66 DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 



mother of clever daughters to the mother of 

 stupid daughters. Thus, even if the assertion 

 of Carl Vogt were true, it offers no conclusive 

 argument against the political and social equal- 

 isation of the sexes ; because this equalisation 

 would on any recognised principles of evolution, 

 bring about ultimately a natural equality. On 

 the whole, however, one may fairly retain the 

 suspicion that this alleged difference is not a 

 fact, and that the greater average eminence (in 

 the past) of men than of women in intellectual 

 pursuits is entirely due (as on any theory it 

 must be mostly due) to the effect of institutions 

 and customs and ideas operating within the 

 lifetime of the individual, and not to differences 

 physically inherited. Little girls are certainly 

 not on the average stupider than little boys : 

 and, if on the average men show more intel- 

 lectual ability than women, may not this be 

 due to the way in which the two sexes are 

 respectively treated in the interval ? 



But, even if there were an average mental 

 superiority in men due to sex-differentiation be- 

 coming greater with the attainment of maturity 

 (we have really no right to make definite asser- 

 tions on the subject, because women have never 



