The Saint Paul globe., 1905-01-08
WHY WOMEN CANNOT
USUALLY HIT A NAIL
Because They Have a Lack OF
Tool Sense Says
Prof. Mason

Prof. Mason
WASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. 7-Scf-
ence has found out why it is that wona-
en- are not able to do some things ajust
like man." 1t is because they lack
the tool sense They cannot pull
cork or hammer a nail for the reason
that nature has withheld from them a
special faculty.
1t is Prof. o. T. Mason, anthropolo-
gist Of the National museum, who thus
authoritatively declares. He says:
1t is simply because she lacks the
TOOL sense that a woman cannot sharp
en- a lead pencil. She does not know
how to use knife, and is always more
or less fraid of the instrument, pre-
ferring on every possible occasion to
employ some other means, such ais
pair OF scissors, for cutting. Of a razor,
because of its extreme sharpness, she
has a great dread-so great, indeed,
that she cannot be induced to handle
one.
Il have seen a woman take new
lead pencil and sharpen it away until
nothing was left of it, in a vain effort
to get a point on it. By reason of the
same ineapacity, she cannot whittle a
stick. Never in your life, I will ven
ture to say, have you seen a woman
whiting. 1t is only when compelled
to do so that she will use a knife for
any purpose, and / know of but one
way in which she employs such an
instrument expertIy. She can cut bread
much better than a man can
"A woman will never hammer a nail
II she can get a man to do it for her,
Her lack of skill in such performance
has passed into proverb. Here again
want OF the faculty to which I have
given the name Of tool sense is ac-
countable. The same remark applies to
pulling a cork out of bottle.
A woman can pull a cork, but she does
1T awkwardiy. 1t is not the pulling
that puzzles, her, however, but the
problem of inserting the corkscrew
IF woman finds trouble in hitting
nail squarely on the head, she is,
equally incapable where the use of a
boring instrument such as a corkscrew
is concerned. To her, therefore ftffe
modern automatic kind of a corkscrew
is decidedly boon. 1t is a pity that
somebody does not invent, for her bene-
ut, an automatic knife and fork for
carving; for the management Of carv-
ing kn1fe is to her hopeless puzzle.
once in long while one sees woman
carve well, but it is a rare accomplish
ment among members of the gentler
sex.
Some women, for that matter, can
sharpen pencil or hammer a nail -cley-
eriy, out they are very exceptional per-
sons. The professional whistler in pet
tlcoats is not unknown, yet it is unde-
faxxy III =
whistle at all. once saw young girl.
throw stones with remarkable accu-
facy, but she was a freak. OF course,
Sfle could not throw very far, because
no woman is built, anatomically speak
Ing, for throwing. Her arm is not put
on at the shoulder in quite the same
way as mans, and the muscular ar
rangement is somewhat different.
Why She Cannot Throw
If you will watch a man throwing
you will see that the arm is used some
what in the manner of a whip lash,
discharging the projectile with a Wig
orous snap. A woman, on the other
hand, uses sort Of overland heaving
motion, which is relatively weak. With
such movement it is very difficult to
give accurate aim to the missile But,
of course, it has never been necessary
for the female Of our species to throw,
lnasmuch as she is not the weapon
carrying animal, and it has not been
her business to engage in war or. the
chase.
My own theory is that the power to
whistle was developed by the male hui
man being chiefly for use as signal in
hunting, which to primitive man was
the most important means of liyeli-
hood. Hunters have always called
their dogs by whistling. Also, whist
ling often had part in primitive re-
ligious ceremonies. OF late years
their own, and, through this circum-
stance, many of them are learning to
whistle somewhat. -.
81 spoke at the beginning of some
things which women cannot do through
lack of a natural faculty. Other in
capacities of theirs are anatomical,
such as throwing stone, running and
jumping. Women are not built for
running and jumping; they are too
big in the hips, and otherwise are not
adapted structuraily for such violent
exercises. A woman who walks like
goddess will run like hen. When it
comes to climbing, she can do that
just about as well as a man, if she dis
penses with her skirts. The embar-
rassment of her dress does more than
most people realize to prevent wonl-
an from doing certain things just like
man.
Mature, apparently, did not intend
that woman should be very active
and strenuous creature. 1t is her bust
ness to make the home and look after
the children. Hence it is not surpris-
ing to find that she lacks certain ca
pacities which are highly developed in
the man. Some others she has not,
chiefly because she has never had oc-
casion to cultivate them.
Mot only she herself, but her grand
mothers, running back to ages prime
val, have not employed to any great
extent, for example, what have called
the tool sense, which has, therefore,,
remained hardly more than rudimen-
tary. 1t is, in such cases, matter
rather Of inheritance than of lack Of
original capacity in the sex
The Valuable Oyster
Interesting experiments made in the
Lancet laboratory show the great di-
gestibility of the oyster. When the
.ovcfpr was f,r51S3,ntj and r,Ia ccr5 IN ooId