into
play in the art of breeding;
and we can thus understand, as
I have elsewhere explained,*(2)
the wonderful development of
the many races of animals and
plants, which have been kept
merely for ornament. Fanciers
always wish each character to
be somewhat increased; they do
not admire a medium standard;
they certainly do not desire
any great and abrupt change in
the character of their breeds;
they admire solely what they
are accustomed to, but they ardently
desire to see each characteristic
feature a little more developed.
* Smithsonian Institution, 1863,
p. 289. On the fashions of Arab
women, Sir S. Baker, The Nile
Tributaries, 1867, p. 121.
*(2) The Variation of Animals
and Plants under Domestication,
vol. i., p. 214; vol. ii., p.
240.
The senses of man and of the
lower animals seem to be so constituted
that brilliant colours 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
favour 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 civilised
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
cannot endure any great change;
but they like variety, and admire
each characteristic carried to
a moderate extreme.*(2) Men accustomed
to a nearly oval face, to straight
and regular features, and to
bright colours, admire, as we
Europeans know, these points
when strongly developed. On the
other hand, men accustomed to
a broad face, with high cheek-bones,
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 mould, 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.
* Schaaffhausen, Archiv. fur
Anthropologie, 1866, s. 164.
*(2) Mr. Bain has collected
(Mental and Moral Science, 1868,
pp. 304-314) about a dozen more
or less different theories of
the idea of beauty; but none
is quite the same as that here
given. |