Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-11
RIVALRY OF THE SEXES
SISTERS BEARING DOWN BROTH
ERs IN RACE OF LIFE.
English Physician Thinks Women
viii Eventually Compete With Men
in All Professions. ;.


and prove their ability in their general COM
acting as president In the department Of
lunacy. connected with the International
Medico-Legal congress, then being held in
consideration and respect with which wo-
men were welcomed in every profession In
which they desired to practice. The re-
cent decision given by the lord chancellor
and other judges learned in the law, which
prohibits for the time being the admission
OF a lady within the sacred precincts of
one of the learned inns, might have been
anticipated.
If fifty years ago lady had presented
herself before learned professors in medi-
cine of equal eminence to those legal lum-
inaries and asked to be admitted to the
practice of their profession, she would have
received like refusal Things, however,
have changed since that time, and the lady
doctor, in spite of what has recently taken
place, is continuing to make sure and
steady progress In the faithful performance
Of her duty.
That this prOhibitory opinion respecting
the legal profession is only of a temporary
nature there can be no possible doubt. But
at present widespread popular belief exists
that for psychological reasons woman's
work. outside of her manual duties, must
be inferior to mans.
Mans Equal.
In my opinion there is no scientific ground
for this belief. While. of course, 1t is true
that many forms Of manual labor are too
severe for women. 1 hold that in any field
of work where her strength will permit her
to compete with men she can do as well as
he can; while her general organizat ton will
htndranra c11nn ND
tnued exertions. The clerical profession Is
still closed to women not only In England
but In every part of the world except Amer
lea, where l had the pleasure of hearing
a lady divine give most eloquent address.
Women at the present moment compete
with men in every occupation and profess
sion except divinity and law. There are
lady secretaries. and on the continent we
even see the duties of railway porters and
luggage carriers performed by women 1t
is a strange thing for an Englshman on
landing at foreign port to see the strong
masculine women come on board and Shout
der the luggage
Now, whatever may be said of the "rights
Of women" 1t is obvious that in Christian
and civilized nations a certain mission ex-
lsts-that of marriage. In England the pro-
portion OF women who are married during
the year Is one in every seventeen Of the
population. or. taking the census existing
there are more than two millions unmar-
r1ed. We see. therefore that these two
millions are cut off from the great end Of
-helr existence. Their lot is indeed very vari-
Gus, but the greater portion must neces-
sarily have to labor for their very bread in
one way or the other
Equality Of Responsibility.
Here is great problem to solve The
order of nature seems to be that as mater
nal cares and household duties should oc-
cupy the women exclusively, on the susten-
ance and protection of her children should
also deyolve upon the man. The order of So
cfety deprives millions of women of mate
a protector and a breadwinner We must
naturally ask ourselves under the circum-
stances: How does she fare? The inquirer
need not look far ahead for a response to
this question, especially if he be a dweller
In populous city. Everywhere she is seen
eagerly and successfully competing with
man for means of living, but until lately,
with an instructive selfishness, man has
sadly limited the sphere of her labor.
Many women who are content with cell
bacy often perform great work in relig-
cus duties. This takes the place of mater
nal cares and motherly instinct In these
cases an admirable character is produced
Self-denial and humility, an expansive ever
active charity, candor and amiability an
goodness of heart. a love of
social and domestic pleasures are a few of
the qualities of these women who have
failed to fulfill the great physical end of
their existence, but have sufficient head and
heart to see that they, have other moral
duties to perform. The most beautiful and
perfect woman physically should be the
most excellent and perfect mentally and
when the two excellences fail to combine in
the same person the failure arises from
some morbid reaction of the organs of the
body on the nervous system or from some
bias in the formative effort of the indi-
vidual.
Woman a Problem,
1t is in this respect. indeed-the psyche
logical imperfections to their relation to
bodily order and defect-that woman pre-
sents the most interesting problems for in
CURRY and solution; and 1t is only by wide
and comprehensive inquiry in the two d.
rections indicated that anything like salts
factory understanding of the problems can
be acquired or the problems themselves ade-
quately solved. In experiments made with
l 600 brains 1t has been illustrated that, TAX
Ing the average in weight, the female brain
weighs five ounces less than that of the
male, but this is not to be wondered at TAX
ing into consideration the difference in sta
ture between man and a woman, which in
the number of cases have mentioned may
be taken as an average of five inches.
The quantity of brain has nothing to do
with the quality, the Smallest brain often
possessing the greater amount of intelli-
gence. Some authorities have stated that
some parts Of the brain are more developed
In males than in females, and that the
blood circulating through their brain is less
pure than that going through the male. The
female brain contains 1900, 600 corpuscles
to the cubic millimeter. whereas the male
has 100000.
Woman at the present moment is becom-
Ing formidable rival to man, her progress
though In certain directions impeded, as
for Instance, by the last decision of the
judges, is only delayed momentarily One
OF the arguments which have been raised
as to the unfitness of women for the vari-
Gus professions as opposed to man is their
peculiar organization. Woman was orig
inally created and formed to take her own
part in the world. that being the intention
of her Maker. / cannot believe that they
should have been so made as to be quail
ned or handicapped In their struggle for ex-
istence. / think, when the history Of the
present century comes to be written, we
shall lind that the education of women
combined with their wonted ability In learn
Ing. has been conspicuous as proving that
they are capable of entering into any work
not OF manual nature and of competing
with those of the opposite sex.
Difficulty of Corean Language.
From the Boston Transcript