The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-05-12
WOMAN'S MENTAL STATUS.
Why DIR. Livermore Considers 1t Superior
to That of Man.

Why DIR. LIvermOre Considers 1t Superior
to That of Man.
Though we were to cOncede all that
between the sexes, still i'll the home no
one discovers any natural inferierity of
girls to boys. As rule, the girls in
any community are quite as intelligent
as the boys. If we pass from child
hood to youth we still fail to discover
any mental inferiority of young women
to young men. When the two sexes
are educated together the female per-
forms her task with the same apparent
ease as the male. Young women ac-
quire languages as readily, compre-
bend abstruse problems as quickly, and
are quite as likely to take prizes in
mathematics and other studies as male
students. In adult age we find the
same intellectual equality of the sexes.
And yet here we may find an excuse
for any deficiency on the part of
woman, by remembering that she has
not had the same opportunity for mem
tai development that man has enjoyed.
The greatest variation of brain-weight
is among civilized peoples. where
women have never enjoyed equal adj
vantages with men for mental culture,
while among the lowest races there is
but little, if any, variation in size of
brain between the sexes, showing that
education has had much to do in the
intellectual development of man. Says
Maudsley, who is authority on this SUBJ
ject: Among Europeans the average
weight of the brain is greater in edu-
Gated than in uneducated persons. :"
Now woman has never had equal OPP
portunities with man for intellectual
development. The universities and all
the best educational institutions of the
world have been closed to her, and all
the weight of custom and prejudice have
been brought to bear upon her, to make
her repress all intellectual aspirations
as foreign to her sphere of activity,
which is popularity interpreted to mean
domesticity. If "quality' of brain has
no bearing on this question, as Profess
sor Romanes maintains, why, then,
should a 37-ounce brain in man involve
idiocy, and the same result not follow
in woman with 37-ouncc brain? II
the brain of both sexes is the same in
all respects, why should not idiocy fol-
/ low in each with the same weight OF
brain? If the man becomes idiotic
with 81 ounces of brain, as we are told,
| and the woman is in no danger OF
idiocy with that weight of brain, it is
/ evident enough which has the inferior
brain. If the 32-ounce female brain
can do better intellectual work than
the 37-ounce male brain (the point OF
/ idiocy1 then the argument from the
relative weight OF brain falls, or proves
the superiority of the female brain. Ii
the 37-Ounce male brain goes to wreck
/ and ruin, while the 37-ounce female
brain is sound and clear and capable
of good mental work, it legitimately
follows that the constituent properties
of the two brains are in some respects
different, or that the female brain is of
superior quality, as many scientific
writers teach. If both had precisely
the same equality" of brain, both
would become idiotic with the same
quantity" viz, 81 ounces. 1t is be-
cause of this higher quality of the female
brain that little girls have an excess of
refined moral sense over boys, more
natural refinement, sweeter natures,
/ and diviner instincts. Of course there
are exceptions to all rules, but, gener-
ally speaking, the finer qualities of the
female nature are apparent in early
girlhood, so that the instincts and per-
ceptions in girls are of a higher order
than in boys. Girls are more refined
in their manners and habits of life and
thought, and this indicates a higher
degree of moral and spiritual sensi-
bility. Words and actions show the
quality of the soul, for out of the heart
the mouth speaketh, and the speech be-
trays the quality of the heart. Woman,
as rule, has better quality of thought
and life than man.-RcU. d. p LIVER
9llOro in II0rl1ll