576 LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



education for instance, in the way of making the most of the com- 

 plementary sex-differences. 



Thus, in the prolonged discussion over the pros and cons of co- 

 education, how rarely has it been pointed out that no one method 

 is ideal, for it is quite plain that boys and girls, men and women, 

 should be taught together for certain reasons, and taught separately 

 for certain other reasons. There arc different studies and different 

 modes of presentation for the two sexes if we are to make the most 

 of their respective excellences. Of course, one may ridicule this 

 position by asking for the masculine and feminine First Book of 

 Euclid, and so on; though even here Mrs. Boole's mathematical 

 lessons were very different from her husband's. Our point, however, 

 is simply that if it were not for the expense we should have the 

 sexes taught together and taught separately, taught by men and 

 by women. 



A professor of physiology in one of the largest American Univer- 

 sities explained to us that they were giving up mixed classes, and that 

 he was heartily glad. On being asked for his reason he said that the 

 women-students gradually lowered the standard of class-work, both 

 of learning and teaching, and that it was in the interests of his men 

 that he was stopping mixed classes. Such evidence is, or perhaps we 

 may now say was, often used as an argument against the higher 

 education of women, but there is a danger of taking too simple a 

 view of these phenomena. The professor was giving a course of 

 study specialised for the masculine intelligence; he was inhibited a 

 little by the feminine element; there was no specialisation for the 

 feminine intelligence ; they were inhibited by this. In all probability 

 he never got anything like the best out of them, and it is the same 

 all round. It is bad for the men — the precious men, he said; but that 

 it was probably bad for the women was not mentioned. 



Similarly, in regard to technical education for the professions, the 

 biological counsel must be the same— that we should seek to make 

 the most of the complementary qualities. One of the keenest of 

 intellectual combatants has said that, apart from maternity, the 

 woman of strong physic] ue or strong mtellect may excel in any 

 pursuit whatever her average male compeer. But even if this be 

 true, we submit that it profits national efficiency more when gifted 

 women do what no man could do so well, or when men and women 

 work together as naturally as they once played together. We repeat 

 what we said in The Evolution of Sex (1889) : "The fullest ideal of the 

 woman-worker is she who works not merely or mainly for men as 

 the help and instrument of their purpose, but who works with men 

 as the instrument yet material of her purpose." 



Let us state one concrete case. It is certainly desirable that 

 medical schools and medical posts should be oi>en to women of 

 special aptitude. There must be free experiment if social efficiency is 



