Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-11-10
& NEW DEFENSE OF WOMAN.


claims of women to broader recognition in
the world of business and the political and
social arenas, upon the ground that they
are by nature incapacitated and unin-
tended for competition with men in the
fields where brain is power, and intellectu-
ality motive force. Thus we have been
told that woman's brain is of less weight
than that of man, less also in proportion
to bodily formation and physical power;
that throughout nature the female is by
structural difference adapted only to GER
tain lines of action that the sex deter
mines the structure and physical develop
ment; that the natural weapons of defense
are given to the male in greater strength
and larger development; that the female
seeks shelter behind the male, thus con-
Tossing dependence that she looks to the
male not only for protection but for supply
of her needs. The inference is drawn that,
as these things are also true in the human
species, woman is not only physically but
mentally the inferior being, and therefore
should not look forward to the enjoyment
OF rights that are exercised by man.
Professor Lester F. Ward, in the Noyem-
Der Forum has come to the defense of
woman, and we think has succeeded in
making for her strong case, and in prov
ing that nature had nointentions whatever
in her case.
His monograph is especially interesting
because of It's striking originality, and the
force and vigor with which its thought is
presented. Professor Ward admits the
physical and mental inferiority of the fe-
male sex as he finds it, and that in the
main the fact is due to causes analogous to
those which have differentiated the sexes
OF the higher animals. But he denies
emphatically-and sustains himself in the
protest-that the causes are what they are
assumed to be by the scientific writers.
In brief this is his showing: That
Darwin has shown us the reason why boars
have tusks, and stays antlers, and the
peacock gaudy tail feathers. 1t is because
the females chose mates that possessed
these characteristics. That is, the charac-
tiers selected by the females have been, in
the main, those that tended to insure sue
cess III rivalry for mates. The greater size
nd strength of the males and their pow
erful weaponry have been acquired not for
the purpose of protecting the females, but
for the purpose of combating rivals and
winning mates. The hen, not the cock,
protects her brood the latter uses his
spurs only to fight his kind. In the whole
animal kingdom the cases of males using
their strength and weapons to protect the
females or their young, or to procure them
food are 20 rare Is TO make them phenome-
nal
Professor Ward draws the conclusion
that mans greater strength is the result of
the battle of rivals that in the develop
ment of the race sagacity came second to
strength, and brute force gave way to in
tellect after the former had developed in
the struggle named. That at frs, as
sagacity dominated, it was used to circun-
vent the rival for the woman's smile, ie
weaker sex then as now, admiring success
IN physical prowess, or the tilts of wit and
cunning. So mental power was first used
TO defeat rivals and secure mates, the
females protecting themselves and their
progeny as III the animal kingdom; the
female wild beast is always the more fero-
cious ard dangerous, the male carnivores
rareiy attacking man. But now, argues
this shrewd and incisive reasoner, the
agencies of selection" are still at work:
g II is 80 longer simple female selection of
maie qualities, us III the lower animals there is
nG% going on All opposite class of influences by |
which true male selection is bringing about |
modlBeA zoos III woman, and this had pro |
Sressed so far i'll the beginning of the historic |
period that the ornamental characters had been |
as It we're. transferred from the male to the fe-
male and beauty. which in birds aud many |
animals is the exclusive attribute OF the males |
had become The leading attribute of the women |
OF the higher races. And while setting down |
this fsct, let me call attention to its great signi
cance as pointing to future possibilities in |
women when men shall learn to select other |
qualities IN their companions than mere beauty; |
ern mSle selection, woman may become what |
ever man shall desire her TO be, and the ideal |
woman, however high the standard. viii be- !
come more and more the real woman"
So, then, this learned reasoner contends |
that the argument of those who would re-
strict woman's sphere on the ground of |
mental and physical inferiority falls to the |
ground, even if it be admitted that there
is something in her sex that lenders these |
qualities natural and essential. But Pro- |
fessor Ward is not disposed to confess the
mental and physical inferiority of woman
to be something inherent in the nature of |
things. 1t is not true in nature that repro !
duction, says he, impairs the female
strength or dwarfs the proportions and
tends to physical inferiority and depend
ence; for it is found that in many !
cases in nature the females exceed ,
the males in strength and size. |
As we 60 down the scale, these male attri- !
butes of superiority in the male fade and |
finally disappear in the reptilians and am
phibians, with decided tendency toward |
female supremacy. Then, too, as all stu !
dents know, below the vertebrate series !
there is a world of life that wholly ante !,
dates the appearance of sex. In the ami |
NAL kingdom, he points out, below the /
vertebrates female superiority is well nigh !
universal. and some instances cited are !
those of the queen bee, the mosquito
(the only mosquito the unscienti6c world !
knows is female), many insects, moths and |
butterflies; the spider family, in which the |
female is the more powerful and the larger.
The greater strength of Professor Wards |
argument is found in the charge that the
logic of the restrictionists leads them in
evitably to The conclusion that there must
come time when, through TIE stages of .
dependence. woman viii be as Insignificant
an object compared to man as the male
spider is compared to the female. OF (.
course such 4 thought is absurd. We are
more pleased to follow the lines of thought
suocested by Professor Ward, and reach