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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



If, through ease, self-indulgence, and luxury, 

 through curiosity of learning, through self- 

 esteem and ambitious rivalry of man, a wom- 

 an becomes disloyal to the home-idea, and 

 despises it in her heart, she is, though per- 

 haps unaware of the fact, helping others to 

 upset the social order. 



These -weighty words express the 

 central, illuminating, and all-control- 

 ling conception of the Lenten lectures. 

 It may be that Dr. Dix could not get a 

 patent on these ideas for their novelty, 

 but are they the views which, as the 

 " Post " alleges, have been employed to 

 resist the elevation of woman in all 

 times ? And what is there in them, ex- 

 pressed or implied, that can be con- 

 strued as unfavorable to female eleva- 

 tion ? Dr. Dix is no opponent of the 

 improvement of woman by education ; 

 he only lays down the conditions on 

 which all education which can really 

 elevate her must depend. Eis views 

 may not be new, but they have an ur- 

 gent application to the tendencies of 

 the present time. The prime postulates 

 of all his reasoning are that woman is 

 a different being from man, and has a 

 different sphere from man, and, if she 

 is to be educated in accordance with the 

 requirements of her nature and posi- 

 tion, she must have a different culture 

 from that of man. Ilis telling strict- 

 ures are accordingly leveled against the 

 wide - spread demand of the present 

 time, that woman shall gain access to 

 the men's colleges that they may ob- 

 tain the " higher education " of men, 

 and thus adapt themselves to the sphere 

 and pursuits of men. Dr. Dix main- 

 tains that this would inevitably be sub- 

 versive of the home - feeling ; and he 

 charges that the aspirants for wider 

 careers have become restive tinder the 

 restraints and obligations of their sex, 

 and are cherishing ambitions which lead 

 to a general neglect of home-life, and 

 that will only confirm and strengthen 

 the sentiment of disloyalty to the 

 home. The " Evening Post " charac- 

 terizes these views as a " bold defiance 



of the soundest, most enlightened, 

 most religious, most conscientious judg- 

 ment of the day in all lands,on the con- 

 dition and needs of female education." 



But is Dr. Dix really so far wrong 

 as this extravagant language implies? 

 We have not so read the signs of the 

 times. If there is one thing that per- 

 vades and characterizes what is called 

 the "woman's movement," it is the 

 spirit of revolt against the home, and 

 the determination to escape from it 

 into the outer spheres of activity that 

 will bring her into direct and open 

 competition with men. In all the talk 

 about female "higher education," and 

 in all the new plans for its extension, 

 it is notorious that distinctive home in- 

 terests find no place. The literature of 

 the woman's movement is saturated 

 with denunciations of the vulgarity, 

 drudgery, and slavery of life in the do- 

 mestic sphere; and the "higher edu- 

 cation " proposed is not an attempt to 

 ameliorate, redeem, and exalt it, but 

 a rebellion against it. The education 

 that prepares for the home, that would 

 awaken interest in it, give dignity to 

 it, and transform it, is simply scouted. 

 That the feminine nature is different 

 from the masculine nature different 

 throughout, physically, intellectually, 

 emotionally ; that woman's claims, her 

 duties, and her destiny, are profoundly 

 different from those of men, and that 

 her culture should have relation to the 

 requirements of her nature is derided 

 by all the leaders of the present cru- 

 sade to get women into the men's col- 

 leges. 



The fundamental law of educational 

 progress is differentiation of the mental 

 activities, division of labor. In accord- 

 ance with this law, we have classical 

 colleges, medical colleges, law colleges, 

 engineering colleges, agricultural col- 

 leges, dental colleges, and veterinary 

 colleges, all different in the knowl- 

 edge they impart and the preparation 

 they give for the work of active life. 

 And we have also female colleges 



