woman, in connection with her child-rearing function, a power of sympathy so great that travellers among savages have learned to throw themselves, when in straits, on the pity of females.
Besides family selection, social selection works in many ways to put a premium on the more ami- able type of man. We know that women, being less quarrelsome, learned to associate before their male companions did. It is probable that, like- wise, the more peaceable strains of men betook themselves to group life sooner than did the rest. Now, other things being equal, the larger and bet- ter-knit the group, the better its chances of success in conflict with other groups. While this may not favor the mild and gentle, it tends, at least, to put at a disadvantage the man of savage and solitary mood.
Again, the level of social endowment is raised by the slow ehmination of the quarrelsome. The bullies kill one another, or they are extinguished by the combined action of the peaceable, or else they are disposed of by the agents of authority. In any case there is a weeding-out process, which works in favor of adaptation. Moreover, as soon as men have a free choice between warfare and peaceful industry, the disorderly and bloodthirsty spirits are drained away and devoured by the sword, while the more peaceable elements of the population gain a steadily increasing preponderance. It is well to remember, however, that the gentle may likewise be sifted out, being slain or driven off by the violent, or self-eliminated by a mistaken celibacy. Social selections, therefore, have tended to remove the morally extreme types of men,— the ferocious who taking the sword perish
by the sword, and the gentle who fail to stand up for their rights. It is not certain that their net
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