Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-04-02
WOMAN'S iNFERlORlTY.
strindberg Says Woman Is InfcriSf to
Man and Offers Testimony.
1.-THE ENID

Woman is inferior to man. So, at least,
proclaims Strindberg of Sweden in an ar
tioo in The Revue Blanche which has at.
tractod much attention in Paris. Ho does
not arrive at this conclusion by an exclu-
sive analysis Of womau's mental qualities.
To great extent he relies upon her struc-
tural and anatomical weaknesses.
To begin with, her blood is not to be
compared with mans. for it resembles
that of the child and III the embryo Her
spine, too, approaches theirs in formation,
boing longer and affording moro evidence
of that caudal appendago which is sup
posed Co have been distinguishing fea-
turc OF the hairy ancestor of the human
race. Woman's skull is closely akin to
that of the child and the negro, and the
gray matter of the brain is not SO dense in
the female as in the male. On the other
hand, her nerves arc much stronger
whence the capacity for supporting phys
ical pain with comparative stoicism. ca
pacity which she shares with tho savage,
whose nervous system Is somewhat SINH
lar.
Strindberg remarks that there are many
points of resemblance between the female
character and that Of the negro Sensu-
BUSINESS tendency to servile imitation,
lack Of initiative, fear of solitude and,
lastly, an immoderate love of dance and
movement-all these are characteristics of
women, as they are of savagos and, with
the exception of the first, of children.
The so called higher qualities of woman
do not bear very searching analysis. Her
impressionability, OF which we hear much,
is merely that OF the child; her historical
and passionate outbursts when thwarted
are the true equivalents of n child S scream
and kicks when it is refused something it
wants. Rarely does a woman possess tho
power Of keeping her attention fixed on
one subject for any considerable time;
hence it is seldom that she entirely mas
tiers anything. OF sequence Of ideas in
woman's mind there is little-doubtless
the cause of her perpetual unpunetuality
and inability to organize her occupations
so as not to do two things at the same
time. According to Strindberg, no wom-
an can make good cup of coffee. 1t is an
impossibility, requiring as it does atten-
ton, exactitude and a nice sense of time
Crime even demonstrates feminine in
feriority, for there is generally no refiec-
ton or calculation of the probability of
discovery in crimes committed by women.
On this point it has often been said that
morally men must be inferior, as statis-
tics show larger percentage of male
criminals. Statistics can DO twisted to
any purpose. They only refer to cases of
crime which are brought to light. Num-
berless are tho occasions when man, full
of pity and chivalrous feeling for tho
''sick child" as Strindborg terms woman,
refrains from prosecuting the female Of
fender, and there are many cases where
he shields her. Finally Strindberg, after
expressing his absolute disbelief in tho
great queens of history such as Elizabeth
of England, goes on to reaffirm that wom-
all is merely the complement of man. AS
his alter ego she may DO invaluable, but
alone she is useless.