7 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in Christendom a review that evidences the fact of progress. There 

 was never before a period when men were judged so little according 

 to their belief as now, and when all studies were pursued with such 

 freedom. The victory of toleration in the purely intellectual sphere 

 has been almost achieved. The principle is almost established that 

 there shall be no restraint upon thinking, speaking, or publishing, 

 whether it be in theology, in philosophy, in criticism, in science, in 

 literature, or in politics. Both the law and public opinion favor such 

 liberty. 







A EEPLY TO MISS HAEDAKEE ON THE WOMAN 



QUESTION. 



By NINA MOEAIS. 



TO classify phenomena as manifestations of a universal law is the 

 intellectual pastime of the nineteenth century. The finding of a 

 Eosetta stone which shall be the key to a bewildering maze of details 

 is a mental rest to the thinker. Hence, a theory which settles a much- 

 vexed question by a scientific ipse dixit is met with a murmur of ad- 

 miration and a sigh of relief. But those who profess to hold a com- 

 mission from Science should not the less be bound to the " scientific 

 rule of deducing no principle which facts will not prove." What Sci- 

 ence says, facts will corroborate, but they will not always wait upon 

 the interpretation of her devotees. About fifty years ago a gentleman 

 of high scientific attainments proved by irreproachable mathematics 

 that no steamship could cross the Atlantic, for by no expedient could 

 a vessel be built which could stow away enough fuel to propel itself to 

 so great a distance. To-day the gentleman might take as an ordinary 

 trip the journey he proved impossible. 



In the March number of " The Popular Science Monthly " Miss 

 Hardaker invokes Science to testify to the natural and irrevocable 

 mental inferiority of the female to the male. A statement of this 

 kind, coming as it does when woman is struggling for every step in 

 her intellectual advance, is peculiarly baneful to her. To cover ancient 

 prejudice with the palladium of scientific argument is to unite the 

 strength "of conservatism and of progress in one attack. An examina- 

 tion of the accuracy of the paper, " Science and the Woman Question," 

 may not, therefore, be ill-timed. 



Two propositions underlie Miss Hardaker's argument. They are 

 as follows : 



1. A large amount of matter represents more force than a small 

 amount. Hence man is superior to woman in body and brain (page 

 579). 



2. "All human energy is an exact equivalent of the amount of 



