568 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



women, this discovery certainly suggests a sad want 

 of acumen on the part of the fair sex, that they should 

 have failed to make the discovery themselves, though 

 having had an opportunity for practical experimen- 

 tation which it is hardly supposable that Dr. has 



had. It certainly requires the highest kind of genius 

 to be able to rise above the necessity for the observa- 

 tion of facts to which vulgar minds are subjected, and 

 this remarkable discovery of the eminent Professor 

 affords another illustration of what may be accom- 

 plished by a skilful use of the ''scientific imagination." 

 The Professor's reasoning makes it very clear that 

 poor masculine humanity has been for some centuries 

 back abused in a gross and cruel manner, and that 

 science demands that the doctors should preach a cru- 

 sade against pantaloons, and insist that men shall 

 meekly submit to a reinstatement of the reign of the 

 petticoat. Now that we are fully awakened to the ex- 

 posures and dangers involved in the wearing of panta- 

 loons, it is a matter of amazement that the unhappy 

 male biped who has been subjected to such a barbarous 

 costume, has not been quite exterminated by this dread- 

 ful abuse of his nether extremities. 



Personally, we have never had any experience in 

 petticoats; but when we have seen a woman battling 

 her way along the street against a December wind, with 

 her dress skirts whipping about like sails, and the 

 frosty air making small cyclones around her limbs 

 protected only by cotton stockings and thin drawers, 

 our unscientific imagination has somehow become im- 

 pressed with the idea that the biped in pantaloons on 

 the other side of the street has a great advantage in 

 point of warmth as well as convenience, notwithstand- 

 ing the lack of "esthetic" qualities in his dress. It 



