THE CONDITION OF WOMEN 155 



ally be so prompt as to forbid deliberation or thought. The power of 

 quick and proper action in the innumerable exigencies of ordinary life, 

 independent of reflection, is at least equally important with the power 

 to extend our field of rational action. 



By the former power we hold on to what has already been gained, 

 while the latter power enables us to increase our advantage in the 

 struggle for existence, and to widen our control over the laws of na- 

 ture. Psychological variation is the result of the latter power, psy- 

 chological heredity the result of the former, and psychological evolu- 

 tion and human progress the result of their combined action. 



If the female mind is especially rich in the fruit of this past ex- 

 perience, we should expect women to excel men in the promptness 

 and accuracy with which the conduct of ordinary life is decided, and 

 in the range of circumstances over which this power of rational action 

 without reflection extends ; that is, we should expect men to excel in 

 judgment, women in common sense. 



This important and fundamental difference between the male in- 

 tellect and the female must have a very great influence in determining 

 the occupations or professions in which each sex is most likely to suc- 

 ceed when brought into fair competition with the other sex. 



The originating or progressive power of the male mind is shown 

 in its highest forms by the ability to pursue original trains of abstract 

 thought, to reach the great generalizations of science, and to give rise 

 to the new creations of poetry and art. The capacity for work of this 

 character is of course very exceptional among men ; and, although 

 history shows that it is almost exclusively confined to men, it must 

 not enter into our conception of the ordinary male mind. The same 

 power of originating and of generalizing from new experiences is 

 possessed, in a lesser degree, however, by ordinary men, and gives them 

 an especial fitness for and an advantage over women in those trades, 

 professions, and occupations where competition is closest, and where 

 marked success depends upon the union of the knowledge and skill, 

 shared by competitors, to the inventiveness or originality necessary 

 to gain the advantage over them. 



Women, on the other hand, would seem to be better fitted for those 

 occupations where ready tact and versatility are of more importance 

 than the narrow technical skill which comes from apprenticeship or 

 training, and where success does not involve competition with rivals. 



The adequate examination of this aspect of our subject would 

 furnish material for a treatise, and it is out of place here, as all that is 

 necessary for the purposes of our argument at present is to point out 

 the difference, and to show that it is the necessary consequence of our 

 view of the manner in AvhicK sex has been evolved : that it is not due 

 to the subjection of one sex by the other, but is the means by which 

 the progress of the race is to be accomplished. 



[ To be concluded next month.) 



