Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-06-21

ierent method. He will argue thus; poetry APP
peaIs to the Imagination, mathematics to tne
understanding. 10 work the Imagination Is
more exciting than to work the understanding,
and what is habitualIy exciting is usually un-
healthy But what is usually unhealthy WIN
tend to shorten life therefore poetry tends more
than mathematics to shorten life; therefore on
the whole poets will. die sooner than mathema-
ticians.
ton and deduction; and you see, ton, that botn
methods arc valuable, and that any conclusion
must be greatly strengthened if We can reach II
| by two such different paths. To connect thls
with the question before ms, will endeaVor TO
establish two propositions. First, Inat women
! naturally prefer the deductve method to the M
| duetive' Secondly, That women, by encourpg-
ing in men deductiVe habits of thought have
rendered an immense, though unconscious SER
vice to the progress of knowledge, by preventing
scientific investigators from being as exclusive
| " inductive as they would otherwise be.
ain regard to women being by nature more
Ideductiye and men more inductive, you VIII re-
member that induction assigns the first place to
particular facts; deduction TO general PROPOSE
| lions or ideas, Now, there are several reasons,
! why women prefer the deductive and 1t may
| so say, ideal method. They are more emotional,
more enthusiastic, and more imaginative than
men: they therefore live more in an ideal worldi
while men with their COLDER harder, and austen
er organizations, are moro practical and more
under the dominion of facts, to which they con-
| seouently asciibe higher importance. Anoth-
| er circumstance which makes women more de-
ductive, is that they possess more OF what IS
| called intuition. They cannot see so far as men
can. but what they do see they SEQ quicker
Hence, they are constantly tempted to grasp at
nm idea and seek to solve q problem suddenly,
| in contradistinction to the slower and more la
borious ascent of the inducliye investigation.
svrhat women are moro deductive than men,
~ 4. Nl,ay,r aun
sition which some persons will not relish, yet u
| may be proved in variety OF ways. Indeed,
| nothing could prevent its being universally adj
mitted except the fact, that the remarkable "a
pi,lity with which women think IS obscured by
| that miserable, that contemplate, that prepos-
ferrous system, called their education IN whlcn
| valuable things are carefully kept from them,
and trifling things carefully taught to themI mn
| til their tine and nimbie minds are too often lr'
retlievably injured. It is on this account, that
| in thu lower classes the superior qulekness OF
women Is even more notice able than IN the up
per; and an eminent physician Or. CuTrle, ulcn-
| lions ia one of his letters, that when.a a0orer
and his wife came together to consult him, It was
always from the woman that he gained the
clearest and most precise Information, the intel
| lect of the man moving too slowly for MS pur-
pose. To this | may add another observation
which many travellers have made, and which
any one can verify; namely, that when you are
in a foreign country, and speaking foreign lan-
guage women will understand you quicker than
men will; and that for the same reason, Il you
lose your way in town abroad, it is always
best to apply to woman, because n man VIII
show less readiness of apprehension.
''These and other circumstances which might
he adduced-such for instance, as the insight
into character possessed by women, and the ilne
tact for which thoy are remarkable shows tnat
they are more dednctive than men for two prin-
| cipal reasons, First, Because they are quicker
than men. Secondly, Because, being more emo,
tional and enthusiastic they live in more ideal
world, and therefore prefer method OF inquiry
which proceeds from ideas to facts; leaving to
men the opposite method OF proceeding from
facts to ideas"
| Having said this much on the two processes
and their relative merits, the author goes on to
adduce numberless instances of the direct and
instantaneous connection between deduction and
discovery in the history of the world. He con-
cludes by consideration of the interesting fact
that most men of genius have had remarkable
mothers And here, again, he makes plea for
the absolute necessity of extended and thorough
education for women. He says:
"The striking fact that most men of genius
have had remarkable mothers and that they
have gained from their mothers far more than
from their fathers; this singular and unqnestlon
able fact can, think, be best explained by the
principles which have laid down. Some, IN
deed, will tell you that this depends upon laws
of the hereditary Transmission of character from
parent to child. But if this be the case, how
comes it that while every one admits that re-
Imarkable men have usually remarkable mothers,
it is not generally admitted that remarkable men
have usually remarkable fatherss If the intel
ect is bepueathed on one SIDE why is It not be-
oueathed on the other9 For my part, greatly
doubt whether the human mind is handed down
in this way, like an heirloom, from one genera
ton to another. rather believe that, IN regard
to the relation between men of genius aud their
mothers, the really important events occur alter
birth, when the habits of thought peculiar to
one sex act upon and improve the habits OF
thought peculiar to the other sex. Unconscious
Iy, and from very early period, there is eStao-
lished an intimate and endearing connection be.
tween the deductive mind of the mother and
the inductive mind of her son. The understand
ing of the boy, softened and yet elevated by the
Imagination Of his mother, is saved from that
degeneracy towards which the mere understand
ing always inclines; it is saved from being too
cold, too matter.Of.fact too prosaic and the dill
ierent properties and functions OF the mind are
more harmoniously developed than would other
wise be practicable. Thus il is that by the mere
play of the affections the finished man is ripeIi'
ed and completed. Thus it is that the most
touching and the most sacred form OF human
love the unrest the highest and tile hottest