New-York tribune., 1894-10-31
WOMAN IN EARLY TIMES.
HER SHARE IN ORIGINATING THE ARTS
AND TRADES OF THE WORLD.

National Museum. With Numerous lllusIra
Anthropologicai seres)
BRITISH FREEwOMEN: THEIR HisTORiCA.' ca.
PIpomee EdnbSrsh University. Pp' viii is6
Imported by Charles Scrlbner's sons
Dr Mason's book is a good beginning for the
series to which II belongs 1t sets right multi
tude Of notions that lie at the very basis OF
anthropologcal speculation. We have all heard
to WEAKNESS about the reason OF man and the
instinct Of woman. how the one reaches ms con-
rlusions by the slow process OF meditation ana
argument while the other jumps to hers with
startling suddenness The author does not
question this alleged difference In the thinking
of the two sexes 1t has perhaps, been the theme
Of too much fine writing ever to be wholly dis
credited, though Of ate-that is, since women
contracted the habit Of going to college and
taking prizes in mathematics-it has begun 10
look as IL she had the sylogistic faculty con-
cealed somewhere in the neighborhOod OF her
curs or her Psyche knot He takes the point
for granted. and then shows in very scientific
way how woman came by her deftness IN draw
ing inferences Man. he says, at every up
ward step in the progress Of the race mas hau
TO lay aside his former tools and TO take UP
new ones. to discard his traditions and acquire
a new set of ideas. Once he killed his game by
throwing a stone at It, Plainly when he learned
thrONStiCk or boomerang HIS oiu IVA
ferity with a pebble was Of meagre use to him.
When he invented the low and arrow ne prac-
ticallv effaced his whole past a hunter. and
the change was still more marked when he TOOK
10 the shotgun and rife. In the ever-renewed
division OF labor he has had TO learn many
trades until il Is now the exception to find a
man in the occupat ton where he started in life.
He has had no time, therefore. to create for him-
self a heritage of differences and conclusions
about life and people. But woman. though her
duties are multifarous has from the first pur-
sued an even course. Whatever materials she
had to deal with her objects have been mnch
the same in every age. Man has taken ava!
many Of her occupations when they acquired d
commercial value but those which remain 10
her are still those which she learned at the
outset. When she speaks Of things within the
circle of her knowledge. and this circle is very
wide one she speaks with the certainty OF one
who has inherited the thought of innumerable
generations. "In the struggles for a living IN
the best Of surroundings. the man is to-day
farmland tomorrow cutting wood, the next
day in the crowded city. See how this racks his
whole being bodily, mentally and spiritually. IL
ne do not die under the treatment he must be-
come adaptive, plastic versatile. All the propo-
sitions and half-automatic activities that he ac-
quires to-day forgotten tomorrow, ana IN
stncts do not have time to mature On the other
hand the women of a savage tribe and the ordi-
nary run of women in any civilized land VINO
change slightly the duties they have 10 per-
form or their manner Of doing them, need moaily
their conceptions and their opinions very little
The constant doing the same things ana thihK-
ing the same thoughts from generation to genera
ton pass the bodily activity and TIE men'a'
processes or TO a semi-automatc habit
The divisions betw zen the occupations OF men
and those of women have been marked from
the outset. DR.. Mason proposes a sweeping
change in Herbert Spencer's classification OF
civilized life into two periods. one OF militancy
the other Of industrialism To say that one OF
these preceded the other is. In his opinion. an
error. Militancy is more feature OF human
life now than il has ever been and there never
was a time when useful industry was not re-
ouired Of some body to keep the human race ahVe
Instead Of saying an age Of militancy, an age
Of industrialisn. he would say sex OF militancy'
a sex of industrialism. The rudments OF almost
every trade known to civilized life can be traced
TO woman's hands in savagery she proVlueu
much and prepared all of the food for her ram
ily and their clothing, even the dwelling which
they inhabited. She invented the use ana
making of dishes and pots. She was the burdeH-
bearer before any animals were domesucateu'
and in many places she remains what she was at
first DIR. Mason supposes that In her nrst at
temps to provide food Tor herself and those de-
nendent upon her. she was only capable of gath
ering those fruits and other parts OF plants
(Which were ready for use at once. Later. she
sought roots and othe" parts OF plants that
,vere TO be made edible by the of fire. Then
she gradually invented variety OF uses Tor
seeds. and wherever mankind went, woman
found there the vegetable products which were
most desirable and taught herself by experiment
@be hest way of treating them. In the islands
~ tho Pacific Ocean these were the taro plant
md bread fruit: in Asia. rice: In Africa, miet.
vans palm and tapioca; in Europe. wheat rye
oats and barley; in America corn and pota-
toes acorns edible pine cones. The whole
industrial life Of woman" adds the author rs
built up around these staples. From the frs'
tourney on foot to procure the raw materials
until the food Is served and eaten, there is
line Of trades that are continuous and tnat are
horn Of the environment" These include the
gathering OF the plants the transportation ol
the harvest. the contrivance of granary foi
storage and all the processes required to change
a raw material into food. AS the inventor OF the
pranary. woman must also have the credit OF
tanning the wild cat and making 1t the pro
4ector of the garnered harvest from the depre
dations OF rodents. I: was she who required z
crushing or grinding apparatus. and to her were
due the mortars and metals and handmills tina
remain the antique counterpart Of so mucf
modern machinery. 1t woman's work II
savagery also to search for springs, and sh
was the first to learn. too, that Nature FURNISHED
other beverages. Thus she was probably IN
first brewer and the first vintner. 1t was sh
who learned how even poisonous plants cou'
sometimes be deprived of their noxious qualities
and made useful as food
Early mans inventive energies were devoted L
his weapons. But even for the treatment
the trophies Of the chase. woman had to have
variety of tools from the outset In most case
n was she who got the carcass home. She wa