Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/136

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128
ADVICE TO YOUNG LADIES.

we now endeavor to show in what the difference of the sexes consists. The mind is composed of two faculties, Will and Understanding; the one the seat of affection, and the other of thought. The brain is that organ by which the mind acts, and is marked by two grand divisions, the cerebrum and the cerebellum. The cerebrum occupies the highest and anterior part of the skull, while the cerebellum, or little brain, as it is sometimes called, occupies the lower and posterior part of the skull. It is by means of the cerebellum that the will acts, and by means of the cerebrum that the understanding acts. By the will, affections are excited; and by the understanding, thoughts. The will feels, or loves; the understanding thinks. The understanding is the agent of the will, and bodies forth or gives forms to its peculiar affections. The will is man’s life or love, and the understanding is only the means by which the life or love of a man comes into activity, and thence into power.

By keeping this division in the mind, the difference between the sexes, when stated, will be clearly apparent. A man has will and understanding, and a cerebellum and cerebrum by which they act; and so has a woman. In this they are alike. But in man the understanding predominates, and in woman the will; and here