254 The American Naturalist. [March, 
forced upon a woman. She has no right to transmit a nature and a char- 
acter that is subservient, inefficient, undeveloped ”, ete. This opinion is 
in large part based on the supposition that the mother’s physical influence 
in heredity is greater than the father’s and that the mother’s mental 
condition is more certainly transmitted to the child than is that of the 
fathers. Now there is not the slightest scientific ground for such an 
opinion. It is a common opinion among the breeders of domesticated 
animals that the father transmits the mental, and the mother the 
physical qualities. Whether this be generally so or not, it is well 
known that in mankind the father’s mental characters are at least as 
often transmitted as are those of the mother. 
But one of the results of recent investigation into heredity is the 
establishment of the general principle that characteristics which are of 
a temporary or one-sexed character are not as easily transmitted as was 
formerly supposed. The germ-cells are so protected that long periods 
of time and long-continued influences are required to produce appreci- 
able changes of character in a family or a race. This truth may spare 
mothers a good deal of anxiety as to the effects of their conduct during 
gestation, though of course unhygienic habits will produce diseased con- 
ditions in children. This, however, is disease and not character. 
But the development of adaptability of character is absolutely essen- 
tial to the existence of the family and of society. Nature has placed 
in the hands of the man the strength of body and mind to combat and 
use her forces to a degree far exceeding that with which she has en- 
dowed woman. It has, therefore, come about that woman has found 
her most congenial as well as useful field in the family. Moreover the 
perfect development of mankind requires that the altruistic traits shall 
be fostered as well as the egoistic. The natural functions of woman 
develop the former, while those of the man develop the latter. Fortun- 
-ately it has results that both qualities have been inherited by each sex, 
but with the predominance in each of that which is most necessary in 
their respective fields. The course of human evolution has not tended 
to unify the sexes, but to diversify them. This is a well-known result 
of scientific research. 
The paper of Mrs. Gardener has a distinct tendency to discourage 
the beneficent and altruistic role which woman fills in civilized society, 
and to strike at the root of that admirable adaptiveness of many 
women, which is a guarantee of domestic harmony. And this is of 
more importance to human civilization and development than any 
theory as to woman’s so-called individual independence. Like al 
