THE MALE AND THE FEMALE MIND 241 



the relative immunity from personal suffering after 

 the disastrous outcome of such experiments. Energy 

 of performance or will power, as it is commonly 

 called, cannot, I think, be compared in the two 

 sexes without the risk of reaching an erroneous con- 

 clusion. It is a faculty eminently difficult to judge. 

 Men seem to me more apt to parade their energy of 

 performance, and this ordinarily creates the impres- 

 sion of stronger will; but it is easy to underesti- 

 mate the quiet determination of women. Men exert 

 themselves especially to gain money or to secure 

 some advantage or indulgence for themselves, or to 

 create a product. Women have much less insistence 

 and energy of performance in respect to creative 

 work, and are more readily diverted. Forel says 

 that women have somewhat stronger wills, on the 

 whole, than men. But, of course, this opinion is 

 only of value as the impression of a highly intelligent 

 and experienced scientific observer of humanity on 

 its psychological side. 



The greater masculine power of creative imagina- 

 tion finds one of its most striking expressions in the 

 immensely superior achievements of man in poetry, 

 music, and art, for in these fields the refined sensi- 

 bilities of women should give them 'a foothold, and 

 even an advantage over men. Indeed, if we compare 

 the average man and woman, or even highly culti- 

 vated men and women, I think that we shall find no 

 feminine inferiority in respect to the understanding 

 or rendering of music and poetry. But it is plain 



