emi-embraces of our round dances, he would silently
wonder at the long-suffering of Allah who had not long ago poured fire
and brimstone on this sinful and shameless generation." Another point of
interest lies in the difference of outlook with which nudity is regarded
by the English and Japanese. Among the latter it has been common for the
sexes to take baths together without clothing, while in England mixed
bathing, even in full costume, is even now by no means universal. Yet in
England the representation of the nude in art meets with no reproach,
though considered improper by the Japanese. Even more striking is the
fact that in civilized countries what is permitted at certain times is
forbidden at others; a woman will expose far more of her person at
night, in the ballroom or theatre, than would be considered seemly by
day in the street; and a bathing costume which would be thought modest
on the beach would meet with reprobation in a town.

Modesty therefore is highly conventional, and to discover its origin the
most primitive tribes must be observed. Among these, in Africa, South
America, Australia and so forth, where clothing is at a minimum, the men
are always more elaborately ornamented than the women. At the same time
it is noticeable that no cases of spinsterhood are found; celibacy, rare
as it is, is confined to the male sex. It is reasonable, therefore, to
conclude that ornament is a stimulus to sexual selection, and this
conclusion is enforced by the fact that among many comparatively nude
peoples clothing is assumed at certain dances which have as their
confessed object the excitation of the passions of the opposite sex.
Many forms of clothing, moreover, seem to call attention to those parts
of the body of which, under the conditions of Western civilization at
the present day, it aims at the concealment; certain articles of dress
worn by the New Hebrideans, the Zulu-Xosa tribes, certain tribes of
Brazil and others, are cases in point. Clothing, moreover--and this is
true also of the present day--almost always tends to accentuate rather
than to conceal the difference between the sexes. Looking at the
question then from the point of view of sexual selection it would seem
that a stage in the progress of human society is marked by the discovery
that concealment affords a greater stimulus than revelation; that the
fact is true is obvious,--even to modern eyes a figure partially clad
appears far more indecent than