224 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



from a sort of bondage which the above conditions have made 

 possible. Again, if it should be shown that woman conspicu- 

 ously resembles the infant in body and mind, very unwarranted 

 inferences might be drawn from this. It is true that the infant 

 of the human species has certain curious points of resemblance 

 to the lower animals, notably the ape, but it is equally true that 

 the infant ape has certain marked resemblances to the human 

 species which the adult ape does not have. By analogy we may 

 infer that the human infant has closer resemblance to the more 

 highly developed being of the future than the human adult has, 

 and if woman is more like the child than man is, then she is more 

 representative of the future being. The matter, in fact, reduces 

 itself probably to this : that woman, like the child, represents the 

 race type, while man represents those variable qualities by which 

 mankind adapts itself to its surroundings. Every woman is, as 

 it were, a composite picture of the race, never much worse nor 

 much better than all. Man is, as it were, Nature's experiment, 

 modified to reflect, if possible, the varying conditions of his envi- 

 ronment. If superiority consists in adaptation to present environ- 

 ment, then man is superior ; if it consists in the possession of 

 those underlying qualities which are essential to the race past, 

 present, and future then woman is superior. 



The facts examined in this article, then, lend a certain amount 

 of confirmation to all of the four theories mentioned at the begin- 

 ning, except so far as woman's inferiority may have been implied 

 in them. Woman's more intimate connection with the life his- 

 tory of the race, her childlike, representative, and typical nature, 

 her embodiment of the everlasting essentials of humanity, her 

 at present arrested or retarded development all these are in- 

 dicated by modern anthropological studies. These results are 

 indicated, not proved. They must be verified, supplemented, and 

 no doubt, in some instances, corrected by future studies along 

 these lines. 



From these studies there would be no want of lessons for 

 political and social reformers, if they would learn them. From 

 woman's rich endowment with all that is essentially human, the 

 most devoted enthusiast for woman's rights and equality might 

 gain new inspiration. From her retarded development the educa- 

 tional and political reformer might learn that woman's cause may 

 suffer irretrievable damage if she is plunged too suddenly into 

 duties demanding the same strain and nervous expenditure that 

 is safely borne by man, and if it is attempted to correct in a cen- 

 tury the evil of ages. From woman's childlike nature the thought- 

 ful " spectator of all time and all existence " might learn yet a 

 deeper and more significant lesson. May it not be that woman, 

 representative of the past and future of humanity, whose quali- 



