Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/742

722 undertakings. His part in reproduction became a specialization as compared with that of the female, which more nearly resembles the asexual method. So the male became the author of variation in species in two ways: first, by adding to the sources of inheritance; and second, by his own more numerous specializations.

In man the mental organization of the sexes expresses these facts in various ways. The sexual mental characteristics of men and women have been described by Lecky, Delaunay, Ladd, P. G. Hamerton, and others, and with a unanimity that would of itself be authoritative if they did not confirm the belief of thoughtful observers generally. Woman is not only restrained by her reproductive functions from taking the same active part in the world's life as does man; but, what is more important, she inherits a greater disability from thousands of ages of equal and in some cases greater disability in the countless generations of man's animal ancestors. This nature is thoroughly ingrained, and is as permanent as any other part of her organism. In considering these mental peculiarities, it must be borne in mind that she inherits from her father as well as from her mother, so that she has benefited by the general progress of the race, but her relation to the male remains the same in each family taken by itself. Thus it has resulted that the women of a higher race or family will display superior traits to men of a lower race or family, even in some of the endowments which are the especial field of the male. And it is comparisons of this sort which frequently cause the question to be raised, whether the supposed superior rationality with which men are credited is ascribed to them justly. In the great variety of history and origin possessed by the people who are thrown together by our modern civilization, it must often happen that the women of superior lineage provoke favorable comparison with men whose ancestors have emerged from semi-savagery within a comparatively recent period. Nevertheless, in these cases also, sex qualities of mind are well marked, though more or less limited on the part of the inferior type.

It is the fundamental fact above stated that needs to be considered before all others, by those persons who believe that the present relations of the sexes, socially and politically, can and should be improved. And the next fact to be considered is, that persons who do not undertake the special functions of sex are of secondary importance in the question. It is evident that the influence on future generations of persons who do not produce those generations is exceedingly small compared with the influence of the persons who do produce them; just in proportion as