The Descent of Man

At a very early period, before man attained to
his present rank in the scale, many of his conditions
would be different from what now obtains
amongst savages. Judging from the analogy
of the lower animals, he would then either
live with a single female, or be a polygamist.
The most powerful and able males would succeed
best in obtaining attractive females. They
would also succeed best in the general struggle
for life, and in defending their females, as well
as their offspring, from enemies of all kinds. At
this early period the ancestors of man would
not be sufficiently advanced in intellect to look
forward to distant contingencies; they would
not foresee that the rearing of all their children,
especially their female children, would make
the struggle for life severer for the tribe. They
would be governed more by their instincts and
less by their reason than are savages at the present
day. They would not at that period have
partially lost one of the strongest of all instincts,
common to all the lower animals, namely the