The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-04-18
SEX SENSITIVENESS.

A professor at the University Of
California, not to be outdone in the
smashing of popular ideas by the
Chicago University professors, has re-
ported, as the result of thousands of
experiments, that men are more SEN
sitive than women; that they respond
to more delicate impressions and feel
pain more keenly. The superior for
titude of woman has always been re-
garded as one of her greatest claims
to admiration. In the chair OF the
dentist she has endured in silence tie
operations under which man howls
and kicks and struggles to escape.
Some years ago Professor Lombroso,
the Italian iconoclast, affirmed that
woman bears pain better thrn man on
ly because she feels it less. The prin-
cipal of the Chicago Hhigh School in
which there were five hundred boys
and girls added his testimony to that
of the Italian, saying that in the labo-
rafory most of the broken test tubes
could be traced to the girls; that in
all delicate manipulations the boys
showed finer sense of touch. He ex-
pressed the opinion that if boys should
be trained to the use of the needle
they would do neater work than is
done by women.
All this has been denied; but so tar
the proofs seem to be on the side OF
the masculine party. A Chambers
burg young woman appears to be will
ing to concede some Of the assertions
which have been made by Professor
Stratton-especially the statement
that men are keener of vison and hear
ing than women. In letter to the
"Record" she asks: "If men be real
ly keener as to sight and hearing than
women, is it not because they are
nearer to the savages? 2 She points
to the we'll known fact that Indians
can beat the white man at seeing and
hearing Also she notes that men are
more liable than women to defects Ct
vision, although that has nothing to do
with the question as to which has the
finer organization. MANY men are
color blind,' she says, "and few or no
women are so afflicted
1t is hardly fair to make positive
affirmations on the basis OF men and
women as they are found by those
who make the investigations. Social
conditions determine how far the deli
cacy of the special senses may be de-
veloped, and hitherto it has been al
most exclusively the male who has
had the burden of supporting the fam
lily, and who has had an incentive to
develop his skill in many directions.
When, however, it becomes necessary
for woman to apply herself directly
and persistently to the training of
seuse she shows herself to be at least
as capable as is the man of achieving
refinement. In the two conspicuous
cases in which the sense Of touch has
been extremely developed the subjects
have been women. Laura Brakeman
and Helen Keller have established a
standard of sense education which no
man has reached. With only the
sense of touch to rely on Miss Keller,
like Laura Bridgeman, has acquired
an education which is possessed by few
women who have all their senses in
tact. 1t is because most women have
no incentive to become skilled in the
manipulation of instruments and be-
cause they escape much of the ner-
vous wear and tear which keeps mems
nerves tense that they are less respon-
sive to impressions.-P Philadelphia Re.
cord.