200 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and the years following it are therefore justly acknowledged to be a 

 critical time for the female organization. The real meaning of the 

 physiological changes which constitute puberty is, that the woman is 

 thereby fitted to conceive and bear children, and undergoes the bodily 

 and mental changes that are connected with the development of the 

 reproductive system. At each recurring period there are all the prep- 

 arations for conception, and nothing is more necessary to the preser- 

 vation of female health than that these changes should take place 

 regularly and completely. It is true that many of them are destined 

 to be fruitless so far as their essential purpose is concerned, but it 

 would be a great mistake to suppose that on that account they might 

 be omitted or accomj^lished incompletely, without harm to the general 

 health. They are the expressions of the full physiological activity of 

 the organism. Hence it is that the outbreak of disease is so often 

 heralded, or accompanied, or follow^ed by suppression or irregularity 

 of these functions. In all cases they make a great demand upon the 

 physiological energy of the body : they are sensitive to its sufferings, 

 however these be caused ; and, when disordered, they aggravate the 

 mischief that is going on. 



When we thus look the matter honestly in the face, it would 

 seem plain that women are marked out by Nature for very different 

 offices in life from those of men, and that the healthy performance 

 of her special functions renders it improbable she will succeed, and 

 unwise for her to persevere, in running over the same course at the 

 same pace with him. For such a race she is certainly weighted un- 

 fairly. Xor is it a sufficient reply to this argument to allege, as is 

 sometimes done, that there are many women who have not the oppor- 

 tunity of getting married, or who do not aspire to bear children ; for 

 whether they care to be mothers or not, they cannot dispense with 

 those physiological functions of their nature that have reference to 

 that aim, hoAvever much they might wish it, and they cannot disre- 

 gard them in the labor of life w^ithout injury to their health. They 

 cannot choose but to be women : cannot rebel successfully against the 

 tyranny of their organization, the complete development and function 

 whereof must take place after its kind. This is not the expression of 

 prejudice nor of false sentiment ; it is the plain statement of a physio- 

 logical fact. Surely, then, it is unwise to pass it by ; first or last 

 it must have its due weight in the determination of the problem of 

 w^oman's education and mission ; it is best to recognize it plainly, 

 however we may conclude finally to deal with it. 



It is sometimes said, however, that sexual difference ought not to 

 have any place in the culture of the mind, and one hears it affirmed 

 with an air of triumphant satisfaction that there is no sex in mental 

 culture. This is a rash statement, wdiich argues want of thought or 

 insincerity of thought in those who make it. There is sex in mind 

 as distinctly as there is sex in body ; and, if the mind is to receive 



