Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 6.djvu/485

Rh the nervous system principally that the cessation of ovarian function acts reflexly in an abnormal manner. Thus, 500 women divided among them 1,261 forms of cerebral disease, confirming the general belief in the frequency of cerebral diseases at the change of life. The liability to insanity at this period is greater in women than in men. Leaving out of consideration such an extreme result as insanity, yet the lighter shades of nervous derangement which would entirely unfit a woman for healthy mental work are so multiform, and to which men are in no way exposed, that it is evident that at this period woman would encounter some of the most stubborn barriers to her success in professional life. The professions, in giving undue employment to the mind, would greatly predispose a woman so employed to nervous disease at the change of life. Her very employment, to which many are working their way so bravely, is almost sure to entail suffering and danger at a period when educated and refined women, more than any others, require mental and bodily repose, and which the nature of their employment forbids. With this brief notice of this important crisis in the life of woman I shall close this part of the subject, and simply offer, in conclusion, a summary in the form of a

The moral subjection of woman to man is a sexual peculiarity.

This has been perpetuated and intensified in the human family by the law of heredity.

That the tendency of civilization and education to antagonize this subjection of the sex is neutralized by the law of sexual selection.

That the changes of intellectually active women leaving issue to inherit their improved mental character are greatly in favor of the average woman in obedience to the law of population.

That women are retarded in their advancement to professional work by public opinion.

That women have unconsciously avoided some of the skilled labors by reason of anatomical unfitness, and which will be operative in the future.

That sexual cerebration is liable to assume undue prominence in the cultivated and ignorant alike, and thus unfit her for professional mental work.

That women marry in obedience to a sexual law, and not from choice; and that marriage, in the present relation of the sexes, is an obstacle to professional success.

That if women remain single, in order to enhance their professional success, celibacy entails many physical and mental evils, which will impair their value in professional life.

That ovulation may, in many cases, be the cause of mental excitement, or require strong efforts of repression, which would unfit her, for the time, for professional work.