page_title: The Descent of Man
section_title: Sexual selection
hierarchical_section_title: The Descent of Man / Sexual selection
context_page_description: The Descent of Man, and selection in relation to sex is a book by Charles Darwin, first published in 1871.
  It was Darwin's second great book on evolutionary theory, with the first being his 1859 work, On the Origin of Species.
  Darwin had said almost nothing about human beings in the Origin, except a single sentence:
  "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history".
  In The Descent of Man, Darwin applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and also explains his theory of sexual selection. He thought the two topics were closely connected.
  In the nearly 12 years between the Origin and the Descent of Man, several writers had written works on the subject. Noteworthy were:
  Man's Place in Nature by Thomas Henry Huxley.
  The Antiquity of Man by Charles Lyell.
  Both were published in 1863.
caption: Illustration from The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex showing the Tufted Coquette Lophornis ornatus, female on left, ornamented male on right.
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