210 SEX 



of Miss Helen B. Thompson. She found that 

 the ability to make very delicate and minutely 

 controlled movements was slightly better 

 in men-students. But may not this be con- 

 nected with the greater use of knives and 

 other tools ? Ability to co-ordinate move- 

 ments rapidly to unforeseen stimuli is clearly 

 better in women. Women-students showed a 

 greater power of distinguishing the higher 

 and the lower notes of the tuning-fork. But 

 may this not be due to more early training 

 in piano-playing or the like ? The eye of the 

 man-student was on the whole more sensitive 

 to light. The men perceived weak rays which 

 were not seen by the women. Can this 

 have to do with more open-air life in the 

 case of the men ? The women distinguished 

 colours better. But is this not the result of 

 training ? Yet it is a proved fact that colour- 

 blindness of all degrees is more frequent in 

 men. 



Women showed on the whole a better 

 memory; they learned by heart more easily 

 and retained as well. They required rather less 

 time for the association of ideas. The men 

 showed a decided superiority in quickness 

 of perception as far as comparison could be 

 made. In general mental content no differ- 

 ences could be established, naturally enough 

 since all the subjects of the experiment had 

 attended co-educational high schools. A few 

 experiments are of more value than many 

 platitudes, but the basis is still too narrow for 

 safe generalisation. 



Exact experiment on these lines first laid 



