small superficies. Still, these are exceptional cases; as a rule, the larger the brain the greater the mental power of the individual.
Another difference between the brain of man and that of woman is found in the conformation of the organ. In man the frontal region is more developed than it is in woman. There is a certain fissure called the fissure of Rolando, which divides the brain into two unequal parts. Now, if we take the entire length of the brain as = 100, there will be found in woman 31-3 parts in front of the upper end of this fissure, while in man there will be 43-9 parts.
Again the specific gravity of the male brain, both of the white and the gray substance, is greater in man than it is in woman.
Bearing in view these differences, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that there must also be some points of dissimilarity in the minds of the two sexes. Not necessarily that one is superior to the other, but that they are different. This is an assertion that will probably not be questioned by any one who will take the trouble to give a little reflection to the matter. We see the diversities every day—diversities of perception, of emotion, of intellect, of will. In some respects the mind of man excels; in others, that of woman is superior. It would be a bad state of things for mankind if the mind in the two primary divisions of the human race were the same. In barbarous nations, as we have seen, the difference in size is less than it is with civilized people, and as one consequence of this fact there is not so great a difference in the mental development. The work of a woman is with them almost the same as that of a man. Her mode of life, her dress are not essentially different except in so far as they must be different on account of her sex. But with civilized nations there is variety in modes of thought, in likes and dislikes, and in other mental characteristics; in occupation, in manner, in clothes, even in food, so that the differentiation between the sexes is far more distinctly marked than it is with nations low in the scale of progress. Who can doubt that this is the direct result of differences not only in the brain but in other parts of the nervous system?
It appears to me, therefore, that while the education of a woman should be just as thorough as that of a man, it ought not to be the same. The two sexes move through paths that approach parallelism at some points of their course; but they can never travel exactly the same road till they have nervous systems presenting exactly the same anatomical configuration and situation.[1]
Such being the case, it is the height of absurdity to attempt, what is so often attempted at the present day, the education of girls according to the same method as that pursued for boys, and giving them
- ↑ The immediately preceding paragraphs on the differences between the brains of man and woman are taken almost verbatim from my address entitled "The Relations between the Mind and the Nervous System," delivered at the Lehigh University on "Founder's Day," October 9, 1884, and published in "The Popular Science Monthly" for November, 1884.
