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 (75. Schaaffhausen, Archiv. fur
Anthropologie, 1866, s. 164.) 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. (76. 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.) 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.
CHAPTER XX.
SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAN continued.
On the effects of the continued selection of women according to a
different standard of beauty in each race On the causes which interfere
with sexual selection in civilised and savage nations Conditions
favourable to sexual selection during primeval times On the manner of
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