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of measurements taken of various parts of the human body in different races, during his Novara Expedition, it was found that the men in almost every case presented a greater range of variations than women, and, as Mr. Wood has carefully attended to the variations of the muscles of man, Mr. Darwin quotes from him that “the greatest number of abnormalities in each subject is found in males.” He adduces also the testimony of several others who have practically investigated this subject, all of whom agree in their statements that variations in the muscles are more frequent in males than in females. These variations usually consist in a reversion to lower types—a reversion in which muscles proper to lower forms of life make their appearance.

      In an examination of forty male subjects, there was in nineteen of them a rudimentary muscle found which is designated as the ischio-pubic, and in three others of the forty was observed a ligament which represents this muscle; but, in an examination by the same person of thirty female subjects, in only two of them was this muscle developed on both sides, whilst in three others the rudimentary ligament was present. Thus while we observe that about fifty-five per cent. of the males examined were possessed of muscles proper to lower orders, in only about seventeen per cent. of the females under observation did this reversion appear. In a single male subject, seven muscular variations proper to apes were indicated.

      Numberless cases might be cited in which reversions and abnormalities have been developed only in the male line. Of the porcupine men of the Lambert family who lived in London last century, Haeckel says:

      Edward Lambert, born in 1717, was remarkable for a most unusual and monstrous formation of the skin. His whole body was covered with a horny substance, about an inch thick, which rose in the form of numerous thorn-shaped and scale-like processes, more than an inch long. This monstrous formation on the outer skin, or epidermis, was transmitted by Lambert to his sons and grandsons, but not to his granddaughters.34

      According to the testimony of those who have made a study of the various abnormalities in the human organism, the ears of men present a greater range of variations than do those of women, and the cases in which supernumerary digits appear in males are as two to one, compared with females presenting the same structural defect. Of one hundred and fifty-two cases of this kind tabulated by Burt Wilder, eighty-six were males and thirty-nine females, the sex of the remaining twenty-seven being unknown. Mr. Darwin wishes us to remember, however, that “women would more frequently endeavour to conceal a deformity of this kind than men.” Although it is quite natural for women to abhor abnormalities and deformities, it is to be doubted if they would succeed for any considerable length of time in concealing the deformity of an organ which, like the hand, is usually uncovered, and which in waking hours, is in almost constant use.

      One of the principal characters which distinguishes the human animal from the lower orders is the absence of a natural covering for the skin. That mankind have descended from hair-covered progenitors is the inevitable conclusion of all those who accept the theory of the evolution of species, the straggling hairs which are scattered over the body of man being the rudiments of a uniform hairy coat which enveloped his ancestors.

      We are informed that a hairy covering for the body, pointed ears which were capable of movement, and a tail provided with the proper muscles, were among the undoubted characters of the antecedents of the human race. In addition to these, among the males, were developed great canine teeth which were used as weapons against their rivals.

      As the lack of a hairy coat for the body constitutes one of the principal characteristics which distinguishes man from the lower animals, it would seem that a knowledge of the order of time in which the two sexes became divested of their natural covering would serve as a hint to indicate their relative stages of development. In a paper read some years ago at a meeting of the Anthropological Institute in London, Miss Bird (Mrs. Bishop) the well-known traveller, gave a description of the Ainos, a race of people found chiefly in the island of Yezo, and who, it is thought probable, were the original inhabitants of Japan. The peculiarity of this people is, that the men are covered with a thick coat of black hair. The women, we are told, “are not hairy like the men,” but “have soft brown skins.” Upon this subject of hairiness, Mr. Darwin says:

      As the body of woman is less hairy than that of man, and as this character is common to all races, we may conclude that it was our female semi-human ancestors who were first divested of hair, and that this occurred at an extremely remote period before the several races had diverged from a common stock.

      After our female ancestors had acquired the new character, nudity, they must have transmitted it to their own sex, and by continually selecting their mates from among the least hairy, in process of time males too would become divested of their animal covering. Whether or not our semi-human ancestors were subjected to the scorching heat of the torrid zone, nudity must have been better suited to their improved condition, not wholly, however, because of its greater beauty and comfort, but because it was a condition better suited to cleanliness; and, as the hairy coat had become a useless appendage, or was not necessary to their changed conditions, it disappeared from the bodies of females, while doubtless for ages it was retained upon the bodies of males. That hairiness denotes a low stage of development, Mr. Darwin incautiously admits, yet in dealing with this subject he is not disposed to carry his admission to its legitimate conclusion by treating its appearance on the body of man as a test in determining the comparative development of the female and male organisms.

      Idiots, who, by the way, are more numerous among males than among females, are frequently covered with hair, and by the acquirement of other characters more often revert to lower animal types. Mr. Darwin assures us that around sores of long standing stiff hairs are liable to appear, thus showing that hair on the body is indicative of undeveloped tissues and low constitutional conditions. The same writer, however, does not neglect to inform us that the loss of man’s hairy covering was rather an injury to him than otherwise; but whether or not the diminution in the quality of prehension in his toes, the loss of his canines, and the disappearance of his tail have likewise proved detrimental to him, Mr. Darwin fails to state.

      The fact that throughout the vertebrate kingdom males possess rudiments of the various parts appertaining to the reproductive system which properly belong to females, is regarded as evidence that some remote progenitor of this kingdom must have been hermaphrodite, or androgynous, especially as it has been ascertained that at a very early embryonic period both sexes possess true male and female glands. As high in the scale of life as the mammalian class, males are said to possess rudiments of a uterus, while at the same time mammary glands are plainly manifest; which fact would seem to show that in the high state of development indicated by this great class, male organs have not through the processes of differentiation become specialized for the performance of their legitimate functions. In reference to the subject of atavism Mr. Darwin cites as a case of reversion to a former type, an instance in which a man was the possessor of two pairs of mammæ.

      It is true that instances have been observed in which characters peculiar to males have been developed in females. This phenomenon, however, seldom appears among individuals of the higher orders, and among the lower forms of life where it occurs, it is always manifested under low circumstances of nutrition or in cases of old age, disease, or loss of vitality. Instances are cited in which hens, after they have become old or diseased, have taken on characters peculiar to males.

      In all “old-settled” countries women are in excess of men, and this is true, notwithstanding the fact that more boys are born than girls. Regarding the excess of the male over female births, Mr. Darwin quotes from Professor Faye, who says:

      A still greater preponderance of males would be met with, if death struck both sexes in equal proportion in the womb and during birth. But the fact is, that for every one hundred still-born females, we have in several countries from 134.6 to 144.9 still-born males.35

      Statistics show that during the first four or five years of life, more male children die than female.

      Although whenever throughout Mr. Darwin’s Descent of Man he has been pleased to deal with the subject of structural variations, he has given us to understand that they are injurious to the constitution, and although he has shown that their appearance is much more frequent in men than in women, yet he does not seem to realize whither his admissions are leading him. He has

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