The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-09-17
WHY WOMEN FEAR A MOUSE.
Why is a woman afraid Of q mouse? {?

Why is woman afraid of mouse?
This interesting psychological prob
lem has recently attracted the atten-
tion of the Washington scientists. 1t
has been gravely discussed at the
Cosmos Club, which is social gath
eripg place of learned men, and va
rious weighty opinions have been Of
fered on the subject. AS yet no sat
isfactory solution of the problem has
been found, but many noteworthy
suggestions have been put forward.
Prof. w. j. McGee, of the bureau
of ethnology, has put on record an
opinion to the effect that the woman
fear of mouse goes back to primeval
times-that it is an inheritance from
the monkey woman Of an ancient
epoch. The monkeywoman had
great dread Of mice, which she has
handed down to descendants Of her
own sex now surviving OF The earth.
These descendants, the women of to-
day, do not know why they are afraid
of the little rodents. 1t is an instinct
evidently derived from a remote an
tiGuity
'The instinct goes back to our proto-
human ancestors" says Prof. McGee,
land we may take it for granted that
woman's remote monkey-liko progeni-
trix was afraid Of mice. Unquestion-
ably the earliest human beings, prop
erly so-called, lived in trees and fed
upon fruits. They did not seek to
kill animals, but tried to get away
from them. The mouse, which ate
their stored provisions, was the one
particular animal from which they
could not escape.
EARLY human beings were afraid Of
animals, and that ancient fear sur
wives in woman to-day, being concen-
trated upon the mouse"
One difficulty in this inquiry lies in
the circumstance that no woman seems
to be able to account for her dread of
mouse. Some women, it is true,
have no such fear, but there is no
question that it does aftlict the great
majority Of the sex, and none Of those
who feel it can tell the reason why.
When pushed on the point they usu-
ally say: "Well, because!'' Occa-
sionally they suggest feebly that the
rodent might bite, but this is mere
pretense. No woman is able to cite
case where anybody was bitten by
mouse.
The opinion rendered by DR.. D. E.
Salmon, chief Of the United States
bureau Of animal industry, is as fol-
lows:
primitive human beings lived in
caves. Caves are usually infested by
swarms Of mice. 1t is easy to realize
that the women Of the oaverns must
have suffered great annoyance from
these little animals, which soampered
over them in the night, while they
we're sleeping with nothing but leaves
or the skins Of beasts to cover them.
Thus. at length, they became very
nervous on the subject, and this ner-
vousness came to be hereditary in
their SEX"
Some of the scientific opinions point
to the conclusion that women arc not
30 much afraid Of being bitten by
mouse as that the animal may get en-
tangled in their clothes. Says Prof.
Otis T. Mason, of the Smithsonian In
stitution:
"It is all a matter of clothing. If
man was dressed like woman he
would be just as much afraid of
mouse as she is. AS matter Of fact,
men are afraid of good many things
more than women are. For example,
man fears a dead body much more
than woman does
Prof. Mason's view is endorsed by
DR.. Leonard Stejneger, of the Ma
tional Museum, who is the greatest