PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS 111 



Without indulging in profitless discussion, I shall Psychical 

 take it for granted that all engaged in biological pur- dependent^ 

 suits, to whom my statements are addressed, hold the physioiogioal 



_ _ , . . . . processes. 



view that the psychical functions are partly or solely 

 dependent on physiological processes ; and it is on this 

 belief that my own views are based. I shall, moreover, 

 not enter into any discussion of what I have described 

 as " partly spiritual " factors, whether they exist in 

 reality or not ; I shall merely deal with the material 

 factors which, it is certain, influence mental processes. 



The mental characteristics of the normal woman come Mental char- 

 under the dominating influence of her special functions. f n fa e c hiid. 

 Before puberty, when the metabolism of girls does not 

 differ appreciably from that of boys 1 , the maiden is 

 often self-reliant and somewhat of a ' tom-boy '. Some, 

 it is true, like to nurse dolls, but many, especially when 

 brought up among boys, prefer more masculine methods 

 of enjoyment. At puberty a vast psychical change Mental char- 

 occurs in normal girls : they become shy and reserved, ^puberty. 

 and adopt a modest demeanour in the presence of men. 

 At this time they realize the influence of their fascina- 

 tions on the opposite sex. Marriage may bring out the 

 best or the worst that is in a woman : if she be happy 

 and contented her mind becomes turned in the direction 

 of motherhood with joyous anticipation ; if discontented 

 and unhappy she often seeks distraction outside the 

 home. Gestation, too, normally produces in a woman Mental char- 

 mental equanimity, and a special faculty for patience during* 108 

 and endurance for the sake of her child. Parturition, gestation. 

 with its attendant fears and pains, develops in the mother 

 a very tender feeling of possession after a fight well won. 

 Nurses have told me that women delivered by Caesarean 

 section usually have not the same feelings of passionate 

 guardianship that fill the hearts of women who have 

 endured ungrudgingly the pangs of labour ; and it is 

 possible that the so-called ' twilight sleep ' induced 

 during parturition will likewise produce a similar 



1 Bucura, C. J., Oeschlechtsunterschiede beim Menschen, Wien u. 

 Leipzig, 1913. 



