The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. I — John Shaqi
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. IDarwin, Charles
Science
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. I
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology); Human beings -- Origin; Sex differences; Sexual dimorphism (Animals); Sexual selection in animals
turned away with disgust, but relished the juice of lemons.[6] An
American monkey, an Ateles, after getting drunk on brandy, would never
touch it again, and thus was wiser than many men. These trifling facts
prove how similar the nerves of taste must be in monkeys and man, and
how similarly their whole nervous system is affected.
Man is infested with internal parasites, sometimes causing fatal
effects, and is plagued by external parasites, all of which belong to
the same genera or families with those infesting other mammals. Man is
subject like other mammals, birds, and even insects, to that mysterious
law, which causes certain normal processes, such as gestation, as well
as the maturation and duration of various diseases, to follow lunar
periods.[7] His wounds are repaired by the same process of healing; and
the stumps left after the amputation of his limbs occasionally possess,
especially during an early embryonic period, some power of regeneration,
as in the lowest animals.[8]
The whole process of that most important function, the reproduction of
the species, is strikingly the same in all mammals, from the first act
of courtship by the male[9] to the birth and nurturing of the young.
Monkeys are born in almost as helpless a condition as our own infants;
and in certain genera the young differ fully as much in appearance from
the adults, as do our children from their full-grown parents.[10] It has
been urged by some writers as an important distinction, that with man
the young arrive at maturity at a much later age than with any other
animal; but if we look to the races of mankind which inhabit tropical
countries the difference is not great, for the orang is believed not to
be adult till the age of from ten to fifteen years.[11] Man differs
from woman in size, bodily strength, hairyness, &c., as well as in mind,
in the same manner as do the two sexes of many mammals. It is, in short,
scarcely possible to exaggerate the close correspondence in general
structure, in the minute structure of the tissues, in chemical
composition and in constitution, between man and the higher animals,
especially the anthropomorphous apes.
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