CHAPTER X. 



THE EVIDENCE FROM THE INTELLECTUAL DIFFERENCES 

 BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN. 



(This chapter, which was published in the Popular Science 

 Monthly for June and July, 1879, under the title, "The Con- 

 dition of Women from a Zoological Point of View," is reprinted 

 here, almost without change.) 



ZOOLOGY is the scientific study of the past history of 

 animal life, for the purpose of understanding its future 

 history. Since man has, in part at least, conscious con- 

 trol of his own destiny, it is of vital importance to hu- 

 man welfare in the future that we should learn, by this 

 comparative study of the past, what are the lines along 

 which progress is to be expected, and what the con- 

 ditions favorable to this progress, in order that we may 

 use our exceptional powers in harmony with the order 

 of nature. 



The study of the growth of civilization shows that 

 human advancement has been accompanied by slow but 

 constant improvement in the condition of women, as 

 compared with men, and that it may be very accurately 

 measured by this standard. Judging from the past, we 

 may be sure that one of the paths for the future prog- 

 ress of the race lies in this improvement, and the po- 

 sition of women must therefore be regarded as a most 

 important social problem. If there is, as I shall try to 

 show, a fundamental and constantly increasing differ- 

 ence between the sexes; if their needs are different, and 



