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then there arises, as with any other hatred, a dogged antagonism which may make our reasoning often irrational. In either case, the feeling is a strong bias, through which our thought undergoes much vitiation, as is abundantly illustrated in history and in the everyday events of our present time when, as many believe, our literature and education are being alarmingly "feminized." Not less disturbing, doubtless, is the influence of man within the unconscious mind of woman. When this perennial perturbation of intellect due to sex kindles into the form characteristic of love, as everyone knows, it falls little short of madness.

Mental Traits of Woman.-The mental traits of woman bear a relation to error somewhat different from those of man, and her present widening influence in every field of thought makes it desirable to give this point some brief attention. Whatever the cause, it is generally believed that, in point of intellect, woman is inferior to man. It has been supposed by many that her lighter brain implies such an inferiority; but this is not a justifiable implication. The brain of a man is lighter than that of an elephant; and comparative anatomy indicates clearly that the weight of the brain is in proportion not only to intelligence but also to the whole weight of the body, the greater part of the organ's function being, indeed, motor and trophic, not mental. Size and weight of brain give no information as to the structure, activity, and efficiency of the parts specially concerned in intellection. The brain of the bird is too small to account for its efficiency; but this may be explained by supposing an increased rate of molecular change within the brain-cells, through the bird's relatively high body-temperature. A slightly higher tem

perature, not recognizable, might similarly endow woman's brain with an energy not warranted by size and weight alone.

Anatomy throws no light upon the question; but from the physiology and psychology of woman, coupled with her past history, we may draw, in this connection, some definite and reasonable conclusions. The sphere of woman has been hitherto very restricted: while the thought of man has ranged through the universe, her interests have been confined to the concrete conditions of her environment, her children and man-her guardian and oppressor. The special physiological functions of woman exert, at times, a markedly perturbing influence upon her intellect; but it is always to the depths of woman's being, the innate peculiarities of her ego, as we now know her, that we must trace our best explanations. The mind or ego is made up of feelings, inclusive of volitions, and ideas-emotional nature and intellect. The feelings appear to constitute the very foundation-self, of which the intellect may be regarded as the mere tool.

Whether the intellect of woman is, by its very nature, an instrument inferior to that of man we cannot determine; but it seems certain that, as a rule, its product is less accurately in accord with truth. This inferiority in result we may fully explain by the peculiarity of her feeling, the true or fundamental woman. Man and woman, alike, seek always the satisfaction of the

1 Experiments upon a number of male and female students indicate that women forget less but falsify more than men; while their forgetfulness as compared with that of men was as 2 to 3, the unreliability of their testimony was as 4 to 3. According to Stern, the sworn testimony of women contains, on the average, more than twice as many false statements as that of men. (Dr. L. W. Stern, Beitraege zur Psychol. der Aussage, I. Heft., S. 55. Leipzig, 1903.)

self; but the egoism of woman is more intense, more impatient of opposition, more impetuous, more blindly direct. Man is aware of the forces which conflict with his desires, and will compromise to attain a part of his wish. Not so with woman: her wish is a sacred thing, to be reverenced and acceded to by gods and men; the universe can have no laws to forbid its attainment. In this respect, she seldom outgrows the mentality of the child. Man's intellect is an agent of whom he demands a reasonable service; woman's, a slave whom she compels to absolute obedience. The statement is overdrawn but presents an approximation to the truth.

Woman, then, is more emotional, more impulsive, than man: her feeling-self is more constantly active, more eager in the pursuit of its wishes, more intolerant of resistance to these wishes—her inalienable rights. What intellect can give her by intuition she is willing to receive, but for the products of reasoning she is too impatient to wait; her ardor can tolerate intellect as a nimble tool but not as a slow machine. The restricted field of woman has narrowed her habits of thought; abstractions and wide horizons are beyond her capacity or interest. Her prejudices and her loves determine her judgments. Too reverent of the past, she lacks or shrinks from self-dependence and originality. Her world is one of phantasy rather than of reality: her life breath is poetry, romance, and mystery. Her intellectual interests are usually unstable and fleeting; but, if self-love be at stake, she may show an excess of tenacity. Woman is very "suggestible," therefore prone to credulity.

Great stress is often laid upon the sagacity of woman's intuition; but we may suspect that here, as with the quack doctor, her repute rests upon the hits and dis

regard of the misses. Even if the fullest credit be given to her intuitive wisdom, this need not greatly raise our estimate of her intelligence. There are two ways in which this intuition is especially shown. One is the rapidity and accuracy with which a woman often understands the motives and general character of a man; the other, the frequent wisdom of her counsel. Her comprehension of man need not be viewed as a very high form of intelligence, but rather as a cunning which the instinct of self-preservation has fostered through the ages and developed into a special function. It is the intelligence displayed by many children in their comprehension of parents and teachers and is clearly akin to that intelligence which we find, in varying degree, among the domesticated animals, through which they may seem aware of every change in the mood of the master.

The other phase of intuition is, perhaps, of a higher grade; yet, despite its great worth, a moment's thought tends to lower its rating. As we must now believe, intuition is the product of unconscious thinking. When a train of thought is new, the process is laborious and largely conscious; but with frequent repetition it becomes less and less conscious until, finally, it is automatic and unconscious. Man is more aware than woman of the ever changing environment, and seeks more assiduously to adjust his thought to the new conditions: this freshness of his thought makes it more conscious.

Woman's world being less external, changing conditions are less noted, her thought needs less adaptation and so tends to become stereotyped and largely unconscious. Far more than man, she is disposed, throughout life, to think along the grooves of her early training.

For most of us this early training has been along the lines of accumulated human wisdom: honesty, truthfulness, loyalty, helpfulness, self-sacrifice-such are general qualities approved by the best of human experience. In the mind of women these qualities remain, as if indelibly stamped; but from the mind of man, through his greater independence of thought, they are largely effaced.

The judgment of a man, then, rests in greater degree upon his own experience; that of a woman, in greater degree upon the experience of all mankind. Man, like the actors in a Greek tragedy, enacts the concrete and momentary; woman, like the chorus, presents the universal and eternal. The sagacity, then, of a woman's intuition is usually a reflected wisdom. Nevertheless, it often puts to shame the folly of men, who are prone to disdain the counsel of the ages. It was through this tendency to cherish and obey the wisdom of the past, no doubt, that, among certain ancient peoples, women were believed to have something holy about them and were consulted as oracles, and that Euripides, despite his contempt for them, was impelled to say: "Yea, even from women's lips much wisdom flows."

The question as to the innate inferiority of woman's intellect may be indeterminable, but it seems certain that the average woman misuses intellect far more than the average man. Meanwhile, as a teacher in schools and higher institutions of learning, as a writer, in the professions, and in every walk of life, her intellectual influence upon the race is continually increasing. For a while, no doubt, as her knowledge and independence develop, we must expect in her conversation, writing, and actions, the common marks of immaturity,

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