272 THE CAUSATION OF DISEASE. 



of time, to Lave risen above or sunk below a certain level of ex- 

 cellence. From the time of her first novel (*' Indiana," 1832), written 

 at the age of 28, she continued to produce at the rate of two novels 

 a year, and at rare intervals was the product a failure. The power 

 shown in her earliest works is to be seen in an equal degree in those 

 of 40 years later date : 



" La Marquise " . . . aged 28 * 



" Francia " aged 68 



Bertha Thomas, Eminent Women Series. 



Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, b. 1759; & I 797- — I fc mav De 

 said that her intellect did not awake till she was 16, when she first 

 began to study, and that it went on developing till her death. The 

 work on which her fame as an author rests (" Vindication of the 

 Rights of "Women," 1791) was written at the age of 32. Her next 

 work (on the " French Revolution," written two or three years later, 

 1793-4) marks an enormous advance in her mental development. 

 She died at the age of 38, in the full prime of her powers. Her best 

 work probably remained to be done. The increased merit of her 

 later work somewhat confirms Southey's declaration that " M. "W. 

 Godwin was but beginning to reason when she died." 



Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Eminent Women Series. 



It would appear from these few cases, chosen at random, 

 that mental evolution goes on as long in the life of the female 

 as the male, and this accords with the conclusion arrived 

 at a priori- — namely, that the limit to evolution would be about 

 the same in the two sexes, seeing that the actual procreative 

 limit is about the same. Judging from these examples, it 

 would seem that the climacteric exercises no injurious influence 

 upon the intellectual faculties; indeed, some of the most 

 brilliant work appears to have been accomplished at this 

 period. That the wave of emotional excitement which comes 

 over the woman at the climacteric tends to give a distinct 

 colouring to the work then produced, I can have little doubt, 

 but it has surprised me somewhat that there is no evidence 

 of even a temporary intellectual falling off among celebrated 

 women at this time ; this, however, is not the place to discuss 

 the subject further. 



