34 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



overtaxing of brains and nerves. But do these criticisms concerning physical in- 

 firmities hold good for the American woman alone? Innumerable statements have 

 been made by foreigners who visit America to the effect that the American — the 

 man as well as the woman — lives too rapidly — works too hard, lives upon his nerves, 

 eats too much, sleeps too little, takes too few holidays and too little healthful, men- 

 tal recreation. May not, in all justice, a share of the American woman's frailty be 

 ascribed to the above causes, rather than to her excessive schooling? Moreover, 

 custom demands less outdoor sport for girls than for boys. The American woman 

 walks less than her English sister. The American must traverse so much greater 

 distances in order to get anywhere, that only artificial transportation is feasible. 

 Again, the climate in many parts of America is not as conducive to comfortable 

 walking as is that of England. The American girl does not walk in the fields with 

 her governess, but is sent to public schools. Here she might have the benefit of 

 healthful games upon the playground, but propriety forbids to her baseball, black- 

 man, tree climbing, and various harmless sports. On the other hand, she is told 

 from earliest childhood that she must "try to be a little lady." The significance of 

 this remark is that she must engage in no sports with her brothers, or she will be- 

 come a "tomboy." As a result, she becomes a listless, conscious, artificial child. 



But our present styles of clothing are doubtless no less injurious to physical de- 

 velopment than lack of exercise, air, and cheerfulness. I quote from another, that 

 "all this martyrdom to propriety and fashion tells upon strength and symmetry, 

 and the girl reaches womanhood a wreck; that she reaches it at all, under these suf- 

 ferings and bleached-out conditions, is due to the superior elasticity to resist a 

 method of education which would have killed ofif the boys years ago." This state- 

 ment may be rather strongly put, yet you will readily recognize the approximate 

 justice of it. 



It is very difiicult for us to grow out of our prejudices; but there are very few 

 people to-day who will agree with Lessing, the great philanthropist, that "the 

 woman who thinks is like the man who puts on rouge — ridiculous;" and we smile 

 at the quaint saying of Simon of Athens, "If there sit 12 women at the table, let a 

 dozen of them be — as they are." In so far as we may retain all our womanliness, I 

 trust we shall remain as we are. But culture is in no wise incompatible with wom- 

 anliness. I hope the two words will become synonymous. 



Those who claim that woman is physically too weak to endure the strain of a col- 

 lege course base their arguments upon the statements that she possesses a pecul- 

 iarly nervous organization and a small brain; that her fewer ounces of brain will 

 forever debar her from reaching what man has attained; that her brain is not an in- 

 ventive one, and that she will waste her time and strength in striving after the un- 

 attainable. Whether women may accomplish what man has accomplished, whether 

 she can or ever will be enabled by cultivation to invent, are questions we will not 

 discuss; but whether she can endure the physical strain of acquiring an education, 

 we may, in the light of statistics, consider. 



There have been, of course, numerous adverse articles written by scholarly men, 

 and even by women; but allow me to quote from a letter written by Professor Huxley 

 to the Times. He says: "We hear a great deal lately about the physical disabilities 

 of women. Some of these alleged impediments no doubt are really inherent in their 

 organization, but nine-tenths of them are artificial — the product of their mode of 

 life. I believe that nothing would tend so effectually to get rid of these creations of 

 idleness, weariness, and that over-stimulation of emotion, than a fair share of healthy 

 work, directed toward a definite object, combined with an equally fair share of 

 healthy play during the years of adolescence; and those who are best acquainted 



