Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/60

 46 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

the various forms of sexual perversion reported by psychiatrists in the male sex. 1

Pathological variations do not become fixed in the species, because of their disadvantageous nature, but their excess in the male is, as we have seen in the case of variations which have become fixed, an expression of the more energetic somatic habit of the male.

A very noticeable expression of the anabolism of woman is her tendency to put on fat. "Women, as a class, show a greater tendency to put on fat than men, and the tendency is particu- larly well marked at puberty, when some girls become phenom- enally stout." 2 The distinctive beauty of the female form is due to the storing of adipose tissue, and the form even of very slender women is gracefully rounded in comparison with that of man. Bischoff found the following relation between muscle and fat in a man of 33, a woman of 22, and a boy of 16, all of whom died accidentally and in good physical condition : 3

Man Woman Boy

Muscle, 41.8 35.8 44.2

Fat, - 1 8. 2 28.2 13.9

The steatopyga of the women of some races and the accumu- lation of adipose tissue late in life are quasi-pathological expres- sions of this tendency.

The strength of woman, on the other hand, her capacity for motion, and her muscular mechanical aptitude are far inferior to that of man. Tests of strength made on 2300 students of Yale University 4 and on 1600 women of Oberlin College 5 show the mean relation of the strength of the sexes, expressed in kilo- grams :

Back Legs R. forearm

Men, 153 186 56

Women, - 54 76.5 21.4

1 See, for example, MOLL, Die Contrdre Sexualempfindung; KRAFFT-EBING, loc. cit., passim,

2 H. CAMPBELL, loc. cit., p. 115.

3 Quoted by Ellis, loc. cit., p. 41.

< DR. J. W. SEAVER, Anthropometric Table, 1889.

s DR. DELI-HINT: HANNA, Anthropometric Table, 1891.