CHAPTER II. 



THE ACTIVE AND LESS IMPASSIONED 

 WOMAN. 



BEFORE we look more closely into matters of organisa- 

 tion and parentage* it will be well to examine, with 

 some detail, the character of the men and women 

 whom, for the sake of brevity, it will be convenient to 

 call "the active and less impassioned" on the one 

 hand, and the "reflective and more impassioned" on 

 the other hand. Women will be studied first because 

 their characters, while not less elevated and estima- 

 ble, are more direct, spontaneous, and natural. We 

 shall look first at their personal, intellectual, and moral 

 aspects, and then follow them into domestic, social, 

 and public life. 



The nerve action of the less impassioned tempera- 

 ment with its forward head-poise and more delicate 

 hair-growth both in men and women, is marked by /^ 

 activity, vivacity, quickness, and opportuneness rather 

 than by persistence or consistency. In not a few men 

 and women it is marked by strength also in propor- 

 tion to brain weight and organisation ; and these 

 tend to fill the more conspicuous positions of life in 

 art, literature, religion, politics, and warfare. The 

 careful student of character begins his inquiry by 

 observing average men and women the units who 



* Some readers may prefer looking at the chapter on " Bodily 

 Characteristics " before proceeding further. 



