EQUALITY AND INEQUALITY IX SEX. 189 



of the men of the higher races grows at a rate corresponding with the 

 progress of evolution. According to Broca's investigations, the su- 

 periority of the man's cranial capacity is fifty per cent, more among 

 the French in general, and a hundred and twenty-one per cent, more 

 among the Parisians, than it was in the Cro-Magnon race. Very curi- 

 ously, the cranial capacity of the prehistoric women was greater than 

 that of the women of to-day. It appears demonstrated, says Broca, 

 that the women participating more actively in the labors of the men 

 had at the same time a more considerable cranial capacity than in our 

 days. Zametti, of Sardinia, and Le Bon announce the same view on 

 this point, and Le Bon says that the difference in the average cranial 

 capacity of modern Parisian men and women is nearly double what 

 is observed between the masculine and feminine skulls of Egypt. 



Thus the superiority of women appears everywhere among ancient 

 and modern inferior races, but is never observed among superior races, 

 which are, on the contrary, always characterized by the pre-eminence 

 of the man. Whether we regard species or races, we see evolution 

 constantly advancing from the supremacy of the female to that of the 

 male. 



The same appears to take place in respect to age. Girls grow 

 faster than boys till they are seventeen, after which the man keeps on 

 growing and the woman remains at a stand-still. So, in the intellect- 

 ual point, teachers in mixed schools observe that girls hold the first 

 rank till they are twelve years old, and a lower rank afterward. 

 Woman is, therefore, physically, intellectually, and morally, more pre- 

 cocious than man. Buff on believes that this difference bears a rela- 

 tion to the more solid development of the tissues of men ; but pre- 

 cocity itself, according to the investigations I have reported to the 

 Societe de Biologie, is a character of inferiority for it is always fol- 

 lowed by an arrest of development observable among all females of 

 animals and of men. As a rule, man differs from woman more at the 

 age of maturity than during youth or old age, in such a manner that 

 the maximum of masculine pre-eminence corresponds with the climax 

 of his evolution. 



Whether we consider the organism in general or the several organs 

 separately, we shall find that the differences, null during fetal life 

 and slight at birth, go on increasing till the}' reach their sum at adult 

 age, then diminish during old age. This is the case in respect to 

 stature, where, according to Quetelet and M. Topinard, the difference 

 of one centimetre at birth grows to one of twelve centimetres at 

 maturity, after which a tendency to return to equality manifests itself ; 

 it is so in case of the difference in weight, which increases from three 

 hundred and fifty grammes (or about twelve and one-sixth ounces) 

 at birth to five, eight, or eleven kilogrammes (twelve and a half to 

 twenty-seven pounds), according to different authors, at maturity, 

 and falls off again with advancing age. The heads of boys measure a- 



