SCIENCE FOR THE PEOPLE 63 



question. What social and political rights have 

 women ; what ought they to be allowed to do, be, 

 and suffer ? And how ought they to be educated ? " 

 He maintains that the present system of female edu- 

 cation is inherently absurd, inasmuch as it seems to 

 have been specially contrived to exaggerate those 

 aspects of womanhood in which she is presumably 

 inferior for contending in the battle of life. Instead 

 of educating women to be our drudges, or toys, or 

 angels, Huxley argues that the female type of 

 character being neither better nor worse than the 

 male, women should be educated to be men's com- 

 rades and fellows and equals so far as Nature permits. 

 How is this to be done ? He replies, " Emancipate 

 gii'ls." And in the result ? Huxley prophesies that 

 when this has been carried out women will find their 

 place, and that it will be neither that in wliich they 

 have been held, nor that to which some of them aspire ; 

 because whatever happens, the massive brains and 

 vigorous muscles of the best men will carry the day 

 in the contest for the prizes of life. He wisely points 

 out that the very improvement of the women will 

 lessen their own chances, because they wiU bring 

 forth better sons ; and his conclusion of the emanci- 

 pation of women movement is that " so long as this 

 potential motherhood is her lot, women wall be found 

 to be fearfully weighted in the race of hfe. The 

 duty of man is to see that not a grain is piled upon 

 that load beyond what Nature imposes ; that in- 

 justice is not added to inequality." 



Then follow three chapters on education, namely, 

 A Liberal Education and Where to Find it (1868) ; 

 Scientific Education (1869) : on the Educational 

 Value of the Natural History Science (the oldest 



