,research1 ,tradition and ,history1 ,albert ,r4 ,mann ,library1 ,cornell ,university 7http3_/_/hearth4library4cornell4edu_/7 ,note3 ,images of the original pages are available through the ,home ,economics ,archive3 ,research1 ,tradition and ,history1 ,albert ,r4 ,mann ,library1 ,cornell ,university4 ,see http3_/_/hearth4library4cornell4edu_/cgi _/t_/text_/text-idx8chearth2idno#dgfedab ---------------------------------------- -------------------- ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,a number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text4 ,for a complete list1 please see the end of this document4 ,this document has inconsistent hyphenation4 ,greek has been transliterated and marked with marks ---------------------------------------- -------------------- ,,sex ,,in ,,education2 ,or1 ,a ,fair ,chance for ,girls4 by ,,edward ,h4 ,,clarke1 ,m4,d41 ,member of the ,massachusetts ,medical ,society2 ,fellow of the ,american ,academy of ,arts and ,sciences2 ,late ,professor of ,materia ,medica in ,harvard ,college1 ,etc41 ,etc4 ,boston3 ,james ,r4 ,osgood and ,company1 7,late ,ticknor ,fields1 and ,fields1 ,osgood1 ,co47 #ahge4 ,entered according to ,act of ,congress1 in the year #ahgc1 by ,edward ,h4 ,clarke1 ,in the ,office of the ,librarian of ,congress1 at ,washington ,boston3 ,stereotyped and ,printed by ,rand1 ,avery1 ,co4 ,an ,american female constitution1 which collapses just in the middle third of life1 and comes out vulcanized ,india-rubber1 if it happen to live through the period when health and strength are most wanted4 ,,oliver ,,wendell ,,holmes3 ,autocrat of the ,breakfast ,table4 ,he reverenced and upheld1 in every form in which it came before him1 womanhood4444 ,what a woman should demand is respect for her as she is a woman4 ,let her first lesson be1 with sweet ,susan ,winstanley1 to reverence her sex4 ,,charles ,,lamb3 ,essays of ,elia4 ,we trust that the time now approaches when man's condition shall be progressively improved by the force of reason and truth1 when the brute part of nature shall be crushed1 that the god-like spirit may unfold4 ,,guizot3 ,history of ,civilization1 ,i41 #cd4 ,,contents4 ,,part ,i4 ,,introductory #aa ,,part ,,ii4 ,,chiefly ,,physiological #ca ,,part ,,iii4 ,,chiefly ,,clinical #fa ,,part ,,iv4 ,,co-,,education #aah ,,part ,v4 ,,the ,,european ,,way #afb ,,preface4 ,about a year ago the author was honored by an invitation to address the ,new-,england ,women's ,club in ,boston4 ,he accepted the invitation1 and selected for his subject the relation of sex to the education of women4 ,the essay excited an unexpected amount of discussion4 ,brief reports of it found their way into the public journals4 ,teachers and others interested in the education of girls1 in different parts of the country1 who read these reports1 or heard of them1 made inquiry1 by letter or otherwise1 respecting it4 ,various and conflicting criticisms were passed upon it4 ,this manifestation of interest in a brief and unstudied lecture to a small club appeared to the author to indicate a general appreciation of the importance of the theme he had chosen1 compelled him to review carefully the statements he had made1 and has emboldened him to think that their publication in a more comprehensive form1 with added physiological details and clinical illustrations1 might contribute something1 however little1 to the cause of sound education4 ,moreover1 his own conviction1 not only of the importance of the subject1 but of the soundness of the conclusions he has reached1 and of the necessity of bringing physiological facts and laws prominently to the notice of all who are interested in education1 conspires with the interest excited by the theme of his lecture to justify him in presenting these pages to the public4 ,the leisure of his last professional vacation has been devoted to their preparation4 ,the original address1 with the exception of a few verbal alterations1 is incorporated into them4 ,great plainness of speech will be observed throughout this essay4 ,the nature of the subject it discusses1 the general misapprehension both of the strong and weak points in the physiology of the woman question1 and the ignorance displayed by many1 of what the co-education of the sexes really means1 all forbid that ambiguity of language or euphemism of expression should be employed in the discussion4 ,the subject is treated solely from the standpoint of physiology4 ,technical terms have been employed1 only where their use is more exact or less offensive than common ones4 ,if the publication of this brief memoir does nothing more than excite discussion and stimulate investigation with regard to a matter of such vital moment to the nation as the relation of sex to education1 the author will be amply repaid for the time and labor of its preparation4 ,no one can appreciate more than he its imperfections4 ,notwithstanding these1 he hopes a little good may be extracted from it1 and so commends it to the consideration of all who desire the best education of the sexes4 ,,boston1 #ah ,,arlington ,,street1 ,october1 #ahgc4 ,,preface ,,to ,,second ,,edition4 ,the demand for a second edition of this book in little more than a week after the publication of the first1 indicates the interest which the public take in the relation of ,sex to ,education1 and justifies the author in appealing to physiology and pathology for light upon the vexed question of the appropriate education of girls4 ,excepting a few verbal alterations1 and the correction of a few typographical errors1 there is no difference between this edition and the first4 ,the author would have been glad to add to this edition a section upon the relation of sex to women's work in life1 after their technical education is completed1 but has not had time to do so4 ,,boston1 #ah ,,arlington ,,street1 ,nov4 #h1 #ahgc4 ,,note ,,to ,,the ,,fifth ,,edition4 ,the attention of the reader is called to the definition of education on the twentieth page4 ,it is there stated1 that1 throughout this essay1 education is not used in the limited sense of mental or intellectual training alone1 but as comprehending the whole manner of life1 physical and psychical1 during the educational period2 that is1 following ,worcester's comprehensive definition1 as comprehending instruction1 discipline1 manners1 and habits4 ,this1 of course1 includes home-life and social life1 as well as school-life2 balls and parties1 as well as books and recitations2 walking and riding1 as much as studying and sewing4 ,when a remission or intermission is necessary1 the parent must decide what part of education shall be remitted or omitted1--the walk1 the ball1 the school1 the party1 or all of these4 ,none can doubt which will interfere most with ,nature's laws1--four hours' dancing1 or four hours' studying4 ,these remarks may be unnecessary4 ,they are made because some who have noticed this essay have spoken of it as if it treated only of the school1 and seem to have forgotten the just and comprehensive signification in which education is used throughout this memoir4 ,moreover1 it may be well to remind the reader1 even at the risk of casting a reflection upon his intelligence1 that1 in these pages1 the relation of sex to mature life is not discussed1 except in a few passages1 in which the large capacities and great power of woman are alluded to1 provided the epoch of development is physiologically guided4 ,,sex ,,in ,,education4 ,,part ,i4 ,,introductory4 ,is there any thing better in a ,state than that both women and men be rendered the very best8 ,there is not4--,,plato4 ,it is idle to say that what is right for man is wrong for woman4 ,pure reason1 abstract right and wrong1 have nothing to do with sex3 they neither recognize nor know it4 ,they teach that what is right or wrong for man is equally right and wrong for woman4 ,both sexes are bound by the same code of morals2 both are amenable to the same divine law4 ,both have a right to do the best they can2 or1 to speak more justly1 both should feel the duty1 and have the opportunity1 to do their best4 ,each must justify its existence by becoming a complete development of manhood and womanhood2 and each should refuse whatever limits or dwarfs that development4 ,the problem of woman's sphere1 to use the modern phrase1 is not to be solved by applying to it abstract principles of right and wrong4 ,its solution must be obtained from physiology1 not from ethics or metaphysics4 ,the question must be submitted to ,agassiz and ,huxley1 not to ,kant or ,calvin1 to ,church or ,pope4 ,without denying the self-evident proposition1 that whatever a woman can do1 she has a right to do1 the question at once arises1 ,what can she do8 ,and this includes the further question1 ,what can she best do8 ,a girl can hold a plough1 and ply a needle1 after a fashion4 ,if she can do both better than a man1 she ought to be both farmer and seamstress2 but if1 on the whole1 her husband can hold best the plough1 and she ply best the needle1 they should divide the labor4 ,he should be master of the plough1 and she mistress of the loom4 ,the quaestio vexata of woman's sphere will be decided by her organization4 ,this limits her power1 and reveals her divinely-appointed tasks1 just as man's organization limits his power1 and reveals his work4 ,in the development of the organization is to be found the way of strength and power for both sexes4 ,limitation or abortion of development leads both to weakness and failure4 ,neither is there any such thing as inferiority or superiority in this matter4 ,man is not superior to woman1 nor woman to man4 ,the relation of the sexes is one of equality1 not of better and worse1 or of higher and lower4 ,by this it is not intended to say that the sexes are the same4 ,they are different1 widely different from each other1 and so different that each can do1 in certain directions1 what the other cannot2 and in other directions1 where both can do the same things1 one sex1 as a rule1 can do them better than the other2 and in still other matters they seem to be so nearly alike1 that they can interchange labor without perceptible difference4 ,all this is so well known1 that it would be useless to refer to it1 were it not that much of the discussion of the irrepressible woman-question1 and many of the efforts for bettering her education and widening her sphere1 seem to ignore any difference of the sexes2 seem to treat her as if she were identical with man1 and to be trained in precisely the same way2 as if her organization1 and consequently her function1 were masculine1 not feminine4 ,there are those who write and act as if their object were to assimilate woman as much as possible to man1 by dropping all that is distinctively feminine out of her1 and putting into her as large an amount of masculineness as possible4 ,these persons tacitly admit the error just alluded to1 that woman is inferior to man1 and strive to get rid of the inferiority by making her a man4 ,there may be some subtle physiological basis for such views--some strange quality of brain2 for some who hold and advocate them are of those1 who1 having missed the symmetry and organic balance that harmonious development yields1 have drifted into an hermaphroditic condition4 ,one of this class1 who was glad to have escaped the chains of matrimony1 but knew the value and lamented the loss of maternity1 wished she had been born a widow with two children4 ,these misconceptions arise from mistaking difference of organization and function for difference of position in the scale of being1 which is equivalent to saying that man is rated higher in the divine order because he has more muscle1 and woman lower because she has more fat4 ,the loftiest ideal of humanity1 rejecting all comparisons of inferiority and superiority between the sexes1 demands that each shall be perfect in its kind1 and not be hindered in its best work4 ,the lily is not inferior to the rose1 nor the oak superior to the clover3 yet the glory of the lily is one1 and the glory of the oak is another2 and the use of the oak is not the use of the clover4 ,that is poor horticulture which would train them all alike4 ,when ,col4 ,higginson asked1 not long ago1 in one of his charming essays1 that almost persuade the reader1 ,ought women to learn the alphabet8 and added1 ,give woman1 if you dare1 the alphabet1 then summon her to the career1 his physiology was not equal to his wit4 ,women will learn the alphabet at any rate2 and man will be powerless to prevent them1 should he undertake so ungracious a task4 ,the real question is not1 ,shall women learn the alphabet8 but ,how shall they learn it8 ,in this case1 how is more important than ought or shall4 ,the principle and duty are not denied4 ,the method is not so plain4 ,the fact that women have often equalled and sometimes excelled men in physical labor1 intellectual effort1 and lofty heroism1 is sufficient proof that women have muscle1 mind1 and soul1 as well as men2 but it is no proof that they have had1 or should have1 the same kind of training2 nor is it any proof that they are destined for the same career as men4 ,the presumption is1 that if woman1 subjected to a masculine training1 arranged for the development of a masculine organization1 can equal man1 she ought to excel him if educated by a feminine training1 arranged to develop a feminine organization4 ,indeed1 ,i have somewhere encountered an author who boldly affirms the superiority of women to all existences on this planet1 because of the complexity of their organization4 ,without undertaking to indorse such an opinion1 it may be affirmed1 that an appropriate method of education for girls--one that should not ignore the mechanism of their bodies or blight any of their vital organs--would yield a better result than the world has yet seen4 ,gail ,hamilton's statement is true1 that1 a girl can go to school1 pursue all the studies which ,dr4 ,todd enumerates1 except ad infinitum2 know them1 not as well as a chemist knows chemistry or a botanist botany1 but as well as they are known by boys of her age and training1 as well1 indeed1 as they are known by many college-taught men1 enough1 at least1 to be a solace and a resource to her2 then graduate before she is eighteen1 and come out of school as healthy1 as fresh1 as eager1 as she went in4#a ,but it is not true that she can do all this1 and retain uninjured health and a future secure from neuralgia1 uterine disease1 hysteria1 and other derangements of the nervous system1 if she follows the same method that boys are trained in4 ,boys must study and work in a boy's way1 and girls in a girl's way4 ,they may study the same books1 and attain an equal result1 but should not follow the same method4 ,mary can master ,virgil and ,euclid as well as ,george2 but both will be dwarfed1--defrauded of their rightful attainment1--if both are confined to the same methods4 ,it is said that ,elena ,cornaro1 the accomplished professor of six languages1 whose statue adorns and honors ,padua1 was educated like a boy4 ,this means that she was initiated into1 and mastered1 the studies that were considered to be the peculiar dower of men4 ,it does not mean that her life was a man's life1 her way of study a man's way of study1 or that1 in acquiring six languages1 she ignored her own organization4 ,women who choose to do so can master the humanities and the mathematics1 encounter the labor of the law and the pulpit1 endure the hardness of physic and the conflicts of politics2 but they must do it all in woman's way1 not in man's way4 ,in all their work they must respect their own organization1 and remain women1 not strive to be men1 or they will ignominiously fail4 ,for both sexes1 there is no exception to the law1 that their greatest power and largest attainment lie in the perfect development of their organization4 ,woman1 says a late writer1 must be regarded as woman1 not as a nondescript animal1 with greater or less capacity for assimilation to man4 ,if we would give our girls a fair chance1 and see them become and do their best by reaching after and attaining an ideal beauty and power1 which shall be a crown of glory and a tower of strength to the republic1 we must look after their complete development as women4 ,wherein they are men1 they should be educated as men2 wherein they are women1 they should be educated as women4 ,the physiological motto is1 ,educate a man for manhood1 a woman for womanhood1 both for humanity4 ,in this lies the hope of the race4 ,perhaps it should be mentioned in this connection1 that1 throughout this paper1 education is not used in the limited and technical sense of intellectual or mental training alone4 ,by saying there is a boy's way of study and a girl's way of study1 it is not asserted that the intellectual process which masters ,juvenal1 ,german1 or chemistry1 is different for the two sexes4 ,education is here intended to include what its etymology indicates1 the drawing out and development of every part of the system2 and this necessarily includes the whole manner of life1 physical and psychical1 during the educational period4 ,education1 says ,worcester1 comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding1 correct the temper1 and form the manners and habits1 of youth1 and fit them for usefulness in their future stations4 ,it has been and is the misfortune of this country1 and particularly of ,new ,england1 that education1 stripped of this1 its proper signification1 has popularly stood for studying1 without regard to the physical training or no training that the schools afford4 ,the cerebral processes by which the acquisition of knowledge is made are the same for each sex2 but the mode of life which gives the finest nurture to the brain1 and so enables those processes to yield their best result1 is not the same for each sex4 ,the best educational training for a boy is not the best for a girl1 nor that for a girl best for a boy4 ,the delicate bloom1 early but rapidly fading beauty1 and singular pallor of ,american girls and women have almost passed into a proverb4 ,the first observation of a ,european that lands upon our shores is1 that our women are a feeble race2 and1 if he is a physiological observer1 he is sure to add1 ,they will give birth to a feeble race1 not of women only1 but of men as well4 ,i never saw before so many pretty girls together1 said ,lady ,amberley to the writer1 after a visit to the public schools of ,boston2 and then added1 ,they all looked sick4 ,circumstances have repeatedly carried me to ,europe1 where ,i am always surprised by the red blood that fills and colors the faces of ladies and peasant girls1 reminding one of the canvas of ,rubens and ,murillo2 and am always equally surprised on my return1 by crowds of pale1 bloodless female faces1 that suggest consumption1 scrofula1 anemia1 and neuralgia4 ,to a large extent1 our present system of educating girls is the cause of this palor and weakness4 ,how our schools1 through their methods of education1 contribute to this unfortunate result1 and how our colleges that have undertaken to educate girls like boys1 that is1 in the same way1 have succeeded in intensifying the evils of the schools1 will be pointed out in another place4 ,it has just been said that the educational methods of our schools and colleges for girls are1 to a large extent1 the cause of the thousand ills that beset ,american women4 ,let it be remembered that this is not asserting that such methods of education are the sole cause of female weaknesses1 but only that they are one cause1 and one of the most important causes of it4 ,an immense loss of female power may be fairly charged to irrational cooking and indigestible diet4 ,we live in the zone of perpetual pie and dough-nut2 and our girls revel in those unassimilable abominations4 ,much also may be credited to artificial deformities strapped to the spine1 or piled on the head1 much to corsets and skirts1 and as much to the omission of clothing where it is needed as to excess where the body does not require it2 but1 after the amplest allowance for these as causes of weakness1 there remains a large margin of disease unaccounted for4 ,those grievous maladies which torture a woman's earthly existence1 called leucorrhoea1 amenorrhoea1 dysmenorrhoea1 chronic and acute ovaritis1 prolapsus uteri1 hysteria1 neuralgia1 and the like1 are indirectly affected by food1 clothing1 and exercise2 they are directly and largely affected by the causes that will be presently pointed out1 and which arise from a neglect of the peculiarities of a woman's organization4 ,the regimen of our schools fosters this neglect4 ,the regimen of a college arranged for boys1 if imposed on girls1 would foster it still more4 ,the scope of this paper does not permit the discussion of these other causes of female weaknesses4 ,its object is to call attention to the errors of physical training that have crept into1 and twined themselves about1 our ways of educating girls1 both in public and private schools1 and which now threaten to attain a larger development1 and inflict a consequently greater injury1 by their introduction into colleges and large seminaries of learning1 that have adopted1 or are preparing to adopt1 the co-education of the sexes4 ,even if there were space to do so1 it would not be necessary to discuss here the other causes alluded to4 ,they are receiving the amplest attention elsewhere4 ,the gifted authoress of ,the ,gates ,ajar has blown her trumpet with no uncertain sound1 in explanation and advocacy of a new-clothes philosophy1 which her sisters will do well to heed rather than to ridicule4 ,it would be a blessing to the race1 if some inspired prophet of clothes would appear1 who should teach the coming woman how1 in pharmaceutical phrase1 to fit1 put on1 wear1 and take off her dress1-- ,cito1 ,tuto1 et ,jucunde4 ,corsets that embrace the waist with a grip that tightens respiration into pain1 and skirts that weight the hips with heavier than maternal burdens1 have often caused grievous maladies1 and imposed a needless invalidism4 ,yet1 recognizing all this1 it must not be forgotten that breeches do not make a man1 nor the want of them unmake a woman4 ,let the statement be emphasized and reiterated until it is heeded1 that woman's neglect of her own organization1 though not the sole explanation and cause of her many weaknesses1 more than any single cause1 adds to their number1 and intensifies their power4 ,it limits and lowers her action very much1 as man is limited and degraded by dissipation4 ,the saddest part of it all is1 that this neglect of herself in girlhood1 when her organization is ductile and impressible1 breeds the germs of diseases that in later life yield torturing or fatal maladies4 ,every physician's note-book affords copious illustrations of these statements4 ,the number of them which the writer has seen prompted this imperfect essay upon a subject in which the public has a most vital interest1 and with regard to which it acts with the courage of ignorance4 ,two considerations deserve to be mentioned in this connection4 ,one is1 that no organ or function in plant1 animal1 or human kind1 can be properly regarded as a disability or source of weakness4 ,through ignorance or misdirection1 it may limit or enfeeble the animal or being that misguides it2 but1 rightly guided and developed1 it is either in itself a source of power and grace to its parent stock1 or a necessary stage in the development of larger grace and power4 ,the female organization is no exception to this law2 nor are the particular set of organs and their functions with which this essay has to deal an exception to it4 ,the periodical movements which characterize and influence woman's structure for more than half her terrestrial life1 and which1 in their ebb and flow1 sway every fibre and thrill every nerve of her body a dozen times a year1 and the occasional pregnancies which test her material resources1 and cradle the race1 are1 or are evidently intended to be1 fountains of power1 not hinderances1 to her4 ,they are not infrequently spoken of by women themselves with half-smothered anathemas2 often endured only as a necessary evil and sign of inferiority2 and commonly ignored1 till some steadily-advancing malady whips the recalcitrant sufferer into acknowledgment of their power1 and respect for their function4 ,all this is a sad mistake4 ,it is a foolish and criminal delicacy that has persuaded woman to be so ashamed of the temple ,god built for her as to neglect one of its most important services4 ,on account of this neglect1 each succeeding generation1 obedient to the law of hereditary transmission1 has become feebler than its predecessor4 ,our great-grandmothers are pointed at as types of female physical excellence2 their great-grand-daughters as illustrations of female physical degeneracy4 ,there is consolation1 however1 in the hope1 based on substantial physiological data1 that our great-grand-daughters may recapture their ancestors' bloom and force4 ,three generations of wholesome life1 says ,mr4 ,greg1 might suffice to eliminate the ancestral poison1 for the vis medicatrix naturae has wonderful efficacy when allowed free play2 and perhaps the time may come when the worst cases shall deem it a plain duty to curse no future generations with the damnosa hereditas1 which has caused such bitter wretchedness to themselves4#b ,the second consideration is the acknowledged influence of beauty4 ,when one sees a god-like countenance1 said ,socrates to ,phaedrus1 or some bodily form that represents beauty1 he reverences it as a god1 and would sacrifice to it4 ,from the days of ,plato till now1 all have felt the power of woman's beauty1 and been more than willing to sacrifice to it4 ,the proper1 not exclusive search for it is a legitimate inspiration4 ,the way for a girl to obtain her portion of this radiant halo is by the symmetrical development of every part of her organization1 muscle1 ovary1 stomach and nerve1 and by a physiological management of every function that correlates every organ2 not by neglecting or trying to stifle or abort any of the vital and integral parts of her structure1 and supplying the deficiency by invoking the aid of the milliner's stuffing1 the colorist's pencil1 the druggist's compounds1 the doctor's pelvic supporter1 and the surgeon's spinal brace4 ,when travelling in the ,east1 some years ago1 it was my fortune to be summoned as a physician into a harem4 ,with curious and not unwilling step ,i obeyed the summons4 ,while examining the patient1 nearly a dozen ,syrian girls--a grave ,turk's wifely crowd1 a result and illustration of ,mohammedan female education--pressed around the divan with eyes and ears intent to see and hear a ,western ,hakim's medical examination4 ,as ,i looked upon their well-developed forms1 their brown skins1 rich with the blood and sun of the ,east1 and their unintelligent1 sensuous faces1 ,i thought that if it were possible to marry the ,oriental care of woman's organization to the ,western liberty and culture of her brain1 there would be a new birth and loftier type of womanly grace and force4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,woman's ,wrongs1 p4 #ei4 #b ,enigmas of ,life1 p4 #cd4 ,,part ,,ii4 ,,chiefly ,,physiological4 ,she girdeth her loins with strength4--,,solomon4 ,before describing the special forms of ill that exist among our ,american1 certainly among our ,new-,england girls and women1 and that are often caused and fostered by our methods of education and social customs1 it is important to refer in considerable detail to a few physiological matters4 ,physiology serves to disclose the cause1 and explain the modus operandi1 of these ills1 and offers the only rational clew to their prevention and relief4 ,the order in which the physiological data are presented that bear upon this discussion is not essential2 their relation to the subject matter of it will be obvious as we proceed4 ,the sacred number1 three1 dominates the human frame4 ,there is a trinity in our anatomy4 ,three systems1 to which all the organs are directly or indirectly subsidiary1 divide and control the body4 ,first1 there is the nutritive system1 composed of stomach1 intestines1 liver1 pancreas1 glands1 and vessels1 by which food is elaborated1 effete matter removed1 the blood manufactured1 and the whole organization nourished4 ,this is the commissariat4 ,secondly1 there is the nervous system1 which co-ordinates all the organs and functions2 which enables man to entertain relations with the world around him1 and with his fellows2 and through which intellectual power is manifested1 and human thought and reason made possible4 ,thirdly1 there is the reproductive system1 by which the race is continued1 and its grasp on the earth assured4 ,the first two of these systems are alike in each sex4 ,they are so alike1 that they require a similar training in each1 and yield in each a similar result4 ,the machinery of them is the same4 ,no scalpel has disclosed any difference between a man's and a woman's liver4 ,no microscope has revealed any structure1 fibre1 or cell1 in the brain of man or woman1 that is not common to both4 ,no analysis or dynamometer has discovered or measured any chemical action or nerve-force that stamps either of these systems as male or female4 ,from these anatomical and physiological data alone1 the inference is legitimate1 that intellectual power1 the correlation and measure of cerebral structure and metamorphosis1 is capable of equal development in both sexes4 ,with regard to the reproductive system1 the case is altogether different4 ,woman1 in the interest of the race1 is dowered with a set of organs peculiar to herself1 whose complexity1 delicacy1 sympathies1 and force are among the marvels of creation4 ,if properly nurtured and cared for1 they are a source of strength and power to her4 ,if neglected and mismanaged1 they retaliate upon their possessor with weakness and disease1 as well of the mind as of the body4 ,god was not in error1 when1 after ,eve's creation1 he looked upon his work1 and pronounced it good4 ,let ,eve take a wise care of the temple ,god made for her1 and ,adam of the one made for him1 and both will enter upon a career whose glory and beauty no seer has foretold or poet sung4 ,ever since the time of ,hippocrates1 woman has been physiologically described as enjoying1 and has always recognized herself as enjoying1 or at least as possessing1 a tri-partite life4 ,the first period extends from birth to about the age of twelve or fifteen years2 the second1 from the end of the first period to about the age of forty-five2 and the third1 from the last boundary to the final passage into the unknown4 ,the few years that are necessary for the voyage from the first to the second period1 and those from the second to the third1 are justly called critical ones4 ,mothers are1 or should be1 wisely anxious about the first passage for their daughters1 and women are often unduly apprehensive about the second passage for themselves4 ,all this is obvious and known2 and yet1 in our educational arrangements1 little heed is paid to the fact1 that the first of these critical voyages is made during a girl's educational life1 and extends over a very considerable portion of it4 ,this brief statement only hints at the vital physiological truths it contains3 it does not disclose them4 ,let us look at some of them a moment4 ,remember1 that we are now concerned only with the first of these passages1 that from a girl's childhood to her maturity4 ,in childhood1 boys and girls are very nearly alike4 ,if they are natural1 they talk and romp1 chase butterflies and climb fences1 love and hate1 with an innocent abandon that is ignorant of sex4 ,yet even then the difference is apparent to the observing4 ,inspired by the divine instinct of motherhood1 the girl that can only creep to her mother's knees will caress a doll1 that her tottling brother looks coldly upon4 ,the infant ,achilles breaks the thin disguise of his gown and sleeves by dropping the distaff1 and grasping the sword4 ,as maturity approaches1 the sexes diverge4 ,an unmistakable difference marks the form and features of each1 and reveals the demand for a special training4 ,this divergence1 however1 is limited in its sweep and its duration4 ,the difference exists for a definite purpose1 and goes only to a definite extent4 ,the curves of separation swell out as childhood recedes1 like an ellipse1 and1 as old age draws on1 approach1 till they unite like an ellipse again4 ,in old age1 the second childhood1 the difference of sex becomes of as little note as it was during the first4 ,at that period1 the picture of the ,lean and slippered pantaloon1 ,with spectacles on nose1 and pouch on side1 99 99 99 99 99 ,sans teeth1 sans eyes1 sans taste1 sans every thing1 is faithful to either sex4 ,not as man or woman1 but as a sexless being1 does advanced age enter and pass the portals of what is called death4 ,during the first of these critical periods1 when the divergence of the sexes becomes obvious to the most careless observer1 the complicated apparatus peculiar to the female enters upon a condition of functional activity4 ,the ovaries1 which constitute1 says ,dr4 ,dalton1 the 'essential parts'#c of this apparatus1 and certain accessory organs1 are now rapidly developed4 ,previously they were inactive4 ,during infancy and childhood all of them existed1 or rather all the germs of them existed2 but they were incapable of function4 ,at this period they take on a process of rapid growth and development4 ,coincident with this process1 indicating it1 and essential to it1 are the periodical phenomena which characterize woman's physique till she attains the third division of her tripartite life4 ,the growth of this peculiar and marvellous apparatus1 in the perfect development of which humanity has so large an interest1 occurs during the few years of a girl's educational life4 ,no such extraordinary task1 calling for such rapid expenditure of force1 building up such a delicate and extensive mechanism within the organism1--a house within a house1 an engine within an engine1--is imposed upon the male physique at the same epoch4#d ,the organization of the male grows steadily1 gradually1 and equally1 from birth to maturity4 ,the importance of having our methods of female education recognize this peculiar demand for growth1 and of so adjusting themselves to it1 as to allow a sufficient opportunity for the healthy development of the ovaries and their accessory organs1 and for the establishment of their periodical functions1 cannot be overestimated4 ,moreover1 unless the work is accomplished at that period1 unless the reproductive mechanism is built and put in good working order at that time1 it is never perfectly accomplished afterwards4 ,it is not enough1 says ,dr4 ,charles ,west1 the accomplished ,london physician1 and lecturer on diseases of women1 it is not enough to take precautions till menstruation has for the first time occurred3 the period for its return should1 even in the healthiest girl1 be watched for1 and all previous precautions should be once more repeated2 and this should be done again and again1 until at length the habit of regular1 healthy menstruation is established4 ,if this be not accomplished during the first few years of womanhood1 it will1 in all probability1 never be attained4#e ,there have been instances1 and ,i have seen such1 of females in whom the special mechanism we are speaking of remained germinal1--undeveloped4 ,it seemed to have been aborted4 ,they graduated from school or college excellent scholars1 but with undeveloped ovaries4 ,later they married1 and were sterile4#f ,the system never does two things well at the same time4 ,the muscles and the brain cannot functionate in their best way at the same moment4 ,one cannot meditate a poem and drive a saw simultaneously1 without dividing his force4 ,he may poetize fairly1 and saw poorly2 or he may saw fairly1 and poetize poorly2 or he may both saw and poetize indifferently4 ,brain-work and stomach-work interfere with each other if attempted together4 ,the digestion of a dinner calls force to the stomach1 and temporarily slows the brain4 ,the experiment of trying to digest a hearty supper1 and to sleep during the process1 has sometimes cost the careless experimenter his life4 ,the physiological principle of doing only one thing at a time1 if you would do it well1 holds as truly of the growth of the organization as it does of the performance of any of its special functions4 ,if excessive labor1 either mental or physical1 is imposed upon children1 male or female1 their development will be in some way checked4 ,if the schoolmaster overworks the brains of his pupils1 he diverts force to the brain that is needed elsewhere4 ,he spends in the study of geography and arithmetic1 of ,latin1 ,greek and chemistry1 in the brain-work of the school room1 force that should have been spent in the manufacture of blood1 muscle1 and nerve1 that is1 in growth4 ,the results are monstrous brains and puny bodies2 abnormally active cerebration1 and abnormally weak digestion2 flowing thought and constipated bowels2 lofty aspirations and neuralgic sensations2 ,a youth of study an old age of nerves4 ,nature has reserved the catamenial week for the process of ovulation1 and for the development and perfectation of the reproductive system4 ,previously to the age of eighteen or twenty1 opportunity must be periodically allowed for the accomplishment of this task4 ,both muscular and brain labor must be remitted enough to yield sufficient force for the work4 ,if the reproductive machinery is not manufactured then1 it will not be later4 ,if it is imperfectly made then1 it can only be patched up1 not made perfect1 afterwards4 ,to be well made1 it must be carefully managed4 ,force must be allowed to flow thither in an ample stream1 and not diverted to the brain by the school1 or to the arms by the factory1 or to the feet by dancing4 ,every physician1 says a recent writer1 can point to students whose splendid cerebral development has been paid for by emaciated limbs1 enfeebled digestion1 and disordered lungs4 ,every biography of the intellectual great records the dangers they have encountered1 often those to which they have succumbed1 in overstepping the ordinary bounds of human capacity2 and while beckoning onward to the glories of their almost preternatural achievements1 register1 by way of warning1 the fearful penalty of disease1 suffering1 and bodily infirmity1 which ,nature exacts as the price for this partial and inharmonious grandeur4 ,it cannot be otherwise4 ,the brain cannot take more than its share without injury to other organs4 ,it cannot do more than its share without depriving other organs of that exercise and nourishment which are essential to their health and vigor4 ,it is in the power of the individual to throw1 as it were1 the whole vigor of the constitution into any one part1 and1 by giving to this part exclusive or excessive attention1 to develop it at the expense1 and to the neglect1 of the others4#g ,in the system of lichens1 ,nylander reckons all organs of equal value4#h ,no one of them can be neglected without evil to the whole organization4 ,from lichens to men and women there is no exception to the law1 that1 if one member suffers1 all the members suffer4 ,what is true of the neglect of a single organ1 is true in a geometrical ratio of the neglect of a system of organs4 ,if the nutritive system is wrong1 the evil of poor nourishment and bad assimilation infects the whole economy4 ,brain and thought are enfeebled1 because the stomach and liver are in error4 ,if the nervous system is abnormally developed1 every organ feels the twist in the nerves4 ,the balance and co-ordination of movement and function are destroyed1 and the ill percolates into an unhappy posterity4 ,if the reproductive system is aborted1 there may be no future generations to pay the penalty of the abortion1 but what is left of the organism suffers sadly4 ,when this sort of arrest of development occurs in a man1 it takes the element of masculineness out of him1 and replaces it with adipose effeminacy4 ,when it occurs in a woman1 it not only substitutes in her case a wiry and perhaps thin bearded masculineness for distinctive feminine traits and power1 making her an epicene1 but it entails a variety of prolonged weaknesses1 that dwarf her rightful power in almost every direction4 ,the persistent neglect and ignoring by women1 and especially by girls1 ignorantly more than wilfully1 of that part of their organization which they hold in trust for the future of the race1 has been fearfully punished here in ,america1 where1 of all the world1 they are least trammelled and should be the best1 by all sorts of female troubles4 ,nature1 says ,lord ,bacon1 is often hidden1 sometimes overcome1 seldom extinguished4 ,in the education of our girls1 the attempt to hide or overcome nature by training them as boys has almost extinguished them as girls4 ,let the fact be accepted1 that there is nothing to be ashamed of in a woman's organization1 and let her whole education and life be guided by the divine requirements of her system4 ,the blood1 which is our life1 is a complex fluid4 ,it contains the materials out of which the tissues are made1 and also the debris which results from the destruction of the same tissues1--the worn-out cells of brain and muscle1--the cast-off clothes of emotion1 thought1 and power4 ,it is a common carrier1 conveying unceasingly to every gland and tissue1 to every nerve and organ1 the fibrin and albumen which repair their constant waste1 thus supplying their daily bread2 and as unceasingly conveying away from every gland and tissue1 from every nerve and organ1 the oxidized refuse1 which are both the result and measure of their work4 ,like the water flowing through the canals of ,venice1 that carries health and wealth to the portals of every house1 and filth and disease from every doorway1 the blood flowing through the canals of the organization carries nutriment to all the tissues1 and refuse from them4 ,its current sweeps nourishment in1 and waste out4 ,the former1 it yields to the body for assimilation2 the latter1 it deposits with the organs of elimination for rejection4 ,in order to have good blood1 then1 two things are essential3 first1 a regular and sufficient supply of nutriment1 and1 secondly1 an equally regular and sufficient removal of waste4 ,insufficient nourishment starves the blood2 insufficient elimination poisons it4 ,a wise housekeeper will look as carefully after the condition of his drains as after the quality of his food4 ,the principal organs of elimination1 common to both sexes1 are the bowels1 kidneys1 lungs1 and skin4 ,a neglect of their functions is punished in each alike4 ,to woman is intrusted the exclusive management of another process of elimination1 viz41 the catamenial function4 ,this1 using the blood for its channel of operation1 performs1 like the blood1 double duty4 ,it is necessary to ovulation1 and to the integrity of every part of the reproductive apparatus2 it also serves as a means of elimination for the blood itself4 ,a careless management of this function1 at any period of life during its existence1 is apt to be followed by consequences that may be serious2 but a neglect of it during the epoch of development1 that is1 from the age of fourteen to eighteen or twenty1 not only produces great evil at the time of the neglect1 but leaves a large legacy of evil to the future4 ,the system is then peculiarly susceptible2 and disturbances of the delicate mechanism we are considering1 induced during the catamenial weeks of that critical age by constrained positions1 muscular effort1 brain work1 and all forms of mental and physical excitement1 germinate a host of ills4 ,sometimes these causes1 which pervade more or less the methods of instruction in our public and private schools1 which our social customs ignore1 and to which operatives of all sorts pay little heed1 produce an excessive performance of the catamenial function2 and this is equivalent to a periodical hemorrhage4 ,sometimes they produce an insufficient performance of it2 and this1 by closing an avenue of elimination1 poisons the blood1 and depraves the organization4 ,the host of ills thus induced are known to physicians and to the sufferers as amenorrhoea1 menorrhagia1 dysmenorrhoea1 hysteria1 anemia1 chorea1 and the like4 ,some of these fasten themselves on their victim for a lifetime1 and some are shaken off4 ,now and then they lead to an abortion of the function1 and consequent sterility4 ,fortunate is the girls' school or college that does not furnish abundant examples of these sad cases4 ,the more completely any such school or college succeeds1 while adopting every detail and method of a boy's school1 in ignoring and neglecting the physiological conditions of sexual development1 the larger will be the number of these pathological cases among its graduates4 ,clinical illustrations of these statements will be given in another place4 ,the mysterious process which physiologists call metamorphosis of tissue1 or intestitial change1 deserves attention in connection with our subject4 ,it interests both sexes alike4 ,unless it goes on normally1 neither boys1 girls1 men1 nor women1 can have bodies or brains worth talking about4 ,it is a process1 without which not a step can be taken1 or muscle moved1 or food digested1 or nutriment assimilated1 or any function1 physical or mental1 performed4 ,by its aid1 growth and development are carried on4 ,youth1 maturity1 and old age result from changes in its character4 ,it is alike the support and the guide of health convalescence1 and disease4 ,it is the means by which1 in the human system1 force is developed1 and growth and decay rendered possible4 ,the process1 in itself1 is one of the simplest4 ,it is merely the replacing of one microscopic cell by another2 and yet upon this simple process hang the issues of life and death1 of thought and power4 ,carpenter1 in his physiology1 reports the discovery1 which we owe to ,german investigation1 that the whole structure originates in a single cell2 that this cell gives birth to others1 analogous to itself1 and these again to many future generations2 and that all the varied tissues of the animal body are developed from cells4#i ,a more recent writer adds1 ,in the higher animals and plants1 we are presented with structures which may be regarded as essentially aggregates of cells2 and there is now a physiological division of labor1 some of the cells being concerned with the nutriment of the organism1 whilst others are set apart1 and dedicated to the function of reproduction4 ,every cell in such an aggregate leads a life1 which1 in a certain limited sense1 may be said to be independent2 and each discharges its own function in the general economy4 ,each cell has a period of development1 growth1 and active life1 and each ultimately perishes2 the life of the organism not only not depending upon the life of its elemental factors1 but actually being kept up by their constant destruction and as constant renewal4#aj ,growth1 health1 and disease are cellular manifestations4 ,with every act of life1 the movement of a finger1 the pulsation of a heart1 the uttering of a word1 the coining of a thought1 the thrill of an emotion1 there is the destruction of a certain number of cells4 ,their destruction evolves or sets free the force that we recognize as movement1 speech1 thought1 and emotion4 ,the number of cells destroyed depends upon the intensity and duration of the effort that correlates their destruction4 ,when a blacksmith wields a hammer for an hour1 he uses up the number of cells necessary to yield that amount of muscular force4 ,when a girl studies ,latin for an hour1 she uses up the number of brain-cells necessary to yield that amount of intellectual force4 ,as fast as one cell is destroyed1 another is generated4 ,the death of one is followed instantly by the birth of its successor4 ,this continual process of cellular death and birth1 the income and outgo of cells1 that follow each other like the waves of the sea1 each different yet each the same1 is metamorphosis of tissue4 ,this is life4 ,it corresponds very nearly to ,bichat's definition that1 life is organization in action4 ,the finer sense of ,shakspeare dictated a truer definition than the science of the ,french physiologist1-- ,what's yet in this ,that bears the name of life8 ,yet in this life ,lie hid more thousand deaths4 ,measure for ,measure1 ,act iii4 ,scene #a4 ,no physical or psychical act is possible without this change4 ,it is a process of continual waste and repair4 ,subject to its inevitable power1 the organization is continually wasting away and continually being repaired4 ,the old notion that our bodies are changed every seven years1 science has long since exploded4 ,the matter1 said ,mr4 ,john ,goodsir1 of the organized frame to its minutest parts is in a continual flux4 ,our bodies are never the same for any two successive days4 ,the feet that ,mary shall dance with next ,christmas ,eve will not be the same feet that bore her triumphantly through the previous ,christmas holidays4 ,the brain that she learns ,german with to-day does not contain a cell in its convolutions that was spent in studying ,french one year ago4 ,whether her present feet can dance better or worse than those of a year ago1 and whether her present brain can do more or less ,german and ,french than the one of the year before1 depends upon how she has used her feet and brain during the intervening time1 that is1 upon the metamorphosis of her tissue4 ,from birth to adult age1 the cells of muscle1 organ1 and brain that are spent in the activities of life1 such as digesting1 growing1 studying1 playing1 working1 and the like1 are replaced by others of better quality and larger number4 ,at least1 such is the case where metamorphosis is permitted to go on normally4 ,the result is growth and development4 ,this growing period or formative epoch extends from birth to the age of twenty or twenty-five years4 ,its duration is shorter for a girl than for a boy4 ,she ripens quicker than he4 ,in the four years from fourteen to eighteen1 she accomplishes an amount of physiological cell change and growth which ,nature does not require of a boy in less than twice that number of years4 ,it is obvious1 that to secure the best kind of growth during this period1 and the best development at the end of it1 the waste of tissue produced by study1 work1 and fashion must not be so great that repair will only equal it4 ,it is equally obvious that a girl upon whom ,nature1 for a limited period and for a definite purpose1 imposes so great a physiological task1 will not have as much power left for the tasks of the school1 as the boy of whom ,nature requires less at the corresponding epoch4 ,a margin must be allowed for growth4 ,the repair must be greater and better than the waste4 ,during middle age1 life's active period1 there is an equilibrium between the body's waste and repair3 one equals the other4 ,the machine1 when properly managed1 then holds its own4 ,a ,french physiologist fixes the close of this period for the ideal man of the future at eighty1 when1 he says1 old age begins4 ,few have such inherited power1 and live with such physiological wisdom1 as to keep their machine in good repair1--in good working-order1--to that late period4 ,from the age of twenty-five or thirty1 however1 to that of sixty or sixty-five1 this equilibrium occurs4 ,repair then equals waste2 reconstruction equals destruction4 ,the female organization1 like the male1 is now developed3 its tissues are consolidated2 its functions are established4 ,with decent care1 it can perform an immense amount of physical and mental labor4 ,it is now capable of its best work4 ,but1 in order to do its best1 it must obey the law of periodicity2 just as the male organization1 to do its best1 must obey the law of sustained effort4 ,when old age begins1 whether1 normally1 at seventy or eighty1 or1 prematurely1 at fifty or thirty1 repair does not equal waste1 and degeneration of tissue results4 ,more cells are destroyed by wear and tear than are made up from nutriment4 ,the friction of the machine rubs the stuff of life away faster than it can be replaced4 ,the muscles stiffen1 the hair turns white1 the joints crack1 the arteries ossify1 the nerve-centres harden or soften3 all sorts of degeneration creep on till death appears1--,mors janua vitae4 ,there the curves unite1 and men and women are alike again4 ,sleep1 whose inventor received the benediction of ,sancho ,panza1 and whose power ,dryden apostrophized1-- ,of all the powers the best3 ,oh6 peace of mind1 repairer of decay1 ,whose balm renews the limbs to labor of the day1-- is a most important physiological factor4 ,our schools are as apt in frightening it away as our churches are in inviting it4 ,sleep is the opportunity for repair4 ,during its hours of quiet rest1 when muscular and nervous effort are stilled1 millions of microscopic cells are busy in the penetralia of the organism1 like coral insects in the depths of the sea1 repairing the waste which the day's study and work have caused4 ,dr4 ,b4,w4 ,richardson of ,london1 one of the most ingenious and accomplished physiologists of the present day1 describes the labor of sleep in the following language3 ,during this period of natural sleep1 the most important changes of nutrition are in progress3 the body is renovating1 and1 if young1 is actually growing4 ,if the body be properly covered1 the animal heat is being conserved1 and laid up for expenditure during the waking hours that are to follow2 the respiration is reduced1 the inspirations being lessened in the proportion of six to seven1 as compared with the number made when the body is awake2 the action of the heart is reduced2 the voluntary muscles1 relieved of all fatigue1 and with the extensors more relaxed than the flexors1 are undergoing repair of structure1 and recruiting their excitability2 and the voluntary nervous system1 dead for the time to the external vibration1 or1 as the older men called it1 'stimulus' from without1 is also undergoing rest and repair1 so that1 when it comes again into work1 it may receive better the impressions it may have to gather up1 and influence more effectively the muscles it may be called upon to animate1 direct1 control4#aa ,an ,american observer and physiologist1 ,dr4 ,william ,a4 ,hammond1 confirms the views of his ,english colleague4 ,he tells us that the state of general repose which accompanies sleep is of especial value to the organism1 in allowing the nutrition of the nervous tissue to go on at a greater rate than its destructive metamorphosis4 ,in another place he adds1 ,for the brain1 there is no rest except during sleep4 ,and1 again1 he says1 ,the more active the mind1 the greater the necessity for sleep2 just as with a steamer1 the greater the number of revolutions its engine makes1 the more imperative is the demand for fuel4#ab ,these statements justify and explain the instinctive demand for sleep4 ,they also show why it is that infants require more sleep than children1 and children than middle-age folk1 and middle-age folk than old people4 ,infants must have sleep for repair and rapid growth2 children1 for repair and moderate growth2 middle-age folk1 for repair without growth2 and old people1 only for the minimum of repair4 ,girls1 between the ages of fourteen and eighteen1 must have sleep1 not only for repair and growth1 like boys1 but for the additional task of constructing1 or1 more properly speaking1 of developing and perfecting then1 a reproductive system1--the engine within an engine4 ,the bearing of this physiological fact upon education is obvious4 ,work of the school is work of the brain4 ,work of the brain eats the brain away4 ,sleep is the chance and laboratory of repair4 ,if a child's brain-work and sleep are normally proportioned to each other1 each night will more than make good each day's loss4 ,clear heads will greet each welcome morn4 ,but if the reverse occurs1 the night will not repair the day2 and aching heads will signalize the advance of neuralgia1 tubercle1 and disease4 ,so ,nature punishes disobedience4 ,it is apparent1 from these physiological considerations1 that1 in order to give girls a fair chance in education1 four conditions at least must be observed3 first1 a sufficient supply of appropriate nutriment2 secondly1 a normal management of the catamenial functions1 including the building of the reproductive apparatus2 thirdly1 mental and physical work so apportioned1 that repair shall exceed waste1 and a margin be left for general and sexual development2 and fourthly1 sufficient sleep4 ,evidence of the results brought about by a disregard of these conditions will next be given4 ,,footnotes3 #c ,human ,physiology1 p4 #edf4 #d ,as might be expected1 the mortality of girls is greater at this period than that of boys1 an additional reason for imposing less labor on the former at that time4 ,according to the authority of ,,mm4 ,quetelet and ,smits1 the mortality of the two sexes is equal in childhood1 or that of the male is greatest2 but that of the female rises between the ages of fourteen and sixteen to #a4bh to one male death4 ,for the next four years1 it falls again to #a4je females to one male death4--,sur la ,reproduction et la ,mortalite de l',homme4 #hvo4 ,bruxelles4 #e ,lectures on ,diseases of ,women4 ,am4 ed41 p4 #dh4 #f ,much less uncommon than the absence of either ovary is the persistence of both through the whole or greater part of life in the condition which they present in infancy and early childhood1 with scarcely a trace of graafian vesicles in their tissue4 ,this want of development of the ovaries is generally1 though not invariably1 associated with want of development of the uterus and other sexual organs2 and ,i need not say that women in whom it exists are sterile4--,lectures on the ,diseases of ,women1 by ,charles ,west1 ,m4,d4 ,am4 ed41 p4 #cg4 #g ,enigmas of ,life1 pp4 #afe-h4 #h ,tuckerman's ,genera ,lichenum1 ,introduction1 p4 v4 #i ,carpenter's ,human ,physiology1 p4 #dee4 #aj ,nicholson1 ,study of ,biology1 p4 #gi4 #aa ,popular ,science ,monthly1 ,august1 #ahgb1 p4 #daa4 #ab ,sleep and its ,derangements1 pp4 #i1 #aj1 #ac4 ,,part ,,iii4 ,,chiefly ,,clinical4 ,et l'on nous persuadera difficilement que lorsque les hommes ont tant de peine a etre hommes1 les femmes puissent1 tout en restant femmes1 devenir hommes aussi1 mettant ainsi la main sur les deux roles1 exercant la double mission1 resumant le double caractere de l'humanite6 ,nous perdrons la femme1 et nous n'aurons pas l'homme4 ,voila ce qui nous arrivera4 ,on nous donnera ce quelque chose de monstreux1 cet etre repugnant1 qui deja parait a notre horizon4--,,le ,,comte ,a4 ,,de ,,gasparin4 ,facts given in evidence are premises from which a conclusion is to be drawn4 ,the first step in the exercise of this duty is to acquire a belief of the truth of the facts4--,,ram1 on ,facts4 ,clinical observation confirms the teachings of physiology4 ,the sick chamber1 not the schoolroom2 the physician's private consultation1 not the committee's public examination2 the hospital1 not the college1 the workshop1 or the parlor1--disclose the sad results which modern social customs1 modern education1 and modern ways of labor1 have entailed on women4 ,examples of them may be found in every walk of life4 ,on the luxurious couches of ,beacon ,street2 in the palaces of ,fifth ,avenue2 among the classes of our private1 common1 and normal schools2 among the female graduates of our colleges2 behind the counters of ,washington ,street and ,broadway2 in our factories1 workshops1 and homes1--may be found numberless pale1 weak1 neuralgic1 dyspeptic1 hysterical1 menorrhagic1 dysmenorrhoeic girls and women1 that are living illustrations of the truth of this brief monograph4 ,it is not asserted here that improper methods of study1 and a disregard of the reproductive apparatus and its functions1 during the educational life of girls1 are the sole causes of female diseases2 neither is it asserted that all the female graduates of our schools and colleges are pathological specimens4 ,but it is asserted that the number of these graduates who have been permanently disabled to a greater or less degree by these causes is so great1 as to excite the gravest alarm1 and to demand the serious attention of the community4 ,if these causes should continue for the next half-century1 and increase in the same ratio as they have for the last fifty years1 it requires no prophet to foretell that the wives who are to be mothers in our republic must be drawn from trans-atlantic homes4 ,the sons of the ,new ,world will have to re-act1 on a magnificent scale1 the old story of unwived ,rome and the ,sabines4 ,we have previously seen that the blood is the life1 and that the loss of it is the loss of so much life4 ,deluded by strange theories1 and groping in physiological darkness1 our fathers' physicians were too often ,sangrados4 ,nourishing food1 pure air1 and haematized blood were stigmatized as the friends of disease and the enemies of convalescence4 ,oxygen was shut out from and carbonic acid shut into the chambers of phthisis and fever2 and veins were opened1 that the currents of blood and disease might flow out together4 ,happily1 those days of ignorance1 which ,god winked at1 and which the race survived1 have passed by4 ,air and food and blood are recognized as ,nature's restoratives4 ,no physician would dare1 nowadays1 to bleed either man or woman once a month1 year in and year out1 for a quarter of a century continuously4 ,but girls often have the courage1 or the ignorance1 to do this to themselves4 ,and the worst of it is1 that the organization of our schools and workshops1 and the demands of social life and polite society1 encourage them in this slow suicide4 ,it has already been stated that the excretory organs1 by constantly eliminating from the system its effete and used material1 the measure and source of its force1 keep the machine in clean1 healthy1 and working order1 and that the reproductive apparatus of woman uses the blood as one of its agents of elimination4 ,kept within natural limits1 this elimination is a source of strength1 a perpetual fountain of health1 a constant renewal of life4 ,beyond these limits it is a hemorrhage1 that1 by draining away the life1 becomes a source of weakness and a perpetual fountain of disease4 ,the following case illustrates one of the ways in which our present school methods of teaching girls generate a menorrhagia and its consequent evils4 ,miss ,a----1 a healthy1 bright1 intelligent girl1 entered a female school1 an institution that is commonly but oddly called a seminary for girls1 in the ,state of ,new ,york1 at the age of fifteen4 ,she was then sufficiently well-developed1 and had a good color2 all the functions appeared to act normally1 and the catamenia were fairly established4 ,she was ambitious as well as capable1 and aimed to be among the first in the school4 ,her temperament was what physiologists call nervous1--an expression that does not denote a fidgety make1 but refers to a relative activity of the nervous system4 ,she was always anxious about her recitations4 ,no matter how carefully she prepared for them1 she was ever fearful lest she should trip a little1 and appear to less advantage than she hoped4 ,she went to school regularly every week1 and every day of the school year1 just as boys do4 ,she paid no more attention to the periodical tides of her organization than her companions2 and that was none at all4 ,she recited standing at all times1 or at least whenever a standing recitation was the order of the hour4 ,she soon found1 and this history is taken from her own lips1 that for a few days during every fourth week1 the effort of reciting produced an extraordinary physical result4 ,the attendant anxiety and excitement relaxed the sluices of the system that were already physiologically open1 and determined a hemorrhage as the concomitant of a recitation4 ,subjected to the inflexible rules of the school1 unwilling to seek advice from any one1 almost ashamed of her own physique1 she ingeniously protected herself against exposure1 and went on intellectually leading her companions1 and physically defying nature4 ,at the end of a year1 she went home with a gratifying report from her teachers1 and pale cheeks and a variety of aches4 ,her parents were pleased1 and perhaps a little anxious4 ,she is a good scholar1 said her father2 somewhat over-worked possibly2 and so he gave her a trip among the mountains1 and a week or two at the seashore4 ,after her vacation she returned to school1 and repeated the previous year's experience1--constant1 sustained work1 recitation and study for all days alike1 a hemorrhage once a month that would make the stroke oar of the ,university crew falter1 and a brilliant scholar4 ,before the expiration of the second year1 ,nature began to assert her authority4 ,the paleness of ,miss ,a's complexion increased4 ,an unaccountable and uncontrollable twitching of a rhythmical sort got into the muscles of her face1 and made her hands go and feet jump4 ,she was sent home1 and her physician called1 who at once diagnosticated chorea 7,st4 ,vitus' dance71 and said she had studied too hard1 and wisely prescribed no study and a long vacation4 ,her parents took her to ,europe4 ,a year of the sea and the ,alps1 of ,england and the ,continent1 the ,rhine and ,italy1 worked like a charm4 ,the sluiceways were controlled1 the blood saved1 and color and health returned4 ,she came back seemingly well1 and at the age of eighteen went to her old school once more4 ,during all this time not a word had been said to her by her parents1 her physician1 or her teachers1 about any periodical care of herself2 and the rules of the school did not acknowledge the catamenia4 ,the labor and regimen of the school soon brought on the old menorrhagic trouble in the old way1 with the addition of occasional faintings to emphasize ,nature's warnings4 ,she persisted in getting her education1 however1 and graduated at nineteen1 the first scholar1 and an invalid4 ,again her parents were gratified and anxious4 ,she is overworked1 said they1 and wondered why girls break down so4 ,to insure her recovery1 a second and longer travel was undertaken4 ,egypt and ,asia were added to ,europe1 and nearly two years were allotted to the cure4 ,with change of air and scene her health improved1 but not so rapidly as with the previous journey4 ,she returned to ,america better than she went away1 and married at the age of twenty-two4 ,soon after that time she consulted the writer on account of prolonged dyspepsia1 neuralgia1 and dysmenorrhoea1 which had replaced menorrhagia4 ,then ,i learned the long history of her education1 and of her efforts to study just as boys do4 ,her attention had never been called before to the danger she had incurred while at school4 ,she is now what is called getting better1 but has the delicacy and weaknesses of ,american women1 and1 so far1 is without children4 ,it is not difficult1 in this case1 either to discern the cause of the trouble1 or to trace its influence1 through the varying phases of disease1 from ,miss ,a----'s school-days1 to her matronly life4 ,she was well1 and would have been called robust1 up to her first critical period4 ,she then had two tasks imposed upon her at once1 both of which required for their perfect accomplishment a few years of time and a large share of vital force3 one was the education of the brain1 the other of the reproductive system4 ,the schoolmaster superintended the first1 and ,nature the second4 ,the school1 with puritanic inflexibility1 demanded every day of the month2 ,nature1 kinder than the school1 demanded less than a fourth of the time1--a seventh or an eighth of it would have probably answered4 ,the schoolmaster might have yielded somewhat1 but would not2 ,nature could not4 ,the pupil1 therefore1 was compelled to undertake both tasks at the same time4 ,ambitious1 earnest1 and conscientious1 she obeyed the visible power and authority of the school1 and disobeyed1 or rather ignorantly sought to evade1 the invisible power and authority of her organization4 ,she put her will into the education of her brain1 and withdrew it from elsewhere4 ,the system does not do two things well at the same time4 ,one or the other suffers from neglect1 when the attempt is made4 ,miss ,a---- made her brain and muscles work actively1 and diverted blood and force to them when her organization demanded active work1 with blood and force for evolution in another region4 ,at first the schoolmaster seemed to be successful4 ,he not only made his pupil's brain manipulate ,latin1 chemistry1 philosophy1 geography1 grammar1 arithmetic1 music1 ,french1 ,german1 and the whole extraordinary catalogue of an ,american young lady's school curriculum1 with acrobatic skill2 but he made her do this irrespective of the periodical tides of her organism1 and made her perform her intellectual and muscular calisthenics1 obliging her to stand1 walk1 and recite1 at the seasons of highest tide4 ,for a while she got on nicely4 ,presently1 however1 the strength of the loins1 that even ,solomon put in as a part of his ideal woman1 changed to weakness4 ,periodical hemorrhages were the first warning of this4 ,as soon as loss of blood occurred regularly and largely1 the way to imperfect development and invalidism was open1 and the progress easy and rapid4 ,the nerves and their centres lacked nourishment4 ,there was more waste than repair1--no margin for growth4 ,st4 ,vitus' dance was a warning not to be neglected1 and the schoolmaster resigned to the doctor4 ,a long vacation enabled the system to retrace its steps1 and recover force for evolution4 ,then the school resumed its sway1 and physiological laws were again defied4 ,fortunately graduation soon occurred1 and unintermitted1 sustained labor was no longer enforced4 ,the menorrhagia ceased1 but persistent dysmenorrhoea now indicates the neuralgic friction of an imperfectly developed reproductive apparatus4 ,doubtless the evil of her education will infect her whole life4 ,the next case is drawn from different social surroundings4 ,early associations and natural aptitude inclined ,miss ,b---- to the stage2 and the need of bread and butter sent her upon it as a child1 at what age ,i do not know4 ,at fifteen she was an actress1 determined to do her best1 and ambitious of success4 ,she strenuously taxed muscle and brain at all times in her calling4 ,she worked in a man's sustained way1 ignoring all demands for special development1 and essaying first to dis-establish1 and then to bridle1 the catamenia4 ,at twenty she was eminent4 ,the excitement and effort of acting periodically produced the same result with her that a recitation did under similar conditions with ,miss ,a----4 ,if she had been a physiologist1 she would have known how this course of action would end4 ,as she was an actress1 and not a physiologist1 she persisted in the slow suicide of frequent hemorrhages1 and encouraged them by her method of professional education1 and later by her method of practising her profession4 ,she tried to ward off disease1 and repair the loss of force1 by consulting various doctors1 taking drugs1 and resorting to all sorts of expedients2 but the hemorrhages continued1 and were repeated at irregular and abnormally frequent intervals4 ,a careful local examination disclosed no local disturbance4 ,there was neither ulceration1 hypertrophy1 or congestion of the os or cervix uteri2 no displacement of any moment1 of ovarian tenderness4 ,in spite of all her difficulties1 however1 she worked on courageously and steadily in a man's way and with a woman's will4 ,after a long and discouraging experience of doctors1 work1 and weaknesses1 when rather over thirty years old1 she came to ,boston to consult the writer1 who learned at that time the details just recited4 ,she was then pale and weak4 ,a murmur in the veins1 which a ,french savant1 by way of dedication to the ,devil1 christened bruit de diable1 a baptismal name that science has retained1 was audible over her jugulars1 and a similar murmur over her heart4 ,palpitation and labored respiration accompanied and impeded effort4 ,she complained most of her head1 which felt queer1 would not go to sleep as formerly1 and often gave her turns1 in which there was a mingling of dizziness1 semi-consciousness1 and fear4 ,her education and work1 or rather method of work1 had wrought out for her anemia and epileptiform attacks4 ,she got two or three physiological lectures1 was ordered to take iron1 and other nourishing food1 allow time for sleep1 and1 above all1 to arrange her professional work in harmony with the rhythmical or periodical action of woman's constitution4 ,she made the effort to do this1 and1 in six months1 reported herself in better health--though far from well--than she had been for six years before4 ,this case scarcely requires analysis in order to see how it bears on the question of a girl's education and woman's work4 ,a gifted and healthy girl1 obliged to get her education and earn her bread at the same time1 labored upon the two tasks zealously1 perhaps over-much1 and did this at the epoch when the female organization is busy with the development of its reproductive apparatus4 ,nor is this all4 ,she labored continuously1 yielding nothing to ,nature's periodical demand for force4 ,she worked her engine up to highest pressure1 just as much at flood-tide as at other times4 ,naturally there was not nervous power enough developed in the uterine and associated ganglia to restrain the laboring orifices of the circulation1 to close the gates2 and the flood of blood gushed through4 ,with the frequent repetition of the flooding1 came inevitably the evils she suffered from1--,nature's penalties4 ,she now reports herself better2 but whether convalescence will continue will depend upon her method of work for the future4 ,let us take the next illustration from a walk in life different from either of the foregoing4 ,miss ,c---- was a bookkeeper in a mercantile house4 ,the length of time she remained in the employ of the house1 and its character1 are a sufficient guaranty that she did her work well4 ,like the other clerks1 she was at her post1 standing1 during business hours1 from ,monday morning till ,saturday night4 ,the female pelvis being wider than that of the male1 the weight of the body1 in the upright posture1 tends to press the upper extremities of the thighs out laterally in females more than in males4 ,hence the former can stand less long with comfort than the latter4 ,miss ,c----1 however1 believed in doing her work in a man's way1 infected by the not uncommon notion that womanliness means manliness4 ,moreover1 she would not1 or could not1 make any more allowance for the periodicity of her organization than for the shape of her skeleton4 ,when about twenty years of age1 perhaps a year or so older1 she applied to me for advice in consequence of neuralgia1 back-ache1 menorrhagia1 leucorrhoea1 and general debility4 ,she was anemic1 and looked pale1 care-worn1 and anxious4 ,there was no evidence of any local organic affection of the pelvic organs4 ,get a woman's periodical remission from labor1 if intermission is impossible1 and do your work in a woman's way1 not copying a man's fashion1 and you will need very little apothecary's stuff1 was the advice she received4 ,i must go on as ,i am doing1 was her answer4 ,she tried iron1 sitz-baths1 and the like3 of course they were of no avail4 ,latterly ,i have lost sight of her1 and1 from her appearance at her last visit to me1 presume she has gone to a world where back-ache and male and female skeletons are unknown4 ,illustrations of this sort might be multiplied but these three are sufficient to show how an abnormal method of study and work may and does open the flood-gates of the system1 and1 by letting blood out1 lets all sorts of evil in4 ,let us now look at another phase2 for menorrhagia and its consequences are not the only punishments that girls receive for being educated and worked just like boys4 ,nature's methods of punishing men and women are as numerous as their organs and functions1 and her penalties as infinite in number and gradation as her blessings4 ,amenorrhoea is perhaps more common than menorrhagia4 ,it often happens1 however1 during the first critical epoch1 which is isochronal with the technical educational period of a girl1 that after a few occasions of catamenial hemorrhage1 moderate perhaps but still hemorrhage1 which are not heeded1 the conservative force of ,nature steps in1 and saves the blood by arresting the function4 ,in such instances1 amenorrhoea is a result of menorrhagia4 ,in this way1 and in others that we need not stop to inquire into1 the regimen of our schools1 colleges1 and social life1 that requires girls to walk1 work1 stand1 study1 recite1 and dance at all times as boys can and should1 may shut the uterine portals of the blood up1 and keep poison in1 as well as open them1 and let life out4 ,which of these two evils is worse in itself1 and which leaves the largest legacy of ills behind1 it is difficult to say4 ,let us examine some illustrations of this sort of arrest4 ,miss ,d---- entered ,vassar ,college at the age of fourteen4 ,up to that age1 she had been a healthy girl1 judged by the standard of ,american girls4 ,her parents were apparently strong enough to yield her a fair dower of force4 ,the catamenial function first showed signs of activity in her ,sophomore ,year1 when she was fifteen years old4 ,its appearance at this age#ac is confirmatory evidence of the normal state of her health at that period of her college career4 ,its commencement was normal1 without pain or excess4 ,she performed all her college duties regularly and steadily4 ,she studied1 recited1 stood at the blackboard1 walked1 and went through her gymnastic exercises1 from the beginning to the end of the term1 just as boys do4 ,her account of her regimen there was so nearly that of a boy's regimen1 that it would puzzle a physiologist to determine1 from the account alone1 whether the subject of it was male or female4 ,she was an average scholar1 who maintained a fair position in her class1 not one of the anxious sort1 that are ambitious of leading all the rest4 ,her first warning was fainting away1 while exercising in the gymnasium1 at a time when she should have been comparatively quiet1 both mentally and physically4 ,this warning was repeated several times1 under the same circumstances4 ,finally she was compelled to renounce gymnastic exercises altogether4 ,in her ,junior ,year1 the organism's periodical function began to be performed with pain1 moderate at first1 but more and more severe with each returning month4 ,when between seventeen and eighteen years old1 dysmenorrhoea was established as the order of that function4 ,coincident with the appearance of pain1 there was a diminution of excretion2 and1 as the former increased1 the latter became more marked4 ,in other respects she was well2 and1 in all respects1 she appeared to be well to her companions and to the faculty of the college4 ,she graduated before nineteen1 with fair honors and a poor physique4 ,the year succeeding her graduation was one of steadily-advancing invalidism4 ,she was tortured for two or three days out of every month2 and1 for two or three days after each season of torture1 was weak and miserable1 so that about one sixth or fifth of her time was consumed in this way4 ,the excretion from the blood1 which had been gradually lessening1 after a time substantially stopped1 though a periodical effort to keep it up was made4 ,she now suffered from what is called amenorrhoea4 ,at the same time she became pale1 hysterical1 nervous in the ordinary sense1 and almost constantly complained of headache4 ,physicians were applied to for aid3 drugs were administered2 travelling1 with consequent change of air and scene1 was undertaken2 and all with little apparent avail4 ,after this experience1 she was brought to ,boston for advice1 when the writer first saw her1 and learned all these details4 ,she presented no evidence of local uterine congestion1 inflammation1 ulceration1 or displacement4 ,the evidence was altogether in favor of an arrest of the development of the reproductive apparatus1 at a stage when the development was nearly complete4 ,confirmatory proof of such an arrest was found in examining her breast1 where the milliner had supplied the organs ,nature should have grown4 ,it is unnecessary for our present purpose to detail what treatment was advised4 ,it is sufficient to say1 that she probably never will become physically what she would have been had her education been physiologically guided4 ,this case needs very little comment3 its teachings are obvious4 ,miss ,d---- went to college in good physical condition4 ,during the four years of her college life1 her parents and the college faculty required her to get what is popularly called an education4 ,nature required her1 during the same period1 to build and put in working-order a large and complicated reproductive mechanism1 a matter that is popularly ignored1--shoved out of sight like a disgrace4 ,she naturally obeyed the requirements of the faculty1 which she could see1 rather than the requirements of the mechanism within her1 that she could not see4 ,subjected to the college regimen1 she worked four years in getting a liberal education4 ,her way of work was sustained and continuous1 and out of harmony with the rhythmical periodicity of the female organization4 ,the stream of vital and constructive force evolved within her was turned steadily to the brain1 and away from the ovaries and their accessories4 ,the result of this sort of education was1 that these last-mentioned organs1 deprived of sufficient opportunity and nutriment1 first began to perform their functions with pain1 a warning of error that was unheeded2 then1 to cease to grow2#ad next1 to set up once a month a grumbling torture that made life miserable2 and1 lastly1 the brain and the whole nervous system1 disturbed1 in obedience to the law1 that1 if one member suffers1 all the members suffer1 became neuralgic and hysterical4 ,and so ,miss ,d---- spent the few years next succeeding her graduation in conflict with dysmenorrhoea1 headache1 neuralgia1 and hysteria4 ,her parents marvelled at her ill-health2 and she furnished another text for the often-repeated sermon on the delicacy of ,american girls4 ,it may not be unprofitable to give the history of one more case of this sort4 ,miss ,e---- had an hereditary right to a good brain and to the best cultivation of it4 ,her father was one of our ripest and broadest ,american scholars1 and her mother one of our most accomplished ,american women4 ,they both enjoyed excellent health4 ,their daughter had a literary training1--an intellectual1 moral1 and aesthetic half of education1 such as their supervision would be likely to give1 and one that few young men of her age receive4 ,her health did not seem to suffer at first4 ,she studied1 recited1 walked1 worked1 stood1 and the like1 in the steady and sustained way that is normal to the male organization4 ,she seemed to evolve force enough to acquire a number of languages1 to become familiar with the natural sciences1 to take hold of philosophy and mathematics1 and to keep in good physical case while doing all this4 ,at the age of twenty-one she might have been presented to the public1 on ,commencement ,day1 by the president of ,vassar ,college or of ,antioch ,college or of ,michigan ,university1 as the wished-for result of ,american liberal female culture4 ,just at this time1 however1 the catamenial function began to show signs of failure of power4 ,no severe or even moderate illness overtook her4 ,she was subjected to no unusual strain4 ,she was only following the regimen of continued and sustained work1 regardless of ,nature's periodical demands for a portion of her time and force1 when1 without any apparent cause1 the failure of power was manifested by moderate dysmenorrhoea and diminished excretion4 ,soon after this the function ceased altogether2 and up to this present writing1 a period of six or eight years1 it has shown no more signs of activity than an amputated arm4 ,in the course of a year or so after the cessation of the function1 her head began to trouble her4 ,first there was headache1 then a frequent congested condition1 which she described as a rush of blood to her head2 and1 by and by1 vagaries and forebodings and despondent feelings began to crop out4 ,coincident with this mental state1 her skin became rough and coarse1 and an inveterate acne covered her face4 ,she retained her appetite1 ability to exercise and sleep4 ,a careful local examination of the pelvic organs1 by an expert1 disclosed no lesion or displacement there1 no ovaritis or other inflammation4 ,appropriate treatment faithfully persevered in was unsuccessful in recovering the lost function4 ,i was finally obliged to consign her to an asylum4 ,the arrest of development of the reproductive system is most obvious to the superficial observer in that part of it which the milliner is called upon to cover up with pads1 and which was alluded to in the case of ,miss ,d----4 ,this1 however1 is too important a matter to be dismissed with a bare allusion4 ,a recent writer has pointed out the fact and its significance with great clearness4 ,there is another marked change1 says ,dr4 ,nathan ,allen1 going on in the female organization at the present day1 which is very significant of something wrong4 ,in the normal state1 ,nature has made ample provision in the structure of the female for nursing her offspring4 ,in order to furnish this nourishment1 pure in quality and abundant in quantity1 she must possess a good development of the sanguine and lymphatic temperament1 together with vigorous and healthy digestive organs4 ,formerly such an organization was very generally possessed by ,american women1 and they found but little difficulty in nursing their infants4 ,it was only occasionally1 in case of some defect in the organization1 or where sickness of some kind had overtaken the mother1 that it became necessary to resort to the wet-nurse or to feeding by hand4 ,and the ,english1 the ,scotch1 the ,german1 the ,canadian ,french1 and the ,irish women now living in this country1 generally nurse their children3 the exceptions are rare4 ,but how is it with our ,american women who become mothers8 ,to those who have never considered this subject1 and even to medical men who have never carefully looked into it1 the facts1 when correctly and fully presented1 will be surprising4 ,it has been supposed by some that all1 or nearly all1 our ,american women could nurse their offspring just as well as not2 that the disposition only was wanting1 and that they did not care about having the trouble or confinement necessarily attending it4 ,but this is a great mistake4 ,this very indifference or aversion shows something wrong in the organization as well as in the disposition3 if the physical system were all right1 the mind and natural instincts would generally be right also4 ,while there may be here and there cases of this kind1 such an indisposition is not always found4 ,it is a fact1 that large numbers of our women are anxious to nurse their offspring1 and make the attempt3 they persevere for a while1--perhaps for weeks or months1--and then fail4444 ,there is still another class that cannot nurse at all1 having neither the organs nor nourishment requisite even to make a beginning4444 ,why should there be such a difference between the women of our times and their mothers or grandmothers8 ,why should there be such a difference between our ,american women and those of foreign origin residing in the same locality1 and surrounded by the same external influences8 ,the explanation is simple3 they have not the right kind of organization2 there is a want of proper development of the lymphatic and sanguine temperaments1--a marked deficiency in the organs of nutrition and secretion4 ,you cannot draw water without good1 flowing springs4 ,the brain and nervous system have1 for a long time1 made relatively too large a demand upon the organs of digestion and assimilation1 while the exercise and development of certain other tissues in the body have been sadly neglected4444 ,in consequence of the great neglect of physical exercise1 and the continuous application to study1 together with various other influences1 large numbers of our ,american women have altogether an undue predominance of the nervous temperament4 ,if only here and there an individual were found with such an organization1 not much harm comparatively would result2 but1 when a majority or nearly all have it1 the evil becomes one of no small magnitude4#ae ,and the evil1 it should be added1 is not simply the inability to nurse2 for1 if one member suffers1 all the members suffer4 ,a woman1 whether married or unmarried1 whether called to the offices of maternity or relieved from them1 who has been defrauded by her education or otherwise of such an essential part of her development1 is not so much of a woman1 intellectually and morally as well as physically1 in consequence of this defect4 ,her nervous system and brain1 her instincts and character1 are on a lower plane1 and incapable of their harmonious and best development1 if she is possessed1 on reaching adult age1 of only a portion of a breast and an ovary1 or none at all4 ,when arrested development of the reproductive system is nearly or quite complete1 it produces a change in the character1 and a loss of power1 which it is easy to recognize1 but difficult to describe4 ,as this change is an occasional attendant or result of amenorrhoea1 when the latter1 brought about at an early age1 is part of an early arrest1 it should not be passed by without an allusion4 ,in these cases1 which are not of frequent occurrence at present1 but which may be evolved by our methods of education more numerously in the future1 the system tolerates the absence of the catamenia1 and the consequent non-elimination of impurities from the blood4 ,acute or chronic disease1 the ordinary result of this condition1 is not set up1 but1 instead1 there is a change in the character and development of the brain and nervous system4 ,there are in individuals of this class less adipose and more muscular tissue than is commonly seen1 a coarser skin1 and1 generally1 a tougher and more angular make-up4 ,there is a corresponding change in the intellectual and psychical condition1--a dropping out of maternal instincts1 and an appearance of ,amazonian coarseness and force4 ,such persons are analogous to the sexless class of termites4 ,naturalists tell us that these insects are divided into males and females1 and a third class called workers and soldiers1 who have no reproductive apparatus1 and who1 in their structure and instincts1 are unlike the fertile individuals4 ,a closer analogy than this1 however1 exists between these human individuals and the eunuchs of ,oriental civilization4 ,except the secretary of the treasury1 in the cabinet of ,candace1 queen of ,ethiopia1 who was baptized by ,philip and ,narses1 ,justinian's general1 none of that class have made any impression on the world's life1 that history has recorded4 ,it may be reasonably doubted if arrested development of the female reproductive system1 producing a class of agenes1#af not epicenes1 will yield a better result of intellectual and moral power in the nineteenth century1 than the analogous class of ,orientals exhibited4 ,clinical illustrations of this type of arrested growth might be given1 but my pen refuses the ungracious task4 ,another result of the present methods of educating girls1 and one different from any of the preceding1 remains to be noticed4 ,schools and colleges1 as we have seen1 require girls to work their brains with full force and sustained power1 at the time when their organization periodically requires a portion of their force for the performance of a periodical function1 and a portion of their power for the building up of a peculiar1 complicated1 and important mechanism1--the engine within an engine4 ,they are required to do two things equally well at the same time4 ,they are urged to meditate a lesson and drive a machine simultaneously1 and to do them both with all their force4 ,their organizations are expected to make good sound brains and nerves by working over the humanities1 the sciences1 and the arts1 and1 at the same time1 to make good sound reproductive apparatuses1 not only without any especial attention to the latter1 but while all available force is withdrawn from the latter and sent to the former4 ,it is not materialism to say1 that1 as the brain is1 so will thought be4 ,without discussing the ,french physiologist's dictum1 that the brain secretes thought as the liver does bile1 we may be sure1 that without brain there will be no thought4 ,the quality of the latter depends on the quality of the former4 ,the metamorphoses of brain manifest1 measure1 limit1 enrich1 and color thought4 ,brain tissue1 including both quantity and quality1 correlates mental power4 ,the brain is manufactured from the blood2 its quantity and quality are determined by the quantity and quality of its blood supply4 ,blood is made from food2 but it may be lost by careless hemorrhage1 or poisoned by deficient elimination4 ,when frequently and largely lost or poisoned1 as ,i have too frequent occasion to know it often is1 it becomes impoverished1--anemic4 ,then the brain suffers1 and mental power is lost4 ,the steps are few and direct1 from frequent loss of blood1 impoverished blood1 and abnormal brain and nerve metamorphosis1 to loss of mental force and nerve disease4 ,ignorance or carelessness leads to anemic blood1 and that to an anemic mind4 ,as the blood1 so the brain2 as the brain1 so the mind4 ,the cases which have hitherto been presented illustrate some of the evils which the reproductive system is apt to receive in consequence of obvious derangement of its growth and functions4 ,but it may1 and often does1 happen that the catamenia are normally performed1 and that the reproductive system is fairly made up during the educational period4 ,then force is withdrawn from the brain and nerves and ganglia4 ,these are dwarfed or checked or arrested in their development4 ,in the process of waste and repair1 of destructive and constructive metamorphosis1 by which brains as well as bones are built up and consolidated1 education often leaves insufficient margin for growth4 ,income derived from air1 food1 and sleep1 which should largely1 may only moderately exceed expenditure upon study and work1 and so leave but little surplus for growth in any direction2 or1 what more commonly occurs1 the income which the brain receives is all spent upon study1 and little or none upon its development1 while that which the nutritive and reproductive systems receive is retained by them1 and devoted to their own growth4 ,when the school makes the same steady demand for force from girls who are approaching puberty1 ignoring ,nature's periodical demands1 that it does from boys1 who are not called upon for an equal effort1 there must be failure somewhere4 ,generally either the reproductive system or the nervous system suffers4 ,we have looked at several instances of the former sort of failure2 let us now examine some of the latter4 ,miss ,f---- was about twenty years old when she completed her technical education4 ,she inherited a nervous diathesis as well as a large dower of intellectual and aesthetic graces4 ,she was a good student1 and conscientiously devoted all her time1 with the exception of ordinary vacations1 to the labor of her education4 ,she made herself mistress of several languages1 and accomplished in many ways4 ,the catamenial function appeared normally1 and1 with the exception of occasional slight attacks of menorrhagia1 was normally performed during the whole period of her education4 ,she got on without any sort of serious illness4 ,there were few belonging to my clientele who required less professional advice for the same period than she4 ,with the ending of her school life1 when she should have been in good trim and well equipped1 physically as well as intellectually1 for life's work1 there commenced1 without obvious cause1 a long period of invalidism4 ,it would be tedious to the reader1 and useless for our present purpose1 to detail the history and describe the protean shapes of her sufferings4 ,with the exception of small breasts1 the reproductive system was well developed4 ,repeated and careful examinations failed to detect any derangement of the uterine mechanism4 ,her symptoms all pointed to the nervous system as the fons et origo mali4 ,first general debility1 that concealed but ubiquitous leader of innumerable armies of weakness and ill1 laid siege to her1 and captured her4 ,then came insomnia1 that worried her nights for month after month1 and made her beg for opium1 alcohol1 chloral1 bromides1 any thing that would bring sleep4 ,neuralgia in every conceivable form tormented her1 most frequently in her back1 but often1 also1 in her head1 sometimes in her sciatic nerves1 sometimes setting up a tic douloureux1 sometimes causing a fearful dysmenorrhoea and frequently making her head ache for days together4 ,at other times hysteria got hold of her1 and made her fancy herself the victim of strange diseases4 ,mental effort of the slightest character distressed her1 and she could not bear physical exercise of any amount4 ,this condition1 or rather these varying conditions1 continued for some years4 ,she followed a careful and systematic regimen1 and was rewarded by a slow and gradual return of health and strength1 when a sudden accident killed her1 and terminated her struggle with weakness and pain4 ,words fail to convey the lesson of this case to others with any thing like the force that the observation of it conveyed its moral to those about ,miss ,f----1 and especially to the physician who watched her career through her educational life1 and saw it lead to its logical conclusion of invalidism and thence towards recovery1 till life ended4 ,when she finished school1 as the phrase goes1 she was considered to be well4 ,the principal of any seminary or head of any college1 judging by her looks alone1 would not have hesitated to call her rosy and strong4 ,at that time the symptoms of failure which began to appear were called signs of previous overwork4 ,this was true1 but not so much in the sense of overwork as of erroneously-arranged work4 ,while a student1 she wrought continuously1--just as much during each catamenial week as at other times4 ,as a consequence1 in her metamorphosis of tissue1 repair did little more than make up waste4 ,there were constant demands of force for constant growth of the system generally1 equally constant demands of force for the labor of education1 and periodical demands of force for a periodical function4 ,the regimen she followed did not permit all these demands to be satisfied1 and the failure fell on the nervous system4 ,she accomplished intellectually a good deal1 but not more than she might have done1 and retained her health1 had the order of her education been a physiological one4 ,it was not ,latin1 ,french1 ,german1 mathematics1 or philosophy that undermined her nerves2 nor was it because of any natural inferiority to boys that she failed2 nor because she undertook to master what women have no right to learn3 she lost her health simply because she undertook to do her work in a boy's way and not in a girl's way4 ,let us learn the lesson of one more case4 ,these details may be tedious2 but the justification of their presence here are the importance of the subject they illustrate and elucidate1 and the necessity of acquiring a belief of the truth of the facts of female education4 ,miss ,g---- worked her way through ,new-,england primary1 grammar1 and high schools to a ,western college1 which she entered with credit to herself1 and from which she graduated1 confessedly its first scholar1 leading the male and female youth alike4 ,all that need be told of her career is that she worked as a student1 continuously and perseveringly1 through the years of her first critical epoch1 and for a few years after it1 without any sort of regard to the periodical type of her organization4 ,it never appeared that she studied excessively in other respects1 or that her system was weakened while in college by fevers or other sickness4 ,not a great while after graduation1 she began to show signs of failure1 and some years later died under the writer's care4 ,a post-mortem examination was made1 which disclosed no disease in any part of the body1 except in the brain1 where the microscope revealed commencing degeneration4 ,this was called an instance of death from over-work4 ,like the preceding case1 it was not so much the result of over-work as of un-physiological work4 ,she was unable to make a good brain1 that could stand the wear and tear of life1 and a good reproductive system that should serve the race1 at the same time that she was continuously spending her force in intellectual labor4 ,nature asked for a periodical remission1 and did not get it4 ,and so ,miss ,g---- died1 not because she had mastered the wasps of ,aristophanes and the ,mecanique ,celeste1 not because she had made the acquaintance of ,kant and ,koelliker1 and ventured to explore the anatomy of flowers and the secrets of chemistry1 but because1 while pursuing these studies1 while doing all this work1 she steadily ignored her woman's make4 ,believing that woman can do what man can1 for she held that faith1 she strove with noble but ignorant bravery to compass man's intellectual attainment in a man's way1 and died in the effort4 ,if she had aimed at the same goal1 disregarding masculine and following feminine methods1 she would be alive now1 a grand example of female culture1 attainment1 and power4 ,these seven clinical observations are sufficient to illustrate the fact that our modern methods of education do not give the female organization a fair chance1 but that they check development1 and invite weakness4 ,it would be easy to multiply such observations1 from the writer's own notes alone1 and1 by doing so1 to swell this essay into a portly volume2 but the reader is spared the needless infliction4 ,other observers have noticed similar facts1 and have urgently called attention to them4 ,dr4 ,fisher1 in a recent excellent monograph on insanity1 says1 ,a few examples of injury from continued study will show how mental strain affects the health of young girls particularly4 ,every physician could1 no doubt1 furnish many similar ones4 ,miss ,a---- graduated with honor at the normal school after several years of close study1 much of the time out of school2 never attended balls or parties2 sank into a low state of health at once with depression4 ,was very absurdly allowed to marry while in this state1 and soon after became violently insane1 and is likely to remain so4 ,miss ,a---- graduated at the grammar school1 not only first1 but perfect1 and at once entered the normal school2 was very ambitious to sustain her reputation1 and studied hard out of school2 was slow to learn1 but had a retentive memory2 could seldom be induced to go to parties1 and1 when she did go1 studied while dressing1 and on the way2 was assigned extra tasks at school1 because she performed them so well2 was a fine healthy girl in appearance1 but broke down permanently at end of second year1 and is now a victim of hysteria and depression4 ,miss ,c----1 of a nervous organization1 and quick to learn2 her health suffered in normal school1 so that her physician predicted insanity if her studies were not discontinued4 ,she persevered1 however1 and is now an inmate of a hospital1 with hysteria and depression4 ,a certain proportion of girls are predisposed to mental or nervous derangement4 ,the same girls are apt to be quick1 brilliant1 ambitious1 and persistent at study1 and need not stimulation1 but repression4 ,for the sake of a temporary reputation for scholarship1 they risk their health at the most susceptible period of their lives1 and break down after the excitement of school-life has passed away4 ,for sexual reasons they cannot compete with boys1 whose out-door habits still further increase the difference in their favor4 ,if it was a question of school-teachers instead of school-girls1 the list would be long of young women whose health of mind has become bankrupt by a continuation of the mental strain commenced at school4 ,any method of relief in our school-system to these over-susceptible minds should be welcomed1 even at the cost of the intellectual supremacy of woman in the next generation4#ag ,the fact which ,dr4 ,fisher alludes to1 that many girls break down not during but after the excitement of school or college life1 is an important one1 and is apt to be overlooked4 ,the process by which the development of the reproductive system is arrested1 or degeneration of brain and nerve-tissue set a going1 is an insidious one4 ,at its beginning1 and for a long time after it is well on in its progress1 it would not be recognized by the superficial observer4 ,a class of girls might1 and often do1 graduate from our schools1 higher seminaries1 and colleges1 that appear to be well and strong at the time of their graduation1 but whose development has already been checked1 and whose health is on the verge of giving way4 ,their teachers have known nothing of the amenorrhoea1 menorrhagia1 dysmenorrhoea1 or leucorrhoea which the pupils have sedulously concealed and disregarded2 and the cunning devices of dress have covered up all external evidences of defect2 and so1 on graduation day1 they are pointed out by their instructors to admiring committees as rosy specimens of both physical and intellectual education4 ,a closer inspection by competent experts would reveal the secret weakness which the labor of life that they are about to enter upon too late discloses4 ,the testimony of ,dr4 ,anstie of ,london1 as to the gravity of the evils incurred by the sort of erroneous education we are considering1 is decided and valuable4 ,he says1 ,for1 be it remembered1 the epoch of sexual development is one in which an enormous addition is being made to the expenditure of vital energy2 besides the continuous processes of growth of the tissues and organs generally1 the sexual apparatus1 with its nervous supply1 is making by its development heavy demands upon the nutritive powers of the organism2 and it is scarcely possible but that portions of the nervous centres1 not directly connected with it1 should proportionally suffer in their nutrition1 probably through defective blood supply4 ,when we add to this the abnormal strain that is being put on the brain1 in many cases1 by a forcing plan of mental education1 we shall perceive a source not merely of exhaustive expenditure of nervous power1 but of secondary irritation of centres like the medulla oblongata that are probably already somewhat lowered in power of vital resistance1 and proportionably irritable4#ah ,a little farther on1 ,dr4 ,anstie adds1 ,but ,i confess1 that1 with me1 the result of close attention given to the pathology of neuralgia has been the ever-growing conviction1 that1 next to the influence of neurotic inheritance1 there is no such frequently powerful factor in the construction of the neuralgic habit as mental warp of a certain kind1 the product of an unwise education4 ,in another place1 speaking of the liability of the brain to suffer from an unwise education1 and referring to the sexual development that we are discussing in these pages1 he makes the following statement1 which no intelligent physician will deny1 and which it would be well for all teachers who care for the best education of the girls intrusted to their charge to ponder seriously4 ,i would also go farther1 and express the opinion1 that peripheral influences of an extremely powerful and continuous kind1 where they concur with one of those critical periods of life at which the central nervous system is relatively weak and unstable1 can occasionally set going a non-inflammatory centric atrophy1 which may localize itself in those nerves upon whose centres the morbific peripheral influence is perpetually pouring in4 ,even such influences as the psychical and emotional1 be it remembered1 must be considered peripheral4#ai ,the brain of ,miss ,g----1 whose case was related a few pages back1 is a clinical illustration of the accuracy of this opinion4 ,dr4 ,weir ,mitchell1 one of our most eminent ,american physiologists1 has recently borne most emphatic testimony to the evils we have pointed out3 ,worst of all1 he says1 to my mind1 most destructive in every way1 is the ,american view of female education4 ,the time taken for the more serious instruction of girls extends to the age of eighteen1 and rarely over this4 ,during these years1 they are undergoing such organic development as renders them remarkably sensitive4 444 ,to show more precisely how the growing girl is injured by the causes just mentioned 7forced and continued study at the sexual epoch7 would carry me upon subjects unfit for full discussion in these pages2 but no thoughtful reader can be much at a loss as to my meaning4 444 ,to-day the ,american woman is1 to speak plainly1 physically unfit for her duties as woman1 and is1 perhaps1 of all civilized females1 the least qualified to undertake those weightier tasks which tax so heavily the nervous system of man4 ,she is not fairly up to what ,nature asks from her as wife and mother4 ,how will she sustain herself under the pressure of those yet more exacting duties which now-a-days she is eager to share with the man8#bj ,in our schools it is the ambitious and conscientious girls1 those who have in them the stuff of which the noblest women are made1 that suffer1 not the romping or lazy sort2 and thus our modern ways of education provide for the non-survival of the fittest4 ,a speaker told an audience of women at ,wesleyan ,hall not long ago1 that he once attended the examination of a ,western college1 where a girl beat the boys in unravelling the intracacies of ,juvenal4 ,he did not report the consumption of blood and wear of brain tissue that in her college way of study correlated her ,latin1 or hint at the possibility of arrested development4 ,girls of bloodless skins and intellectual faces may be seen any day1 by those who desire the spectacle1 among the scholars of our high and normal schools1--faces that crown1 and skins that cover1 curving spines1 which should be straight1 and neuralgic nerves that should know no pain4 ,later on1 when marriage and maternity overtake these girls1 and they live laborious days in a sense not intended by ,milton's line1 they bend and break beneath the labor1 like loaded grain before a storm1 and bear little fruit again4 ,a training that yields this result is neither fair to the girls nor to the race4 ,let us quote the authority of such an acute and sagacious observer as ,dr4 ,maudsley1 in support of the physiological and pathological views that have been here presented4 ,referring to the physiological condition and phenomena of the first critical epoch1 he says1 ,in the great mental revolution caused by the development of the sexual system at puberty1 we have the most striking example of the intimate and essential sympathy between the brain1 as a mental organ1 and other organs of the body4 ,the change of character at this period is not by any means limited to the appearance of the sexual feelings1 and their sympathetic ideas1 but1 when traced to its ultimate reach1 will be found to extend to the highest feelings of mankind1 social1 moral1 and even religious4#ba ,he points out the fact that it is very easy by improper training and forced work1 during this susceptible period1 to turn a physiological into a pathological state4 ,the great mental revolution which occurs at puberty may go beyond its physiological limits in some instances1 and become pathological4 ,the time of this mental revolution is at best a trying period for youth4 ,the monthly activity of the ovaries1 which marks the advent of puberty in women1 has a notable effect upon the mind and body2 wherefore it may become an important cause of mental and physical derangement4#bb ,with regard to the physiological effects of arrested development of the reproductive apparatus in women1 ,dr4 ,maudsley uses the following plain and emphatic language3 ,the forms and habits of mutilated men approach those of women2 and women1 whose ovaries and uterus remain for some cause in a state of complete inaction1 approach the forms and habits of men4 ,it is said1 too1 that1 in hermaphrodites1 the mental character1 like the physical1 participates equally in that of both sexes4 ,while woman preserves her sex1 she will necessarily be feebler than man1 and1 having her special bodily and mental characters1 will have1 to a certain extent1 her own sphere of activity2 where she has become thoroughly masculine in nature1 or hermaphrodite in mind1--when1 in fact1 she has pretty well divested herself of her sex1--then she may take his ground1 and do his work2 but she will have lost her feminine attractions1 and probably also her chief feminine functions4#bc ,it has been reserved for our age and country1 by its methods of female education1 to demonstrate that it is possible in some cases to divest a woman of her chief feminine functions2 in others1 to produce grave and even fatal disease of the brain and nervous system2 in others1 to engender torturing derangements and imperfections of the reproductive apparatus that imbitter a lifetime4 ,such1 we know1 is not the object of a liberal female education4 ,such is not the consummation which the progress of the age demands4 ,fortunately1 it is only necessary to point out and prove the existence of such erroneous methods and evil results to have them avoided4 ,that they can be avoided1 and that woman can have a liberal education that shall develop all her powers1 without mutilation or disease1 up to the loftiest ideal of womanhood1 is alike the teaching of physiology and the hope of the race4 ,in concluding this part of our subject1 it is well to remember the statement made at the beginning of our discussion1 to the following effect1 viz41 that it is not asserted here1 that improper methods of study and a disregard of the reproductive apparatus and its functions1 during the educational life of girls1 are the sole causes of female diseases2 neither is it asserted that all the female graduates of our schools and colleges are pathological specimens4 ,but it is asserted that the number of these graduates who have been permanently disabled to a greater or less degree1 or fatally injured1 by these causes1 is such as to excite the gravest alarm1 and to demand the serious attention of the community4 ,the preceding physiological and pathological data naturally open the way to a consideration of the co-education of the sexes4 ,,footnotes3 #ac ,it appears1 from the researches of ,mr4 ,whitehead on this point1 that an examination of four thousand cases gave fifteen years six and three-quarter months as the average age in ,england for the appearance of the catamenia4--,,whitehead1 on ,abortion1 c4 #ad ,the arrest of development of the uterus1 in connection with amenorrhoea1 is sometimes very marked4 ,in the ,new-,york ,medical ,journal for ,june1 #ahgc1 three such cases are recorded1 that came under the eye of those excellent observers1 ,dr4 ,e4,r4 ,peaslee and ,dr4 ,t4,g4 ,thomas4 ,in one of these cases1 the uterine cavity measured one and a half inches2 in another1 one and seven-eighths inches2 and1 in a third1 one and a quarter inches4 ,recollecting that the normal measurement is from two and a half to three inches1 it appears that the arrest of development in these cases occurred when the uterus was half or less than half grown4 ,liberal education should avoid such errors4 #ae ,physical ,degeneracy4 ,by ,nathan ,allen1 ,m4,d41 ,journal of ,psychological ,medicine4 ,october1 #ahgj4 #af ,according to the biblical account1 woman was formed by subtracting a rib from man4 ,if1 in the evolution of the future1 a third division of the human race is to be formed by subtracting sex from woman1--a retrograde development1--,i venture to propose the term agene 7a without1 genos sex7 as an appropriate designation for the new development4 ,count ,gasparin prophesies it thus3 ,quelque chose de monstreux1 cet etre repugnant1 qui deja parait a notre horizon1 a free translation of ,virgil's earlier description3-- ,monstrum horrendum1 informe1 ingens1 cui lumen ademtum4 #c;d1 #feh line4 #ag ,plain ,talk about ,insanity4 ,by ,t4,w4 ,fisher1 ,m4,d4 ,boston4 ,pp4 #bc1 #bd4 #ah ,neuralgia1 and the ,diseases that resemble it4 ,by ,francis ,e4 ,anstie1 ,m4,d4 ,pp4 #abb4 ,english ed4 #ai ,op4 cit41 p4 #afj4 #bj ,wear and ,tear4 ,by ,s4 ,weir ,mitchell1 ,m4,d4 #ba ,body and ,mind4 ,by ,henry ,maudsley1 ,m4,d4 ,lond4 p4 #ca #bb ,op4 cit41 p4 #hg4 #bc ,op4 cit41 p4 #cb4 ,,part ,,iv4 ,,co-,,education4 ,pistoc4 ,where1 then1 should ,i take my place8 #ast ,bacch4 ,near myself1 that1 with a she wit1 a he wit may be reclining at our repast4--,,bacchides ,,of ,,plautus4 ,the woman's-rights movement1 with its conventions1 its speech-makings1 its crudities1 and eccentricities1 is nevertheless a part of a healthful and necessary movement of the human race towards progress4--,,harriet ,,beecher ,,stowe4 ,guided by the laws of development which we have found physiology to teach1 and warned by the punishments1 in the shape of weakness and disease1 which we have shown their infringement to bring about1 and of which our present methods of female education furnish innumerable examples1 it is not difficult to discern certain physiological principles that limit and control the education1 and1 consequently1 the co-education of our youth4 ,these principles we have learned to be1 three for the two sexes in common1 and one for the peculiarities of the female sex4 ,the three common to both1 the three to which both are subjected1 and for which wise methods of education will provide in the case of both1 are1 #ast1 a sufficient supply of appropriate nutriment4 ,this of course includes good air and good water and sufficient warmth1 as much as bread and butter2 oxygen and sunlight1 as much as meat4 #b;d1 ,mental and physical work and regimen so apportioned1 that repair shall exceed waste1 and a margin be left for development4 ,this includes out-of-door exercise and appropriate ways of dressing1 as much as the hours of study1 and the number and sort of studies4 #c;d1 ,sufficient sleep4 ,this includes the best time for sleeping1 as well as the proper number of hours for sleep4 ,it excludes the murdering of sleep1 by late hours of study and the crowding of studies1 as much as by wine or tea or dissipation4 ,all these guide and limit the education of the two sexes very much alike4 ,the principle or condition peculiar to the female sex is the management of the catamenial function1 which1 from the age of fourteen to nineteen1 includes the building of the reproductive apparatus4 ,this imposes upon women1 and especially upon the young woman1 a great care1 a corresponding duty1 and compensating privileges4 ,there is only a feeble counterpart to it in the male organization2 and1 in his moral constitution1 there cannot be found the fine instincts and quick perceptions that have their root in this mechanism1 and correlate its functions4 ,this lends to her development and to all her work a rhythmical or periodical order1 which must be recognized and obeyed4 ,in this recognition of the chronometry of organic process1 there is unquestionably great promise for the future2 for it is plain that the observance of time in the motions of organic molecules is as certain and universal1 if not as exact1 as that of the heavenly bodies4#bd ,periodicity characterizes the female organization1 and developes feminine force4 ,persistence characterizes the male organization1 and develops masculine force4 ,education will draw the best out of each by adjusting its methods to the periodicity of one and the persistence of the other4 ,before going farther1 it is essential to acquire a definite notion of what is meant1 or1 at least1 of what we mean in this discussion1 by the term co-education4 ,following its etymology1 con-educare1 it signifies to draw out together1 or to unite in education2 and this union refers to the time and place1 rather than to the methods and kinds of education4 ,in this sense any school or college may utilize its buildings1 apparatus1 and instructors to give appropriate education to the two sexes as well as to different ages of the same sex4 ,this is juxtaposition in education4 ,when the ,massachusetts ,institute of ,technology teaches one class of young men chemistry1 and another class engineering1 in the same building and at the same time1 it co-educates those two classes4 ,in this sense it is possible that many advantages might be obtained from the co-education of the sexes1 that would more than counterbalance the evils of crowding large numbers of them together4 ,this sort of co-education does not exclude appropriate classification1 nor compel the two sexes to follow the same methods or the same regimen4 ,another signification of co-education1 and1 as we apprehend1 the one in which it is commonly used1 includes time1 place1 government1 methods1 studies1 and regimen4 ,this is identical co-education4 ,this means1 that boys and girls shall be taught the same things1 at the same time1 in the same place1 by the same faculty1 with the same methods1 and under the same regimen4 ,this admits age and proficiency1 but not sex1 as a factor in classification4 ,it is against the co-education of the sexes1 in this sense of identical co-education1 that physiology protests2 and it is this identity of education1 the prominent characteristic of our ,american school-system1 that has produced the evils described in the clinical part of this essay1 and that threatens to push the degeneration of the female sex still farther on4 ,in these pages1 co-education of the sexes is used in its common acceptation of identical co-education4 ,let us look for a moment at what identical co-education is4 ,the law has1 or had1 a maxim1 that a man and his wife are one1 and that the one is the man4 ,modern ,american education has a maxim1 that boys' schools and girls' schools are one1 and that the one is the boys' school4 ,schools have been arranged1 accordingly1 to meet the requirements of the masculine organization4 ,studies have been selected that experience has proved to be appropriate to a boy's intellectual development1 and a regimen adopted1 while pursuing them1 appropriate to his physical development4 ,his school and college life1 his methods of study1 recitations1 exercises1 and recreations1 are ordered upon the supposition1 that1 barring disease or infirmity1 punctual attendance upon the hours of recitation1 and upon all other duties in their season and order1 may be required of him continuously1 in spite of ennui1 inclement weather1 or fatigue2 that there is no week in the month1 or day in the week1 or hour in the day1 when it is a physical necessity to relieve him from standing or from studying1--from physical effort or mental labor2 that the chapel-bell may safely call him to morning prayer from ,new ,year to ,christmas1 with the assurance1 that1 if the going does not add to his stock of piety1 it will not diminish his stock of health2 that he may be sent to the gymnasium and the examination-hall1 to the theatres of physical and intellectual display at any time1--in short1 that he develops health and strength1 blood and nerve1 intellect and life1 by a regular1 uninterrupted1 and sustained course of work4 ,and all this is justified both by experience and physiology4 ,obedient to the ,american educational maxim1 that boys' schools and girls' schools are one1 and that the one is the boys' school1 the female schools have copied the methods which have grown out of the requirements of the male organization4 ,schools for girls have been modelled after schools for boys4 ,were it not for differences of dress and figure1 it would be impossible1 even for an expert1 after visiting a high school for boys and one for girls1 to tell which was arranged for the male and which for the female organization4 ,our girls' schools1 whether public or private1 have imposed upon their pupils a boy's regimen2 and it is now proposed1 in some quarters1 to carry this principle still farther1 by burdening girls1 after they leave school1 with a quadrennium of masculine college regimen4 ,and so girls are to learn the alphabet in college1 as they have learned it in the grammar-school1 just as boys do4 ,this is grounded upon the supposition that sustained regularity of action and attendance may be as safely required of a girl as of a boy2 that there is no physical necessity for periodically relieving her from walking1 standing1 reciting1 or studying2 that the chapel-bell may call her1 as well as him1 to a daily morning walk1 with a standing prayer at the end of it1 regardless of the danger that such exercises1 by deranging the tides of her organization1 may add to her piety at the expense of her blood2 that she may work her brain over mathematics1 botany1 chemistry1 ,german1 and the like1 with equal and sustained force on every day of the month1 and so safely divert blood from the reproductive apparatus to the head2 in short1 that she1 like her brother1 develops health and strength1 blood and nerve1 intellect and life1 by a regular1 uninterrupted1 and sustained course of work4 ,all this is not justified1 either by experience or physiology4 ,the gardener may plant1 if he choose1 the lily and the rose1 the oak and the vine1 within the same enclosure2 let the same soil nourish them1 the same air visit them1 and the same sunshine warm and cheer them2 still1 he trains each of them with a separate art1 warding from each its peculiar dangers1 developing within each its peculiar powers1 and teaching each to put forth to the utmost its divine and peculiar gifts of strength and beauty4 ,girls lose health1 strength1 blood1 and nerve1 by a regimen that ignores the periodical tides and reproductive apparatus of their organization4 ,the mothers and instructors1 the homes and schools1 of our country's daughters1 would profit by occasionally reading the old ,levitical law4 ,the race has not yet quite outgrown the physiology of ,moses4 ,co-education1 then1 signifies in common acceptation identical co-education4 ,this identity of training is what many at the present day seem to be praying for and working for4 ,appropriate education of the two sexes1 carried as far as possible1 is a consummation most devoutly to be desired2 identical education of the two sexes is a crime before ,god and humanity1 that physiology protests against1 and that experience weeps over4 ,because the education of boys has met with tolerable success1 hitherto1--but only tolerable it must be confessed1--in developing them into men1 there are those who would make girls grow into women by the same process4 ,because a gardener has nursed an acorn till it grew into an oak1 they would have him cradle a grape in the same soil and way1 and make it a vine4 ,identical education1 or identical co-education1 of the sexes defrauds one sex or the other1 or perhaps both4 ,it defies the ,roman maxim1 which physiology has fully justified1 mens sana in corpore sano4 ,the sustained regimen1 regular recitation1 erect posture1 daily walk1 persistent exercise1 and unintermitted labor that toughens a boy1 and makes a man of him1 can only be partially applied to a girl4 ,the regimen of intermittance1 periodicity of exercise and rest1 work three-fourths of each month1 and remission1 if not abstinence1 the other fourth1 physiological interchange of the erect and reclining posture1 care of the reproductive system that is the cradle of the race1 all this1 that toughens a girl and makes a woman of her1 will emasculate a lad4 ,a combination of the two methods of education1 a compromise between them1 would probably yield an average result1 excluding the best of both4 ,it would give a fair chance neither to a boy nor a girl4 ,of all compromises1 such a physiological one is the worst4 ,it cultivates mediocrity1 and cheats the future of its rightful legacy of lofty manhood and womanhood4 ,it emasculates boys1 stunts girls2 makes semi-eunuchs of one sex1 and agenes of the other4 ,the error which has led to the identical education of the two sexes1 and which prophecies their identical co-education in colleges and universities1 is not confined to technical education4 ,it permeates society4 ,it is found in the home1 the workshop1 the factory1 and in all the ramifications of social life4 ,the identity of boys and girls1 of men and women1 is practically asserted out of the school as much as in it1 and it is theoretically proclaimed from the pulpit and the rostrum4 ,woman seems to be looking up to man and his development1 as the goal and ideal of womanhood4 ,the new gospel of female development glorifies what she possesses in common with him1 and tramples under her feet1 as a source of weakness and badge of inferiority1 the mechanism and functions peculiar to herself4 ,in consequence of this wide-spread error1 largely the result of physiological ignorance1 girls are almost universally trained in masculine methods of living and working as well as of studying4 ,the notion is practically found everywhere1 that boys and girls are one1 and that the boys make the one4 ,girls1 young ladies1 to use the polite phrase1 who are about leaving or have left school for society1 dissipation1 or self-culture1 rarely permit any of ,nature's periodical demands to interfere with their morning calls1 or evening promenades1 or midnight dancing1 or sober study4 ,even the home draws the sacred mantle of modesty so closely over the reproductive function as not only to cover but to smother it4 ,sisters imitate brothers in persistent work at all times4 ,female clerks in stores strive to emulate the males by unremitting labor1 seeking to develop feminine force by masculine methods4 ,female operatives of all sorts1 in factories and elsewhere1 labor in the same way2 and1 when the day is done1 are as likely to dance half the night1 regardless of any pressure upon them of a peculiar function1 as their fashionable sisters in the polite world4 ,all unite in pushing the hateful thing out of sight and out of mind2 and all are punished by similar weakness1 degeneration1 and disease4 ,there are two reasons why female operatives of all sorts are likely to suffer less1 and actually do suffer less1 from such persistent work1 than female students2 why ,jane in the factory can work more steadily with the loom1 than ,jane in college with the dictionary2 why the girl who makes the bed can safely work more steadily the whole year through1 than her little mistress of sixteen who goes to school4 ,the first reason is1 that the female operative1 of whatever sort1 has1 as a rule1 passed through the first critical epoch of woman's life3 she has got fairly by it4 ,in her case1 as a rule1 unfortunately there are too many exceptions to it1 the catamenia have been established2 the function is in good running order2 the reproductive apparatus--the engine within an engine--has been constructed1 and she will not be called upon to furnish force for building it again4 ,the female student1 on the contrary1 has got these tasks before her1 and must perform them while getting her education2 for the period of female sexual development coincides with the educational period4 ,the same five years of life must be given to both tasks4 ,after the function is normally established1 and the apparatus made1 woman can labor mentally or physically1 or both1 with very much greater persistence and intensity1 than during the age of development4 ,she still retains the type of periodicity2 and her best work1 both as to quality and amount1 is accomplished when the order of her labor partakes of the rhythmic order of her constitution4 ,still the fact remains1 that she can do more than before2 her fibre has acquired toughness2 the system is consolidated2 its fountains are less easily stirred4 ,it should be mentioned in this connection1 what has been previously adverted to1 that the toughness and power of after life are largely in proportion to the normality of sexual development4 ,if there is error then1 the organization never fully recovers4 ,this is an additional motive for a strict physiological regimen during a girl's student life1 and1 just so far1 an argument against the identical co-education of the sexes4 ,the second reason why female operatives are less likely to suffer1 and actually do suffer less1 than school-girls1 from persistent work straight through the year1 is because the former work their brains less4 ,to use the language of ,herbert ,spencer1 ,that antagonism between body and brain which we see in those1 who1 pushing brain-activity to an extreme1 enfeeble their bodies1#be does not often exist in female operatives1 any more than in male4 ,on the contrary1 they belong to the class of those who1 in the words of the same author1 by pushing bodily activity to an extreme1 make their brains inert4#bf ,hence they have stronger bodies1 a reproductive apparatus more normally constructed1 and a catamenial function less readily disturbed by effort1 than their student sisters1 who are not only younger than they1 but are trained to push brain-activity to an extreme4 ,give girls a fair chance for physical development at school1 and they will be able in after life1 with reasonable care of themselves1 to answer the demands that may be made upon them4 ,the identical education of the sexes has borne the fruit which we have pointed out4 ,their identical co-education will intensify the evils of separate identical education2 for it will introduce the element of emulation1 and it will introduce this element in its strongest form4 ,it is easy to frame a theoretical emulation1 in which results only are compared and tested1 that would be healthy and invigorating2 but such theoretical competition of the sexes is not at all the sort of steady1 untiring1 day-after-day competition that identical co-education implies4 ,it is one thing to put up a goal a long way off1--five or six months or three or four years distant1--and tell boys and girls1 each in their own way1 to strive for it1 and quite a different thing to put up the same goal1 at the same distance1 and oblige each sex to run their race for it side by side on the same road1 in daily competition with each other1 and with equal expenditure of force at all times4 ,identical co-education is racing in the latter way4 ,the inevitable results of it have been shown in some of the cases we have narrated4 ,the trial of it on a larger scale would only yield a larger number of similar degenerations1 weaknesses1 and sacrifices of noble lives4 ,put a boy and girl together upon the same course of study1 with the same lofty ideal before them1 and hold up to their eyes the daily incitements of comparative progress1 and there will be awakened within them a stimulus unknown before1 and that separate study does not excite4 ,the unconscious fires that have their seat deep down in the recesses of the sexual organization will flame up through every tissue1 permeate every vessel1 burn every nerve1 flash from the eye1 tingle in the brain1 and work the whole machine at highest pressure4 ,there need not be1 and generally will not be1 any low or sensual desire in all this elemental action4 ,it is only making youth work over the tasks of sober study with the wasting force of intense passion4 ,of course such strenuous labor will yield brilliant1 though temporary1 results4 ,the fire is kept alive by the waste of the system1 and soon burns up its source4 ,the first sex to suffer in this exhilarating and costly competition must be1 as experience shows it is1 the one that has the largest amount of force in readiness for immediate call2 and this is the female sex4 ,at the age of development1 ,nature mobilizes the forces of a girl's organization for the purpose of establishing a function that shall endure for a generation1 and for constructing an apparatus that shall cradle and nurse a race4 ,these mobilized forces1 which1 at the technical educational period1 the girl possesses and controls largely in excess of the boy1 under the passionate stimulus of identical co-education1 are turned from their divinely-appointed field of operations1 to the region of brain activity4 ,the result is a most brilliant show of cerebral pyrotechnics1 and degenerations that we have described4 ,that undue and disproportionate brain activity exerts a sterilizing influence upon both sexes is alike a doctrine of physiology1 and an induction from experience4 ,and both physiology and experience also teach that this influence is more potent upon the female than upon the male4 ,the explanation of the latter fact--of the greater aptitude of the female organization to become thus modified by excessive brain activity--is probably to be found in the larger size1 more complicated relations1 and more important functions1 of the female reproductive apparatus4 ,this delicate and complex mechanism is liable to be aborted or deranged by the withdrawal of force that is needed for its construction and maintenance4 ,it is1 perhaps1 idle to speculate upon the prospective evil that would accrue to the human race1 should such an organic modification1 introduced by abnormal education1 be pushed to its ultimate limit4 ,but inasmuch as the subject is not only germain to our inquiry1 but has attracted the attention of a recent writer1 whose bold and philosophic speculations1 clothed in forcible language1 have startled the best thought of the age1 it may be well to quote him briefly on this point4 ,referring to the fact1 that1 in our modern civilization1 the cultivated classes have smaller families than the uncultivated ones1 he says1 ,if the superior sections and specimens of humanity are to lose1 relatively1 their procreative power in virtue of1 and in proportion to1 that superiority1 how is culture or progress to be propagated so as to benefit the species as a whole1 and how are those gradually amended organizations from which we hope so much to be secured8 ,if1 indeed1 it were ignorance1 stupidity1 and destitution1 instead of mental and moral development1 that were the sterilizing influences1 then the improvement of the race would go on swimmingly1 and in an ever-accelerating ratio4 ,but since the conditions are exactly reversed1 how should not an exactly opposite direction be pursued8 ,how should the race not deteriorate1 when those who morally and physically are fitted to perpetuate it are 7relatively71 by a law of physiology1 those least likely to do so8#bg ,the answer to ,mr4 ,greg's inquiry is obvious4 ,if the culture of the race moves on into the future in the same rut and by the same methods that limit and direct it now2 if the education of the sexes remains identical1 instead of being appropriate and special2 and especially if the intense and passionate stimulus of the identical co-education of the sexes is added to their identical education1--then the sterilizing influence of such a training1 acting with tenfold more force upon the female than upon the male1 will go on1 and the race will be propagated from its inferior classes4#bh ,the stream of life that is to flow into the future will be ,celtic rather than ,american3 it will come from the collieries1 and not from the peerage4 ,fortunately1 the reverse of this picture is equally possible4 ,the race holds its destinies in its own hands4 ,the highest wisdom will secure the survival and propagation of the fittest4 ,physiology teaches that this result1 the attainment of which our hopes prophecy1 is to be secured1 not by an identical education1 or an identical co-education of the sexes1 but by a special and appropriate education1 that shall produce a just and harmonious development of every part4 ,let one remark be made here4 ,it has been asserted that the chief reason why the higher and educated classes have smaller families than the lower and uneducated is1 that the former criminally prevent or destroy increase4 ,the pulpit1#bi as well as the medical press1 has cried out against this enormity4 ,that a disposition to do this thing exists1 and is often carried into effect1 is not to be denied1 and cannot be too strongly condemned4 ,on the other hand1 it should be proclaimed1 to the credit and honor of our cultivated women1 and as a reproach to the identical education of the sexes1 that many of them bear in silence the accusation of self-tampering1 who are denied the oft-prayed-for trial1 blessing1 and responsibility of offspring4 ,as a matter of personal experience1 my advice has been much more frequently and earnestly sought by those of our best classes who desired to know how to obtain1 than by those who wished to escape1 the offices of maternity4 ,the experiment of the identical co-education of the sexes has been set on foot by some of our ,western colleges4 ,it has not yet been tried long enough to show much more than its first fruits1 viz41 its results while the students are in college2 and of these the only obvious ones are increased emulation1 and intellectual development and attainments4 ,the defects of the reproductive mechanism1 and the friction of its action1 are not exhibited there2 nor is there time or opportunity in college for the evils which these defects entail to be exhibited4 ,president ,magoun of ,iowa ,college tells us1 that1 in the institution over which he presides1 ,forty-two young men and fifty-three young ladies have pursued college courses2 and adds1 ,nothing needs to be said as to the control of the two sexes in the college4 ,the young ladies are placed under the supervision of a lady principal and assistant as to deportment1 and every thing besides recitations 7in which they are under the supervision of the same professors and other teachers with the young men1 reciting with them72 and one simple rule as to social intercourse governs every thing4 ,the moral and religious influences attending the arrangement have been most happy4#cj ,from this it is evident that ,iowa ,college is trying the identical co-education of the sexes2 and the president reports the happy moral and religious results of the experiment1 but leaves us ignorant of its physiological results4 ,it may never have occurred to him1 that a class of a hundred young ladies might graduate from ,iowa ,college or ,antioch ,college or ,michigan ,university1 whose average health during their college course had appeared to the president and faculty as good as that of their male classmates who had made equal intellectual progress with them1 upon whom no scandal had dropped its venom1 who might be presented to the public on ,commencement ,day as specimens of as good health as their uneducated sisters1 with roses in their cheeks as natural as those in their hands1 the major part of whom might1 notwithstanding all this1 have physical defects that a physiologist could easily discover1 and that would produce1 sooner or later1 more or less of the sad results we have previously described4 ,a philanthropist and an intelligent observer1 who has for a long time taken an active part in promoting the best education of the sexes1 and who still holds some sort of official connection with a college occupied with identical co-education1 told the writer a few months ago1 that he had endeavored to trace the post-college history of the female graduates of the institution he was interested in4 ,his object was to ascertain how their physique behaved under the stress1--the wear and tear of woman's work in life4 ,the conclusion that resulted from his inquiry he formulated in the statement1 that the co-education of the sexes is intellectually a success1 physically a failure4 ,another gentleman1 more closely connected with a similar institution of education than the person just referred to1 has arrived at a similar conclusion4 ,only a few female graduates of colleges have consulted the writer professionally4 ,all sought his advice two1 three1 or more years after graduation2 and1 in all1 the difficulties under which they labored could be distinctly traced to their college order of life and study1 that is1 to identical co-education4 ,if physicians who are living in the neighborhood of the present residences of these graduates have been consulted by them in the same proportion with him1 the inference is inevitable1 that the ratio of invalidism among female college graduates is greater than even among the graduates of our common1 high1 and normal schools4 ,all such observations as these1 however1 are only of value1 at present1 as indications of the drift of identical co-education1 not as proofs of its physical fruits1 or of their influence on mental force4 ,two or three generations1 at least1 of the female college graduates of this sort of co-education must come and go before any sufficient idea can be formed of the harvest it will yield4 ,the physiologist dreads to see the costly experiment tried4 ,the urgent reformer1 who cares less for human suffering and human life than for the trial of his theories1 will regard the experiment with equanimity if not with complacency4 ,if1 then1 the identical co-education of the sexes is condemned both by physiology and experience1 may it not be that their special and appropriate co-education would yield a better result than their special and appropriate separate education8 ,this is a most important question1 and one difficult to resolve4 ,the discussion of it must be referred to those who are engaged in the practical work of instruction1 and the decision will rest with experience4 ,physiology advocates1 as we have seen1 the special and appropriate education of the sexes1 and has only a single word to utter with regard to simple co-education1 or juxtaposition in education4 ,that word is with regard to the common belief in the danger of improprieties and scandal as a part of co-education4 ,there is some danger in this respect2 but not a serious or unavoidable one4 ,doubtless there would be occasional lapses in a double-sexed college2 and so there are outside of schoolhouses and seminaries of learning4 ,even the church and the clergy are not exempt from reproach in such things4 ,there are sects1 professing to commingle religion and love1 who illustrate the dangers of juxtaposition even in things holy4 ,no physiologist can well doubt that the holy kiss of love in such cases owes all its warmth to the sexual feeling which consciously or unconsciously inspires it1 or that the mystical union of the sexes lies very close to a union that is nowise mystical1 when it does not lead to madness4#ca ,there is less1 or certainly no more danger in having the sexes unite at the repasts of knowledge1 than1 as ,plautus bluntly puts it1 having he wits and she wits recline at the repasts of fashion4 ,isolation is more likely to breed pruriency than commingling to provoke indulgence4 ,the virtue of the cloister and the cell scarcely deserves the name4 ,a girl has her honor in her own keeping4 ,if she can be trusted with boys and men at the lecture-room and in church1 she can be trusted with them at school and in college4 ,jean ,paul says1 ,to insure modesty1 ,i would advise the education of the sexes together2 for two boys will preserve twelve girls1 or two girls twelve boys1 innocent amidst winks1 jokes1 and improprieties1 merely by that instinctive sense which is the forerunner of matured modesty4 ,but ,i will guarantee nothing in a school where girls are alone together1 and still less when boys are4 ,a certain amount of juxta-position is an advantage to each sex4 ,more than a certain amount is an evil to both4 ,instinct and common sense can be safely left to draw the line of demarcation4 ,at the same time it is well to remember that juxtaposition may be carried too far4 ,temptations enough beset the young1 without adding to them4 ,let learning and purity go hand in hand4 ,there are two considerations appertaining to this subject1 which1 although they do not belong to the physiology of the matter1 deserve to be mentioned in this connection4 ,one amounts to a practical prohibition1 for the present at least1 of the experiment of the special and appropriate co-education of the sexes2 and the other is an inherent difficulty in the experiment itself4 ,the former can be removed whenever those who heartily believe in the success of the experiment choose to get rid of it2 and the latter by patient and intelligent effort4 ,the present practical prohibition of the experiment is the poverty of our colleges4 ,identical co-education can be easily tried with the existing organization of collegiate instruction4 ,this has been tried1 and is still going on in separate and double-sexed schools of all sorts1 and has failed4 ,special and appropriate co-education requires in many ways1 not in all1 re-arrangement of the organization of instruction2 and this will cost money and a good deal of it4 ,harvard ,college1 for example1 rich as it is supposed to be1 whose banner1 to use ,mr4 ,higginson's illustration1 is the red flag that the bulls of female reform are just now pitching into1--,harvard ,college could not undertake the task of special and appropriate co-education1 in such a way as to give the two sexes a fair chance1 which means the best chance1 and the only chance it ought to give or will ever give1 without an endowment1 additional to its present resources1 of from one to two millions of dollars2 and it probably would require the larger rather than the smaller sum4 ,and this ,i say advisedly4 ,by which ,i mean1 not with the advice and consent of the president and fellows of the college1 but as an opinion founded on nearly twenty years' personal acquaintance1 as an instructor in one of the departments of the university1 with the organization of instruction in it1 and upon the demands which physiology teaches the special and appropriate education of girls would make upon it4 ,to make boys half-girls1 and girls half-boys1 can never be the legitimate function of any college4 ,but such a result1 the natural child of identical co-education1 is sure to follow the training of a college that has not the pecuniary means to prevent it4 ,this obstacle is of course a removable one4 ,it is only necessary for those who wish to get it out of the way to put their hands in their pockets1 and produce a couple of millions4 ,the offer of such a sum1 conditioned upon the liberal education of women1 might influence even a body as soulless as the corporation of ,harvard ,college is sometimes represented to be4 ,the inherent difficulty in the experiment of special and appropriate co-education is the difficulty of adjusting1 in the same institution1 the methods of instruction to the physiological needs of each sex2 to the persistent type of one1 and the periodical type of the other2 to the demand for a margin in metamorphosis of tissue1 beyond what study causes1 for general growth in one sex1 and to a larger margin in the other sex1 that shall permit not only general growth1 but also the construction of the reproductive apparatus4 ,this difficulty can only be removed by patient and intelligent effort4 ,the first step in the direction of removing it is to see plainly what errors or dangers lie in the way4 ,these1 or some of them1 we have endeavored to point out4 ,nothing is so conducive to a right appreciation of the truth as a right appreciation of the error by which it is surrounded4#cb ,when we have acquired a belief of the facts concerning the identical education1 the identical co-education1 the appropriate education1 and the appropriate co-education of the sexes1 we shall be in a condition to draw just conclusions from them4 ,the intimate connection of mind and brain1 the correlation of mental power and cerebral metamorphosis1 explains and justifies the physiologist's demand1 that in the education of girls1 as well as of boys1 the machinery and methods of instruction shall be carefully adjusted to their organization4 ,if it were possible1 they should be adjusted to the organization of each individual4 ,none doubt the importance of age1 acquirement1 idiosyncrasy1 and probable career in life1 as factors in classification4 ,sex goes deeper than any or all of these4 ,to neglect this is to neglect the chief factor of the problem4 ,rightly interpreted and followed1 it will yield the grandest results4 ,disregarded1 it will balk the best methods of teaching and the genius of the best teachers4 ,sex is not concerned with studies as such4 ,these1 for any thing that appears to the contrary physiologically1 may be the same for the intellectual development of females as of males2 but1 as we have seen1 it is largely concerned about an appropriate way of pursuing them4 ,girls will have a fair chance1 and women the largest freedom and greatest power1 now that legal hinderances are removed1 and all bars let down1 when they are taught to develop and are willing to respect their own organization4 ,how to bring about this development and insure this respect1 in a double-sexed college1 is one of the problems of co-education4 ,it does not come within the scope of this essay to speculate upon the ways--the regimen1 methods of instruction1 and other details of college life1--by which the inherent difficulties of co-education may be obviated4 ,here tentative and judicious experiment is better than speculation4 ,it would seem to be the part of wisdom1 however1 to make the simplest and least costly experiment first2 that is1 to discard the identical separate education of girls as boys1 and to ascertain what their appropriate separate education is1 and what it will accomplish4 ,aided by the light of such an experiment1 it would be comparatively easy to solve the more difficult problem of the appropriate co-education of the sexes4 ,it may be well to mention two or three details1 which are so important that no system of appropriate female education1 separate or mixed1 can neglect them4 ,they have been implied throughout the whole of the present discussion1 but not distinctly enunciated4 ,one is1 that during the period of rapid development1 that is1 from fourteen to eighteen1#cc a girl should not study as many hours a day as a boy4 ,in most of our schools1 says a distinguished physiological authority previously quoted1 the hours are too many for both boys and girls4 ,from a quarter of nine or nine1 until half-past two1 is with us 7,philadelphia schools for girls7 the common schooltime in private seminaries4 ,the usual recess is twenty minutes or half an hour1 and it is not filled by enforced exercise4 ,in certain schools1--would it were the rule1--ten minutes' recess is given after every hour4 ,to these hours1 we must add the time spent in study out of school4 ,this1 for some reason1 nearly always exceeds the time stated by teachers to be necessary2 and most girls between the age of thirteen and seventeen thus expend two or three hours4 ,does any physician believe that it is good for a growing girl to be so occupied seven or eight hours a day8 or that it is right for her to use her brains as long a time as the mechanic employs his muscles8 ,but this is only a part of the evil4 ,the multiplicity of studies1 the number of teachers1--each eager to get the most he can out of his pupil1--the severer drill of our day1 and the greater intensity of application demanded1 produce effects on the growing brain1 which1 in a vast number of cases1 can be only disastrous4 ,even in girls of from fourteen to eighteen1 such as crowd the normal school in ,philadelphia1 this sort of tension and this variety of study occasion an amount of ill-health which is sadly familiar to many physicians4#cd ,experience teaches that a healthy and growing boy may spend six hours of force daily upon his studies1 and leave sufficient margin for physical growth4 ,a girl cannot spend more than four1 or1 in occasional instances1 five hours of force daily upon her studies1 and leave sufficient margin for the general physical growth that she must make in common with a boy1 and also for constructing a reproductive apparatus4 ,if she puts as much force into her brain education as a boy1 the brain or the special apparatus will suffer4 ,appropriate education and appropriate co-education must adjust their methods and regimen to this law4 ,another detail is1 that1 during every fourth week1 there should be a remission1 and sometimes an intermission1 of both study and exercise4 ,some individuals require1 at that time1 a complete intermission from mental and physical effort for a single day2 others for two or three days2 others require only a remission1 and can do half work safely for two or three days1 and their usual work after that4 ,the diminished labor1 which shall give ,nature an opportunity to accomplish her special periodical task and growth1 is a physiological necessity for all1 however robust they may seem to be4 ,the apportionment of study and exercise to individual needs cannot be decided by general rules1 nor can the decision of it be safely left to the pupil's caprice or ambition4 ,each case must be decided upon its own merits4 ,the organization of studies and instruction must be flexible enough to admit of the periodical and temporary absence of each pupil1 without loss of rank1 or necessity of making up work1 from recitation1 and exercise of all sorts4 ,the periodical type of woman's way of work must be harmonized with the persistent type of man's way of work in any successful plan of co-education4 ,the keen eye and rapid hand of gain1 of what ,jouffroy calls self-interest well understood1 is sometimes quicker than the brain and will of philanthropy to discern and inaugurate reform4 ,an illustration of this statement1 and a practical recognition of the physiological method of woman's work1 lately came under my observation4 ,there is an establishment in ,boston1 owned and carried on by a man1 in which ten or a dozen girls are constantly employed4 ,each of them is given and required to take a vacation of three days every fourth week4 ,it is scarcely necessary to say that their sanitary condition is exceptionally good1 and that the aggregate yearly amount of work which the owner obtains is greater than when persistent attendance and labor was required4 ,i have never heard of any female school1 public or private1 in which any such plan has been adopted2 nor is it likely that any similar plan will be adopted so long as the community entertain the conviction that a boy's education and a girl's education should be the same1 and that the same means the boy's4 ,what is known in ,england as the ,ten-hour ,act1 which ,mr4 ,mundella and ,sir ,john ,lubbock have recently carried through ,parliament1 is a step in a similar direction4 ,it is an act providing for the special protection of women against over-work4 ,it does not recognize1 and probably was not intended to recognize1 the periodical type of woman's organization4 ,it is founded on the fact1 however1 which law has been so slow to acknowledge1 that the male and female organization are not identical4#ce ,this is not the place for the discussion of these details1 and therefore we will not dwell upon them4 ,our object is rather to show good and imperative reason why they should be discussed by others2 to show how faulty and pregnant of ill the education of ,american girls has been and is1 and to demonstrate the truth1 that the progress and development of the race depend upon the appropriate1 and not upon the identical education of the sexes4 ,little good will be done in this direction1 however1 by any advice or argument1 by whatever facts supported1 or by whatever authority presented1 unless the women of our country are themselves convinced of the evils that they have been educated into1 and out of which they are determined to educate their daughters4 ,they must breed in them the lofty spirit ,wallenstein bade his be of3-- ,leave now the puny wish1 the girlish feeling1 ,oh1 thrust it far behind thee6 ,give thou proof ,thou'rt the daughter of the ,mighty1--his ,who where he moves creates the wonderful4 ,meet and disarm necessity by choice4 ,,schiller3 ,the ,piccolomini1 act iii4 #h4 7,coleridge's ,translation47 ,,footnotes3 #bd ,body and ,mind4 ,op4 cit41 p4 #agh4 #be ,the ,study of ,sociology1 by ,herbert ,spencer1 chap4 #ac4 #bf ,the ,study of ,sociology1 by ,herbert ,spencer1 chap4 #ac4 #bg ,enigmas of ,life4 ,op4 cit41 by ,w4,r4 ,greg1 p4 #adb4 #bh ,it is a fact not to be lost sight of1 says ,dr4 ,j4,c4 ,toner of ,washington1 that the proportion between the number of ,american children under fifteen years of age1 and the number of ,american women between the child-bearing ages of fifteen and fifty1 is declining steadily4 ,in #ahcj1 there were to every #a1jjj marriageable women1 #a1ieb children under fifteen years of age4 ,ten years later1 there were #a1hfc1 or #hi less children to every thousand women than in #ahcj4 ,in #ahej1 this number had declined to #a1gbj2 in #ahfj1 to #a1fff2 and in #ahgj1 to #a1efh4 ,the total decline in the forty years was #chd1 or about #bj per cent of the whole proportional number in #ahcj1 a generation ago4 ,the ,united-,states census of #ahgj shows that there is1 in the city of ,new ,york1 but one child under fifteen years of age1 to each thousand nubile women1 when there ought to be three2 and the same is true of our other large cities4--,the ,nation1 ,aug4 #bh1 #ahgc1 p4 #ade4 #bi ,vid4 a pamphlet by the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,todd4 #cj ,the ,new ,englander1 ,july1 #ahgc4 ,art41 ,iowa ,college4 #ca ,body and ,mind4 ,op4 cit41 p4 #he4 #cb ,use of the ,ophthalmoscope4 ,by ,t4,c4 ,allbutt4 ,london4 ,p4 #e4 #cc ,some physiologists consider that the period of growth extends to a later age than this4 ,dr4 ,anstie fixes the limit at twenty five4 ,he says1 ,the central nervous system is more slow in reaching its fullest development2 and the brain1 especially1 is many years later in acquiring its maximum of organic consistency and functional power4--,neuralgia1 ,op4 cit41 by ,f4,e4 ,,anstie1 p4 #bj4 #cd ,wear and ,tear4 ,op4 cit41 p4 #cc-d4 #ce ,it is a curious commentary on the present aspect of the woman question to see many who honestly advocate the elevation and enfranchisement of woman1 oppose any movement or law that recognizes ,nature's fundamental distinction of sex4 ,there are those who insist upon the traditional fallacy that man and woman are identical1 and that the identity is confined to the man1 with the energy of infatuation4 ,it appears from the ,spectator1 that ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,fawcett strongly object to the ,ten-hour ,act1 on the ground that it discriminates unfairly against women as compared with men4 ,upon this the ,spectator justly remarks1 that the true question for an objector to the bill to consider is not one of abstract principle1 but this3 ,is the restraint proposed so great as really to diminish the average productiveness of woman's labor1 or1 by increasing its efficacy1 to maintain its level1 or even improve it in spite of the hours lost8 ,what is the length of labor beyond which an average woman's constitution is overtaxed and deteriorated1 and within which1 therefore1 the law ought to keep them in spite of their relations1 and sometimes in spite of themselves4--,vid4 ,spectator1 ,london1 ,june #ad1 #ahgc4 ,,part ,v4 ,,the ,,european ,,way4 ,and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts1 but only prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country4--,,lord ,,bacon4 ,one branch of the stream of travel that flows with steadily-increasing volume across the ,atlantic1 from the western to the eastern continent1 passes from the ,united ,states1 through ,nova ,scotia1 to ,england4 ,the traveller who follows this route is struck1 almost as soon as he leaves the boundaries of the republic1 with the difference between the physique of the inhabitants he encounters and that of those he has left behind him4 ,the difference is most marked between the females of the two sections4 ,the firmer step1 fuller chest1 and ruddier cheek of the ,nova-,scotian girl foretell still greater differences of color1 form1 and strength that ,england and the ,continent present4 ,these differences impressed one who passed through ,nova ,scotia not long ago very strongly4 ,her observations upon them are an excellent illustration of our subject1 and they deserve to be read in this connection4 ,her remarks1 moreover1 are indirect but valuable testimony to the evils of our sort of identical education of the sexes4 ,nova ,scotia1 she says1 is a country of gracious surprises4 ,but most beautiful among her beauties1 most wonderful among her wonders1 are her children4 ,during two weeks' travel in the ,provinces1 ,i have been constantly more and more impressed by their superiority in appearance1 size1 and health1 to the children of the ,new-,england and ,middle ,states4 ,in the outset of our journey1 ,i was struck by it2 along all the roadsides they looked up1 boys and girls1 fair1 broad-cheeked1 sturdy-legged1 such as with us are seen only now and then4 ,i did not1 however1 realize at first that this was the universal law of the land1 and that it pointed to something more than climate as a cause4 ,but the first school that ,i saw1 en masse1 gave a startling impetus to the train of observation and influence into which ,i was unconsciously falling4 ,it was a ,sunday school in the little town of ,wolfville1 which lies between the ,gaspereau and ,cornwallis ,rivers1 just beyond the meadows of the ,grand ,pre1 where lived ,gabriel ,lajeunesse1 and ,benedict ,bellefontaine1 and the rest of the 'simple ,acadian farmers4' ,i arrived too early at one of the village churches2 and1 while ,i was waiting for a sexton1 a door opened1 and out poured the ,sunday school1 whose services had just ended4 ,on they came1 dividing in the centre1 and falling to the right and left about me1 thirty or forty boys and girls1 between the ages of seven and fifteen4 ,they all had fair skins1 red cheeks1 and clear eyes2 they were all broad-shouldered1 straight1 and sturdy2 the younger ones were more than sturdy1--they were fat1 from the ankles up4 ,but perhaps the most noticeable thing of all was the quiet1 sturdy1 unharassed expression which their faces wore2 a look which is the greatest charm of a child's face1 but which we rarely see in children over two or three years old4 ,boys of eleven or twelve were there1 with shoulders broader than the average of our boys at sixteen1 and yet with the pure childlike look on their faces4 ,girls of ten or eleven were there1 who looked almost like women1--that is1 like ideal women1--simply because they looked so calm and undisturbed4444 ,out of them all there was but one child who looked sickly4 ,he had evidently met with some accident1 and was lame4 ,afterward1 as the congregation assembled1 ,i watched the fathers and mothers of these children4 ,they1 too1 were broad-shouldered1 tall1 and straight1 especially the women4 ,even old women were straight1 like the negroes one sees at the ,south walking with burdens on their heads4 ,five days later ,i saw1 in ,halifax1 the celebration of the anniversary of the settlement of the ,province4 ,the children of the city and of some of the neighboring towns marched in ',bands of ,hope1' and processions such as we see in the cities of the ,states on the ,fourth of ,july4 ,this was just the opportunity ,i wanted4 ,it was the same here as in the country4 ,i counted1 on that day1 just eleven sickly-looking children2 no more6 ,such brilliant cheeks1 such merry eyes1 such evident strength1--it was a scene to kindle the dullest soul6 ,there were scores of little ones there1 whose droll1 fat legs would have drawn a crowd in ,central ,park2 and they all had that same quiet1 composed1 well-balanced expression of countenance of which ,i spoke before1 and of which it would be hard to find an instance in all ,central ,park4 ,climate1 undoubtedly1 has something to do with this4 ,the air is moist2 and the mercury rarely rises above #hj deg41 or falls below #aj deg44 ,also the comparative quiet of their lives helps to make them so beautiful and strong4 ,but the most significant fact to my mind is1 that1 until the past year1 there have been in ,nova ,scotia no public schools1 comparatively few private ones2 and in these there is no severe pressure brought to bear on the pupils4444 ,i must not be understood to argue from the health of the children of ,nova ,scotia1 as contrasted with the lack of health among our children1 that it is best to have no public schools2 only that it is better to have no public schools than to have such public schools as are now killing off our children4444 ,in ,massachusetts1 the mortality from diseases of the brain and nervous system is eleven per cent4 ,in ,nova ,scotia it is only eight per cent4#cf ,it would be interesting and instructive to ascertain1 if we could1 the regimen of female education in ,europe4 ,the acknowledged and unmistakable differences between ,american and ,european girls and women--the delicate bloom1 unnatural weakness1 and premature decay of the former1 contrasted with the bronzed complexion1 developed form1 and enduring force of the latter--are not adequately explained by climate4 ,given sufficient time1 difference of climate will produce immense differences of form1 color1 and force in the same species of animals and men4 ,but a century does not afford a period long enough for the production of great changes4 ,that length of time could not transform the sturdy ,german fraulein and robust ,english damsel into the fragile ,american miss4 ,everybody recognizes and laments the change that has been and is going on4 ,the race of strong1 hardy1 cheerful girls1 that used to grow up in country places1 and made the bright1 neat1 ,new-,england kitchens of olden times1--the girls that could wash1 iron1 brew1 bake1 harness a horse and drive him1 no less than braid straw1 embroider1 draw1 paint1 and read innumerable books1--this race of women1 pride of olden time1 is daily lessening2 and1 in their stead1 come the fragile1 easy-fatigued1 languid girls of a modern age1 drilled in book-learning1 ignorant of common things4#cg ,no similar change has been wrought1 during the past century1 upon the mass of females in ,europe4 ,there-- ,nature keeps the reverent frame ,with which her years began4 ,if we could ascertain the regimen of ,european female education1 so as to compare it fairly with the ,american plan of the identical education of the sexes1 it is not impossible that the comparison might teach us how it is1 that conservation of female force makes a part of trans-,atlantic1 and deterioration of the same force a part of cis-,atlantic civilization4 ,it is probable such an inquiry would show that the disregard of the female organization1 which is a palpable and pervading principle of ,american education1 either does not exist at all in ,europe1 or exists only in a limited degree4 ,with the hope of obtaining information upon this point1 the writer addressed inquiries to various individuals1 who would be likely to have the desired knowledge4 ,only a few answers to his inquiries have been received up to the present writing2 more are promised by and by4 ,the subject is a delicate and difficult one to investigate4 ,the reports of committees and examining boards1 of ministers of instruction1 and other officials1 throw little or no light upon it4 ,the matter belongs so much to the domestic economy of the household and school1 that it is not easy to learn much that is definite about it except by personal inspection and inquiry4 ,the little information that has been received1 however1 is important4 ,it indicates1 if it does not demonstrate1 an essential difference between the regimen or organization1 using these terms in their broadest sense1 of female education in ,america and in ,europe4 ,dr4 ,h4 ,hagen1 an eminent physician and naturalist of ,koenigsburg1 ,prussia1 now connected with the ,museum of ,comparative ,zoology at ,cambridge1 writes from ,germany1 where he has been lately1 in reply to these inquiries1 as follows3-- ,,nuremberg1 ,july #bc1 #ahgc4 ,,dear ,,sir1--,the information1 given by two prominent physicians in ,berlin1 in answer to the questions in your letter1 is mostly of a negative character4 ,i believe them to prove that generally girls here are doing very well as to the catamenial function4 ,first1 most of the girls in ,north ,germany begin this function in the fifteenth year1 or even later2 of course some few sooner1 even in the twelfth year or before2 but the rule is after the fifteenth year4 ,now1 nearly all leave the school in the fifteenth year1 and then follow some lectures given at home at leisure4 ,the school-girls are of course rarely troubled by the periodical function4 ,there is an established kind of tradition giving the rule for the regimen during the catamenial period3 this regimen goes from mother to daughter1 and the advice of physicians is seldom asked for with regard to it4 ,as a rule1 the greatest care is taken to avoid any cold or exposure at this time4 ,if the girls are still school-girls1 they go to school1 study and write as at other times1 provided the function is normally performed4 ,school-girls never ride in ,germany1 nor are they invited to parties or to dancing-parties4 ,all this comes after the school4 ,and even then care is taken to stay at home when the periodical function is present4 ,concerning the health of the ,german girls1 as compared with ,american girls1 the ,german physicians have not sufficient information to warrant any statement4 ,but the health of the ,german girls is commonly good except in the higher classes in the great capitals1 where the same obnoxious agencies are to be found in ,germany as in the whole world4 ,but here also there is a very strong exception1 or1 better1 a difference between ,america and ,germany1 as ,german girls are never accustomed to the free manners and modes of life of ,american girls4 ,as a rule1 in ,germany1 the mother directs the manner of living of the daughter entirely4 ,i shall have more and better information some time later4 ,yours1 ,h4 ,,hagen4 ,a ,german lady1 who was educated in the schools of ,dantzic1 ,prussia1 afforded information1 which1 as far as it went1 confirmed the above4 ,three customs1 or habits1 which exert a great influence upon the health and development of girls1 appear from ,dr4 ,hagen's letter to make a part of the ,german female educational regimen4 ,the first is1 that girls leave school at about the age of fifteen or sixteen1 that is1 as soon as the epoch of rapid sexual development arrives4 ,it appears1 moreover1 that during this epoch1 or the greater part of it1 a ,german girl's education is carried on at home1 by means of lectures or private arrangements4 ,these1 of course1 are not as inflexible as the rigid rules of a technical school1 and admit of easy adjustment to the periodical demands of the female constitution4 ,the second is the traditional motherly supervision and careful regimen of the catamenial week4 ,evidently the notion that a boy's education and a girl's education should be the same1 and that the same means the boy's1 has not yet penetrated the ,german mind4 ,this has not yet evolved the idea of the identical education of the sexes4 ,it appears that in ,germany1 schools1 studies1 parties1 walks1 rides1 dances1 and the like1 are not allowed to displace or derange the demands of ,nature4 ,the female organization is respected4 ,the third custom is1 that ,german school-girls are not invited to parties at all4 ,all this comes after the school1 says ,dr4 ,hagen4 ,the brain is not worked by day in the labor of study1 and tried by night with the excitement of the ball4 ,pleasant recreation for children of both sexes1 and abundance of it1 is provided for them1 all over ,germany1--is regarded as necessity for them1--is made a part of their daily life2 but then it is open-air1 oxygen-surrounding1 blood-making1 health-giving1 innocent recreation2 not gas1 furnaces1 low necks1 spinal trails1 the civilized representatives of caudal appendages1 and late hours4 ,desirous of obtaining1 if possible1 a more exact notion than even a physician could give of the ,german1 traditional method of managing the catamenial function for the first few years after its appearance1 ,i made inquiries of a ,german lady1 now a mother1 whose family name holds an honored place1 both in ,german diplomacy and science1 and who has enjoyed corresponding opportunities for an experimental acquaintance with the ,german regimen of female education4 ,the following is her reply4 ,for obvious reasons1 the name of the writer is not given4 ,she has been much in this country as well as in ,germany2 a fact that explains the knowledge of ,american customs that her letter exhibits4 ,,my ,,dear ,,doctor1--,i have great pleasure in answering your inquiries in regard to the course1 which1 to my knowledge1 ,german mothers adopt with their daughters at the catamenial period4 ,as soon as a girl attains maturity in this respect1 which is seldom before the age of sixteen1 she is ordered to observe complete rest2 not only rest of the body1 but rest of the mind4 ,many mothers oblige their daughters to remain in bed for three days1 if they are at all delicate in health2 but even those who are physically very strong are obliged to abstain from study1 to remain in their rooms for three days1 and keep perfectly quiet4 ,during the whole of each period1 they are not allowed to run1 walk much1 ride1 skate1 or dance4 ,in fact1 entire repose is strictly enforced in every well-regulated household and school4 ,a ,german girl would consider the idea of going to a party at such times as simply preposterous2 and the difference that exists in this respect in ,america is wholly unintelligible to them4 ,as a general rule1 a married woman in ,germany1 even after she has had many children1 is as strong and healthy1 if not more so1 than when she was a girl4 ,in ,america1 with a few exceptions1 it appears to be the reverse2 and1 ,i have no doubt1 it is owing to the want of care on the part of girls at this particular time1 and to the neglect of their mothers to enforce proper rules in this most important matter4 ,it has seemed to me1 often1 that the difference in the education of girls in ,america and in ,germany1 as regards their physical training1 is1 that in ,america it is marked by a great degree of recklessness2 while in ,germany1 the erring1 if it can be called erring1 is on the side of anxious1 extreme caution4 ,therefore beautiful ,american girls fade rapidly2 while the ,german girls1 who do not possess the same natural advantages1 do possess1 as a rule1 good1 permanent health1 which goes hand-in-hand with happiness and enjoyment of life4 ,believe me1 ,very truly yours1 ---- ----4 ,,june #ba1 #ahgc4 ,this letter confirms the statement of ,dr4 ,hagen1 and shows that the educational and social regimen of a ,german school-girl is widely different from that of her ,american sister4 ,perhaps1 as is intimated above1 the ,german way1 which is probably the ,european way also1 may err on the side of too great confinement and caution2 and that a medium between that and the recklessness of the ,american way would yield a better result than either one of them4 ,german peasant girls and women work in the field and shop with and like men4 ,none who have seen their stout and brawny arms can doubt the force with which they wield the hoe and axe4 ,i once saw1 in the streets of ,coblentz1 a woman and a donkey yoked to the same cart1 while a man1 with a whip in his hand1 drove the team4 ,the bystanders did not seem to look upon the moving group as if it were an unusual spectacle4 ,the donkey appeared to be the most intelligent and refined of the three4 ,the sight symbolized the physical force and infamous degradation of the lower classes of women in ,europe4 ,the urgent problem of modern civilization is how to retain this force1 and get rid of the degradation4 ,physiology declares that the solution of it will only be possible when the education of girls is made appropriate to their organization4 ,a ,german girl1 yoked with a donkey and dragging a cart1 is an exhibition of monstrous muscular and aborted brain development4 ,an ,american girl1 yoked with a dictionary1 and laboring with the catamenia1 is an exhibition of monstrous brain and aborted ovarian development4 ,the investigations incident to the preparation of this monograph have suggested a number of subjects kindred to the one of which it treats1 that ought to be discussed from the physiological standpoint in the interest of sound education4 ,some1 and perhaps the most important1 of them are the relation of the male organization1 so far as it is different from the female1 to the labor of education and of life2 the comparative influence of crowding studies1 that is of excessive brain activity1 upon the cerebral metamorphosis of the two sexes2 the influence of study1 or brain activity1 upon sleep1 and through sleep1 or the want of it1 upon nutrition and development2 and1 most important of all1 the true relation of education to the just and harmonious development of every part1 both of the male and female organization1 in which the rightful control of the cerebral ganglia over the whole system and all its functions shall be assured in each sex1 and thus each be enabled to obtain the largest possible amount of intellectual and spiritual power4 ,the discussion of these subjects at the present time would largely exceed the natural limits of this essay4 ,they can only be suggested now1 with the hope that other and abler observers may be induced to examine and discuss them4 ,in conclusion1 let us remember that physiology confirms the hope of the race by asserting that the loftiest heights of intellectual and spiritual vision and force are free to each sex1 and accessible by each2 but adds that each must climb in its own way1 and accept its own limitations1 and1 when this is done1 promises that each will find the doing of it1 not to weaken or diminish1 but to develop power4 ,physiology condemns the identical1 and pleads for the appropriate education of the sexes1 so that boys may become men1 and girls women1 and both have a fair chance to do and become their best4 ,,footnotes3 #cf ,bits of ,talk4 ,by ,h4,h4 ,pp4 #ga-ge4 #cg ,house and ,home ,papers4 ,by ,harriet ,beecher ,stowe4 ,p4 #bje4 99 99 99 99 99 ---------------------------------------- -------------------- ,typographical errors corrected in text3 ,page #fb3 menorraghic replaced with menorrhagic ,page #gb3 dysmenorrhea replaced with dysmenorrhoea ,page #ge3 rythmical replaced with rhythmical ,page #aag3 permantly replaced with permanently ,page #abj3 rythmical replaced with rhythmical page #aga3 twelth replaced with twelfth ,page #age3 knowedge replaced with knowledge ---------------------------------------- --------------------