WOMAN'S PLACE IN NATURE 143 



mense superiority of the male. It is a common thing to hear of 



the tallness, healthiness, and strength of the young women of 



the day ; and also of the weediness, laziness, and unhealthiness 



of the young men. We can compare them in any train or 



omnibus — not at all to the advantage of the latter. Every day, 



at an early hour in the morning we see hundreds of young 



women hurrying happily and healthily to their shops and offices 



for a hard day's work ; and also, somewhat later, hundreds of 



men smoking cigarettes with bored expressions and evidently 



vacant brains. As for the older men, how dull and stale they 



often are — with not a grain of enthusiasm for anything in the 



world, yet sniffing in a superior manner about the efforts of 



those who attempt any reform whatever. No ; I for one think 



that the woman is on the whole the better of the two, except 



only in the matter of muscular strength. 



And what, I should like to know, have the greatly superior 

 political aptitudes of the men done for humanity all these cen- 

 turies. The great progress of the world in health, prosperity, 

 and general happiness has been due almost entirely to a very 

 few men of genius — mostly men of science, writers, and in- 

 ventors ; and not at all to the politicians. Measure up candidly 

 what these people have actually given to the human race — 

 perhaps a few good factory laws ; to which, by the by, they 

 have almost always been driven by public opinion, that is, by 

 the writers. After endless heat, immense discussions, portentous 

 debates, the formation of endless parties, the interaction of 

 innumerable intrigues, this political mountain has brought forth 

 only this one little mouse. On the other hand, they with their 

 false notions of party, their trained and organised party pre- 

 varication, and the false ideals which they ever hold before the 

 public, are mainly responsible for the international and the inter- 

 social strifes of the day which impede further progress. What 

 do they do for science, art, invention, or morality? — nothing 

 whatever. Their very laws are so badly framed that the 

 lawyers who profit most by that bad framing condemn them. 

 Amateurs at their own art, they do little but confuse the issues 

 which poor humanity is called upon to face. 



But I have nothing to do with the political question of the 

 franchise for women. The answer for that depends, does it 

 not ? on what is the use of the franchise at all — a very difficult 

 problem. But every scientific man, however humble, is con- 



