The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Charles Darwin

VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.

       LOVE ANTICS AND DANCES.

       DECORATION.

       DISPLAY BY MALE BIRDS OF THEIR PLUMAGE.

       CHAPTER XIV. — BIRDS—continued.

       LENGTH OF COURTSHIP.

       UNPAIRED BIRDS.

       MENTAL QUALITIES OF BIRDS, AND THEIR TASTE FOR THE BEAUTIFUL.

       PREFERENCE FOR A PARTICULAR MALES BY THE FEMALES.

       GRADATION OF SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS.

       ARGUS PHEASANT.

       CHAPTER XV. — Birds—continued.

       CHAPTER XVI. — BIRDS—concluded.

       RULES OR CLASSES OF CASES.

       ON THE COLOUR OF THE PLUMAGE IN RELATION TO PROTECTION.

       A SUMMARY OF THE FOUR CHAPTERS ON BIRDS.

       CHAPTER XVII. — SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALS.

       CHOICE IN PAIRING BY EITHER SEX OF QUADRUPEDS.

       CHAPTER XVIII. — SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALS—continued.

       ODOUR.

       DEVELOPMENT OF THE HAIR.

       COLOUR OF THE HAIR AND OF THE NAKED SKIN.

       EQUAL TRANSMISSION OF ORNAMENTAL CHARACTERS TO BOTH SEXES.

       QUADRUMANA.

       A SUMMARY.

       PART III. — SEXUAL SELECTION IN RELATION TO MAN, AND CONCLUSION.

       CHAPTER XIX. — SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAN.

       LAW OF BATTLE.

       DIFFERENCE IN THE MENTAL POWERS OF THE TWO SEXES.

       VOICE AND MUSICAL POWERS.

       THE INFLUENCE OF BEAUTY IN DETERMINING THE MARRIAGES OF MANKIND.

       CHAPTER XX. — SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAN—continued.

       INFANTICIDE.

       EARLY BETROTHALS AND SLAVERY OF WOMEN.

       THE MANNER OF ACTION OF SEXUAL SELECTION WITH MANKIND.

       ABSENCE OF HAIR ON THE BODY, AND ITS DEVELOPMENT ON THE FACE AND HEAD.

       COLOUR OF THE SKIN.

       A SUMMARY.

       CHAPTER XXI. — GENERAL A SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

       SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE.

       ON SEXUAL SELECTION IN RELATION TO MONKEYS.

       THE END.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

       Table of Contents

      During the successive reprints of the first edition of this work, published in 1871, I was able to introduce several important corrections; and now that more time has elapsed, I have endeavoured to profit by the fiery ordeal through which the book has passed, and have taken advantage of all the criticisms which seem to me sound. I am also greatly indebted to a large number of correspondents for the communication of a surprising number of new facts and remarks. These have been so numerous, that I have been able to use only the more important ones; and of these, as well as of the more important corrections, I will append a list. Some new illustrations have been introduced, and four of the old drawings have been replaced by better ones, done from life by Mr. T.W. Wood. I must especially call attention to some observations which I owe to the kindness of Prof. Huxley (given as a supplement at the end of Part I.), on the nature of the differences between the brains of man and the higher apes. I have been particularly glad to give these observations, because during the last few years several memoirs on the subject have appeared on the Continent, and their importance has been, in some cases, greatly exaggerated by popular writers.

      I may take this opportunity of remarking that my critics frequently assume that I attribute all changes of corporeal structure and mental power exclusively to the natural selection of such variations as are often called spontaneous; whereas, even in the first edition of the 'Origin of Species,' I distinctly stated that great weight must be attributed to the inherited effects of use and disuse, with respect both to the body and mind. I also attributed some amount of modification to the direct and prolonged action of changed conditions of life. Some allowance, too, must