SEX AND SOCIETY 209 



may have come from the mother as well as 

 from the father. If proved, it would only 

 mean that the male constitution gives free 

 play to the expression of variations, which are 

 kept latent in the female constitution. But 

 what is probably true is that some variations 

 find expression more readily in man, and 

 others more readily in woman. 



In regard to the mental differences between 

 men and women, there is great difficulty in 

 making definite statements until more experi- 

 ments have accumulated. Moreover it is 

 in this domain particularly difficult to dis- 

 criminate between extrinsic acquired differ- 

 ences and intrinsic innate differences. It 

 has been said that men have greater cerebral 

 variability and more originality, while women 

 have greater stability and more common sense. 

 It has been said that woman has the greater 

 integrating intelligence, while man is stronger 

 in differentiation. " The feminine passivity 

 is expressed in greater patience, more open- 

 mindedness, greater appreciation of subtle 

 details, and consequently what we call more 

 rapid intuition. The masculine activity tends 

 to a greater power of maximum effort, of scien- 

 tific insight, of cerebral experiment with impres- 

 sions, and is associated with an unobservant 

 or impatient disregard of minute details, but 

 with a stronger grasp of generalities." 



Now it is " as easy as winking," as Carlyle 

 said, to make statements like that, but their 

 day is over. They are but guesses at truth with- 

 out scientific precision. What we now require 

 is an extension of experiments like those 



