that the men rarely marry till twenty years old or more, as before that
age they cannot conquer their rivals.
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 (23. 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.), 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 a 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.
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
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