123
more voluminous. The trunk of man resembles an inverted cone, that of woman an upright one. The thighs of woman are more oblique than those of man. Another important anatomical difference is presented by the windpipe. In man, at the age of puberty, the opening of the glottis enlarges in the proportion of five to ten; in woman, it the same period, it increases only in the ratio of five to seven. This accounts for the difference in the voice, that of man being deep and sonorous, while that of woman is soft and melodious.
These anatomical peculiarities, no less than her special and periodical function, and the very tendencies of her character, all go to prove that she has not been created to cope with the exigencies of material life, or to place in subjection the hostile elements of the outer world. If we search the entire animal kingdom we shall everywhere find the female stamped with the seal of physical subordination,[1] but in none do grace and beauty belong more especially to the weaker sex than in the human family. On more minute inspection we find other and still more significant differences. Thus, the brain of woman is relatively smaller in the anterior and larger in the posterior regions; the former being the seat of the higher intellectual faculties, the latter of the affections, instincts, and feelings. So she has the advantage in sentiment, man in reason.
Thus we see that Nature has assigned to woman the part she is to sustain in life. It is the same among savage nations, and wherever man and woman share the same labors and fatigues. The relative differences, therefore, in no way proceed from the influence of civilization. The cellular tissue is more abundant in woman, and it is this
- ↑ Save in the cases of certain birds and insects.
