Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 20.djvu/200

188 in physical and intellectual qualities than she. It may he added that more biological differences are found between the males than between the females of the same race. If, for example, we take ten Crèvecœur cocks, we shall find that they differ much more from each other in size and the development of the locomotive organs than ten hens of the same variety. So, in the human species, regarding the stature, color of hah', muscular strength, voice, tastes, ideas, and even handwriting, we shall find a great resemblance among women and a great diversity among men. Although, as we have seen, man excels woman among the European races, this is not the case in certain inferior races, where the feminine sex is more vigorous and more intelligent than the masculine. The women are equal or superior among certain African tribes—as in Dahomey, where they are the soldiers and have a higher official rank—among some of the hill tribes of India, among the Pueblos of North America, in Kamtchatka according to Meiners, among some Afghan tribes in Java, and among the Morotokos of South America. The Patagonian women, according to De Rochas, are almost as large and as brave as the men, and a woman is chief; and when in an inferior race the man surpasses the woman, his pre-eminence is always less than it is among the superior races. This is shown by different anthropologists to be the case with reference to the length of the radius (Broca), the dimensions of the shoulder-blades (Dr. Livon), and the general stature. The two sexes are of the same size among the Bushmen and the Patagonians (De Rochas). The difference in favor of the man among the Europeans averages eighty-six millimetres according to Quetelet, and twelve centimetres according to M. Topinard (4·68 inches). A similar diversity in differences of cranial capacity is indicated by the measurements of Broca, and by the observations of M. Huschke and Mr. J. B. Davis, that the difference in this respect in favor of the man increases as the race is more elevated. The same rule is applied to the general external aspect by M. Primer Bey, whose conclusion is supported by his own observations of the Druses and those of M. G. Pouchet among the Arabs of Upper Nubia. We need not go as far as this, for some anthropologists tell us that the difference is less noticeable between Russian than between French men and women.

What we have noticed relative to living inferior tribes is equally observed among ancient inferior races. Some of the peoples of antiquity were governed by women, of whom Semiramis, Dido, Athalia, Cleopatra, Zenobia, etc., are examples. Diodorus speaks of the equality of the sexes among the ancient Scythians. According to the Roman historians, the Teutonic, Cimbrian, and Gallic women fought with as much courage as the men. Among some of the Pelasgian peoples and the Ibero-Ligurians, women decided concerning war and peace. The physical and intellectual predominance of the men was, on the other hand, considerable among the Greeks and Romans. The pre-eminence