CAPACITY FOR SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS 



had proved for the thousandth time that it is easier to 

 formulate theories than to establish their validity. It was 

 evident, notwithstanding the assertions of certain material- 

 istic theorists, that the brain did not secrete thought as 

 the liver secretes bile ; it was evident, too, that intelligence 

 could not be estimated in terms of any kind of mechanical 

 units. Psycho-physiologists had no sort of dynamometer 

 for measuring brain power as they would measure muscu- 

 lar energy. By means of the plethysmograph they might 

 determine the amount of blood sent to the brain in a given 

 time, but they had no psychometer of any description 

 which would enable them to estimate the quantity, much 

 less the quality, of psychic force such a blood supply was 

 competent to produce. 



Many, of course, still remained adherents of the old view 

 that woman must ever remain the mental inferior of man 

 because she is by nature physically weaker. These per- 

 sons, however, seemed to lose sight of the fact that women 

 who lead a rational life who are not the slaves of fashion 

 or the victims of luxury have little to complain of on the 

 score of physical weakness. This is evidenced by the life 

 and habits of the women of the people, as well as by the 

 tasks performed by women among savage tribes, who in 

 health and strength are little, if at all, inferior to their 

 male companions. 



The late Professor Huxley, in referring to this subject, 

 exhibited his usual acumen and sanity in such matters when 

 he indited the following paragraph: 



"We have heard a great deal lately about the physical 

 disabilities of women. Some of these alleged impediments, 

 no doubt, are really inherent in their organization, but 

 nine-tenths of them are artificial the products of their 

 mode of life. I believe that nothing would tend so effec- 

 tually to get rid of these creations of idleness, weariness 

 and that 'over-stimulation of the emotions' which in plainer 

 spoken days used to be called wantonness, than a fair share 



