SEX IN MIND AND IN EDUCATION. 205 



been divided into two halves, which have ever since been seeking to 

 unite together and to reconstitute the divided unity. It will hardly 

 be denied that there is a great measure of truth in the fable. Man 

 and woman do complement one another's being. This is no less true 

 of mind than it is of body ; is true of mind indeed as a consequence 

 of its being true of body. Some may be disposed to argue that the 

 qualities of mind which characterize women now, and have charac- 

 terized them hitherto, in their relations with men, are in great meas- 

 ure, mainly if not entirely, the artiHcial results of the position of sub- 

 jection and dependence which she has always occupied; but those 

 who take this view do not appear to have considered the matter as 

 deeply as they should ; they have attributed to circumstances much 

 of what unquestionably lies deeper than circumstances, being inherent 

 in the fundamental character of sex. It would be a delusive hope to 

 expect, and a mistaken labor to attempt, to eradicate by change of 

 circumstances the qualities which distinguish the female character, 

 and fit woman to be the helpmate and companion of man in mental 

 and bodily union. 



So mucli may be fairly said on general physiological grounds. 

 We may now go on to inquire whether any ill effects have been ob- 

 served from subjecting women to the same kind of training as men. 

 The facts of experience in this country are not such as warrant a full 

 and definite answer to the inquiry, the movement for revolutionizing 

 the education of women being of a recent date. But in America the 

 same method of training for the sexes in mixed classes has been large- 

 ly applied ; girls have gone with boys through the same curriculum 

 of study, from primary to grammar schools, from schools to gradua- 

 tion in colleges, working early under the stimulus of competition, and 

 disdaining any privilege of sex. With what results? With one re- 

 sult certainly — that, while those who are advocates of the mixed sys- 

 tem bear favorable witness to the results upon both sexes, American 

 physicians are beginning to raise their voices in earnest warnings and 

 protests. It is not that girls have not ambition, nor that they fail 

 generally to run the intellectual race which is set before them, but it 

 is asserted that they do it at a cost to their strength and health which 

 entails life-long suffering, and even incapacitates them for the adequate 

 performance of the natural functions of their sex. Without pretend- 

 ing to indorse these assertions, which it would be wrong to do in the 

 absence of sufficient experience, it is right to call attention to them, 

 and to claim serious consideration for them ; they proceed from phy- 

 sicians of high professional standing, who speak from their own expe- 

 rience, and they agree, moreover, with what perhaps might have been 

 feared or predicted on physiological grounds. It may fairly be pre- 

 sumed that the stimulus of competition will act more powerfully on 

 girls than on boys ; not only because they are more susceptible by 

 nature, but because it will produce more effect upon their constitu- 



