The Evidence from Intellectual Differences. 243 



if their parts in the intellectual, moral, and social evo- 

 lution of the race are, like their parts in the reproduc- 

 tive process, complemental, the clear recognition of this 

 diiference must form both the foundation and super- 

 structure of all plans for tlie improvement of women. 



If there is this fundamental difference in the sociolog- 

 ical influence of the sexes, its origin must be souglit in 

 the physiological differences between them, although the 

 subject is now very far removed from the province of 

 ordinary physiology. While we fully recognize the in- 

 significance of the merely animal differences between the 

 sexes, as compared with their intellectual and moral in- 

 fluence, it is none the less true that the origin of the 

 latter is to be found in the former; in the same manner 

 — to use a humble illustration — that the origin of the 

 self-denying, disinterested devotion of a dog to his mas- 

 ter is to be found in that self-negation which is neces- 

 sary in order that a herd of wolves may act in concert 

 under a leader, for the general good. 



In order to trace the origin and significance cf the 

 differences which attain to such complexity and imj)or- 

 tance in the human race, we must carry our retrospect 

 back far beyond the beginning of civilization, and trace 

 the growth and meaning of sex in the lower forms of life. 

 In so doing I shall ask attention to several propositions 

 which may not at first appear to have any bearing upon 

 our subject, or any very close relation to each other. I 

 shall then try to show what this relation is, and point 

 out its bearing upon the education of women. 



Every organism which is born from an ^g^ or seed is a 

 resultant of the two systems of laws or conditions which 

 may be spoken of abstractly as the law of heredity and 

 the law of variation, or, to use the old teleological terms, 

 each organism is a mean between the principle of adhe- 



