Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![ly inftantly defift, but prevent every future attempt. There! is no part of the female character which men revere fo much as modefty. It is the bright eft and moft valuable jewel with which a woman can be adorned. A fine woman without modefty, inftead of gaining the affections of men, becomes an object of contempt, and even of difguft. It is equally the intereft of men to cherifh, and not to injure by indelica- cy, a quality from which they derive fo much pleafure and advantage. It is not unworthy of remark, that modefty is by no means confined to the human fpecies. Evident traces of it are dis- coverable in the brute creation. Even fo low as the infect tribes, moft females repel the firft attacks of the males. If this is not modefty, it has all the effects of it ; for it height- ens the refpedt and affection of the males, and makes them employ every alluring art to procure the regard of the fe- male. It is a curious faft, that moft carnivorous quadrupeds are more averfe from devouring women than men. The bears of Kamtfchatka follow the women when gathering wjld fruits in the woods, and, though moft rapacious animals, do them no farther harm than robbing them of part of the fruit*. The afpect of man being more bold, may, perhaps, create an idea of competition and danger, and excite the ferocity and courage of the animal. There feems to be inftinctive ref- pect, if not dread, of the human kind implanted in moft ani- mals. If this be the cafe, the above fact amounts to a high compliment to the women •, for they receive more favour from the brute creation than the men. With regard to animals, in general, the intercourfe of {ex- es is neceffary for the multiplication of the fpecies. But, as formerly remarked-]-, feveral of the lower tribes are enabled to multiply without the intervention of fexes. In fome am-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21154648_0244.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
