We cannot do better than have before us at the outset the authors'
statement of their main proposition, in the preface to the new edition
of their work:--
"In all living creatures there are two great lines of variation,
primarily determined by the very nature of protoplasmic change
(metabolism); for the ratio of the constructive (anabolic) changes
to the disruptive (katabolic) ones, that is of income to outlay,
of gains to losses, is a variable one. In one sex, the female, the
balance of debtor and creditor is the more favourable one; the
anabolic processes tend to preponderate, and this profit may be at
first devoted to growth, but later towards offspring, of which she
hence can afford to bear the larger share. To put it more
precisely, the life-ratio of anabolic to katabolic changes, A/K, in
the female is normally greater than the corresponding life-ratio,
a/k, in the male. This for us, is the fundamental, the
physiological, the constitutional difference between the sexes; and
it becomes expressed from the very outset in the contrast between
their essential reproductive elements, and may be traced on into
the more superficial sexual characters."
A little further on (p. 17), the authors say:--
"Without multiplying instances, a review of the animal kingdom, or
a perusal of Darwin's pages, will amply confirm the conclusion that
on an average the females incline to passivity, the males to
activity.
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