WOMEN PROFESSIONS AND SKILLED LABOR. 469 



the nervous system principally that the cessation of ovarian function 

 acts reflexly in an abnormal manner. Thus, 500 women divided among 

 them 1,261 forms of cerebral disease, confirming the general belief in 

 the frequency of cerebral diseases at the change of life. 1 The liability 

 to insanity at this period is greater in women than in men. Leaving 

 out of consideration such an extreme result as insanity, yet the lighter 

 shades of nervous derangement which would entirely unfit a woman 

 for healthy mental work are so multiform, and to which men are 

 in no way exposed, that it is evident that at this period woman 

 would encounter some of the most stubborn barriers to her success in 

 professional life. The professions, in giving undue employment to the 

 mind, would greatly predispose a woman so employed to nervous dis- 

 ease at the change of life. Her very employment, to which many are 

 working their way so bravely, is almost sure to entail suffering and 

 danger at a period when educated and refined women, more than any 

 others, require mental and bodily repose, and which the nature of their 

 employment forbids. With this brief notice of this important crisis in 

 the life of woman I shall close this part of the subject, and simply 

 offer, in conclusion, a summary in the form of a 



EECA PITULATION. 



The moral subjection of woman to man is a sexual peculiarity. 



This has been perpetuated and intensified in the human family by 

 the law of heredity. 



That the tendency of civilization and education to antagonize this 

 subjection of the sex is neutralized by the law of sexual selection. 



That the chanoes of intellectually active women leaving issue to 

 inherit their improved mental character are greatly in favor of the 

 average woman in obedience to the law of population. 



That women are retarded in their advancement to professional 

 work by public opinion. 



That women have unconsciously avoided some of the skilled labors 

 by reason of anatomical unfitness, and which will be operative in the 

 future. 



That sexual cerebration is liable to assume undue prominence in 

 the cultivated and ignorant alike, and thus unfit her for professional 

 mental work. 



That Avomen marry in obedience to a sexual law, and not from 

 choice; and that marriage, in the present relation of the sexes, is an 

 obstacle to professional success. 



That if women remain single, in order to enhance their professional 

 success, celibacy entails many physical and mental evils, which will 

 impair their value in professional life. 



That ovulation may, in many cases, be the cause of mental excite- 

 ment, or require strong efforts of repression, which would unfit her, for 

 the time, for professional work. 



1 Dr. Tilt, " The Change of Life in Health and Disease," pp. 164, 185. 



