722 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



undertakings. His part in reproduction became a specialization 

 as compared with that of the female, which more nearly resem- 

 bles the asexual method. So the male became the author of vari- 

 ation in species in two ways : first, by adding to the sources of 

 inheritance ; and second, by his own more numerous specializa- 

 tions. 



In man the mental organization of the sexes expresses these 

 facts in various ways. The sexual mental characteristics of men 

 and women have been described by Lecky, Delaunay, Ladd,* 

 P. G. Hamerton, and others, and with a unanimity that would 

 of itself be authoritative if they did not confirm the belief of 

 thoughtful observers generally. Woman is not only restrained 

 by her reproductive functions from taking the same active part 

 in the world's life as does man ; but, what is more important, she 

 inherits a greater disability from thousands of ages of equal and 

 in some cases greater disability in the countless generations of 

 man's animal ancestors. This nature is thoroughly ingrained, 

 and is as permanent as any other part of her organism. In con- 

 sidering these mental peculiarities, it must be borne in mind that 

 she inherits from her father as well as from her mother, so that 

 she has benefited by the general progress of the race, but her 

 relation to the male remains the same in each family taken by 

 itself. Thus it has resulted that the women of a higher race or 

 family will display superior traits to men of a lower race or 

 family, even in some of the endowments which are the especial 

 field of the male. And it is comparisons of this sort which fre- 

 quently cause the question to be raised, whether the supposed 

 superior rationality with which men are credited is ascribed to 

 them justly. In the great variety of history and origin possessed 

 by the people who are thrown together by our modern civiliza- 

 tion, it must often happen that the women of superior lineage 

 provoke favorable comparison with men whose ancestors have 

 emerged from semi - savagery within a comparatively recent 

 period. Nevertheless, in these cases also, sex qualities of mind 

 are well marked, though more or less limited on the part of the 

 inferior type. 



It is the fundamental fact above stated that needs to be con- 

 sidered before all others, by those persons who believe that the 

 present relations of the sexes, socially and politically, can and 

 should be improved. And the next fact to be considered is, that 

 persons who do not undertake the special functions of sex are of 

 secondary importance in the question. It is evident that the 

 influence on future generations of persons who do not produce 

 those generations is exceedingly small compared with the influ- 

 ence of the persons who do produce them ; just in i)r ©portion as 



* "Elements of Physiological Psychology," 1887. 



