Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-11-20
MENTAL. DIFFERENCES or MrN AND
WOMEN.


Herbert spencer, In Popular science Monthi,
for November.
That men and women are mentally
alike, is as untrue as that they ar,
alike bodily. Just as certainly as the,
have physical differences which are re
lated to the respective parts they play
In the maintenance of the race so cer
tainly have they physical differences
similarly related to their respective
shares in the rearing and protection
of offspring. To suppose that along
with the unlikeness between thcil
parental activities there do not go nn.
likencssess of mental faculties, is to
suppose that here alone in all nature
there is no adjustment of special pow.
ers 10 special functions.
Two classes of differences exist be.
tween the psychical, as between the
physical, structures of men and wo-
men. which are both determined by
this same fundamental need-ad adapta-
ton to the parental and maternal du.
ties. The first set of differences is
that which results from somewhat
earlier arrest Of individual evolution
in women than in men, neccssitatcd by
the reservation Of vital power to meet
the cost of reproduction. Whereas,
in man, individual evolution continues
until the physiological cost of self
maintenance very nearly balances
what nutrition supplies, in woman, an
arrest of individual development
takes place while there is yet consider
able margin of nutrition; otherwise
there could be no offspring. Hence
the fact that girls come earlier
to maturity than boys. Hence,
too, the chief contrasts in bodily form
the masculine figure being distinguish
ed from the feminine by the greater
relative sizes of the parts which carry
on external actions and entail physio-
logical cOst--the limbs,an those thor
acic viscera which their activity i'm
mediately taxes. And hence, too. the
physiological truth that throughout
their lives, but especially during the
child bearing age, women cxhale
smaller quantities of carb0nic acid,
relatively to their weights, than men
do; showing that the evolution of en-
ergy is relatively less as well as abso-
lutely less. This rather earlier ccssa-
ton of individual evolution thus me-
cessitated, showing itself in a rather
smaller growth of the nervo-muscular
system, so that both the limbs which
act and the brain which makes them
act are somewhat less, has two results
on the mind. The mental manitesta
tions have somewhat less of general
power of massiveness and beyond
this there Ia perceptible falling short
in those two faculties, intellectual and
emotional, which are the latest pro-
ducts of human evolution--the power
of abstract reasoning and that most
abstract of the emotions, the senti-
ment of justice-the sentiment which
regulates conduct irrespective of per-
sonal attachments and the likes or dis
likes felt for individuals.
THE New MANAGER OF THE ID. V,
II. R.-Mr, John L. Henry, the new
manager of the Dcs Moines Valley
Railroad, called to the position by the
first mortgage bondholdcrs, who re-
Gently purchased that part of the road
from this city to Keokuk, is practi-
cal railroad man of long experience
He was identified with the Chicago
& Rock Island road for several wears
| aud subsequently with the old Missis.
| sippi 4 Missouri Road. During the
| construction of that master specimen
| Of engineering skill, the CrOton Water
Works Of New York City, he was $
civil engineer in charge of one of tht
departments of that work. In 1850
he removed to Chicago and was ap.
pointed engineer 10 the construction
of one of the divisions Of the Chicago
& Rock Island Road. On the com.
pletion of the road in 1853 to Rock
Island, he was appointed its General
Superintendent. Subsequently he re,
| signed and removed to Davenport IL
| 1854, and assumed the management o
the Mississippi Il Missouri road, which
position he held until 1857, when the
road was leased to the Chicago &
Rock Island Railroad Company
Since thattime he has been engaged il
bridge contracts at various points
The Mississippi River bridge and rail
road at Dubuque were constructed b,
him. AZ an energetic. go-ahead bust
ness man, he possesses motive power
sufficient to supply a 25-ton locomo
tive, and fully apprcciating this char,
acteristic, the city of Davenport made
him once their Mayor. As a railroad
manager, he has that highly necessary
faculty of bringing into harmoni II;
action all those antagouistic element;
ofmen and machinery which arc Sc
perversely inclined to fly off in al
sorts of tangcnts. lie holds the rein:
Of management with stern grasp, and
his will is law beyond peradvcnture
Under his rule we expect to see tht
Valley Road emerge from its bankrup
condition, and its business transacted
for the benefit Of its owners and tn,
public.-.Stdte Registe,