9 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



new intellectual crusade for an idea. To this there are only two po& 

 sible issues on the one hand, complete failure ; on the other hand, 

 government by a metaphysical priesthood which will not even spare 

 sex in its efforts to crush out all individual preeminence. 



It may, perhaps, be thought that the Anthropologist who endeav- 

 ors to assign woman her true position according to the laws of Na- 

 ture is practically not less tyrannical toward her than the reformer 

 who would have her modelled according to rules of his own. There 

 are, however, two most important distinctions to be borne in mind : In 

 the first place, the man of science knows from observation and experi- 

 ence that when structure is healthily developed, and function of every 

 kind unimpeded, there results the nearest approach to happiness of 

 which any individual is capable. But the Utopian of the a priori 

 school gives no pledge for happiness except a general proposition, or a 

 series of general propositions, well enough suited to the days of Plato, 

 but wholly without value in the days of Darwin. In the second place, 

 the propounders of new schemes make no provision for exceptional 

 cases, but would reduce all mankind to one dead level, while variation 

 is admitted, and the efforts of remarkable individuals are watched with 

 interest by the observers of Nature. The latter, conscious that they 

 are not yet masters of the universe, would allow fair play to all alike, 

 in the hope of learning something new ; the former, tacitly assuming 

 that the apex of knowledge is reached, would issue edicts, from their 

 metaphysical Olympus, for the reconstruction of humanity. 



There cannot be a doubt that human beings exist who, thousrh not 

 of the male sex, have more masculine intellects than many men, and 

 others whose muscular development and power of enduring fatigue 

 are far superior to those of many a conscript. Had conquerors pos- 

 sessed Utopian minds, they would long ago have declared the fit- 

 ness of women for military service, for which they are adapted just as 

 well as for political life. But it is only in such a work as the " Re- 

 public of Plato " that we find a plea for the application of the same 

 physical training to both sexes. In that treatise ' an objector is made 

 to suggest that the spectators would begin to laugh if men and women 

 were seen struggling together in the same arena. The philosopher, 

 whose ideal republic would have possessed an hermaphroditic army, 

 could not see the point of the joke, and expressed a profound contempt 

 for the sneers of the unphilosophic. It is, however, worthy of remark 

 that, although he would gladly have seen women converted into wrest- 

 lers, boxers, and soldiers, and even thought of giving them a share in 

 the government of the state, he declared them to be in all things weakei 

 than man. The idea of absolute equality is of quite modern growth, 

 and has probably been suggested by the undeniable success of the 

 female intellect in many fields of literature. 



To write ingenious novels, and even successful dramas, to paint 



1 Book v., cc. iii. to vi. ; see, also, the " Laws," book vi., c. xxiii. 



