The evening star and Newark advertiser., 1907-11-23


author of 'The Natural Food of Man.
"How Nature Cures" Consumption and
Chronic Diseases" Funk 6 'Vagnalls COM
Apany, publishers, New York.
The class of books which the eminent
firm or company of Funk & Wagnalls ap-
pears preeminently fond of publishing Is
well exemplified by DR. Densmores latest
work 1t is an earnestly and rather opti-
mstically written review of what has been
achieved for and by woman, particularly
In most recent modernity. in the broad
field OF race-betterment as whole More,
It is forecast Of the future adjustment
of the business, social and sexual rela-
tions of women and men from the view
point OF that kind of scientific mind Whieh
regards life roundy or as complex phe-
nomenon in which emotion and sentiment
are as truly active elements or factors as
are the operations Of reason and 'fhe logic
OF practical events"
That DR.. Densmore thinks with his
heart as we'll as with his head, is happily
clear on many page, and that he thor
oughly appreciates the value of art ana
the cultivation of the imaginative faculty
is evident from the start. This IS indi-
Gated by his quotation on his title page
of the following passage from Darwin ?
Descent of Man, 'In order that woman
should reach the same standard as man
to energy and perseverance, and to nave
her reason and imagination exercised to
the highest point and then she would
probably transmit these qualities TO her
adult daughters" Even before this, on the
cover design and as frontispiece, the ex-
qusite ideal Greek figures of Orestes and
his equally developed sister Electra. give
pcturally the keynote of the book and
suggest the authors attitude to his theme
or the fourteen chapters into which this
book divides It is not easy to say which
is the most interesting by virtue of Its
matter and style. Most persons who read
1t will read some of its chapters more
than once, and while. perhaps, Inclined to
consider that DIR. Densmore's subtitle, "A
Solution of the Woman Problem claims
little too much, will feel distinctly in debt
TO him for the radiant array Of telling. pic
turesque facts he presents in support OF
his opinions, and above ALL it may be, for
the profound moral inspiration in which
the work abounds. In chapter 3, treat
ing chiefly of woman's development IN the
sphere of economics, the figures of tho last
census are analyzei In a mastery manner,
nnd the comparison OF different periods of
progress is the clearest we remember ever
to have seen.
"Women are engaged in all but nine of
the three hundred and three breadwinning
occupations of the country The profess
sion of teaching has been longest open
to women. and yet during the last ten
years, women have made more rapid prog
ress even in this field than at any
previous period. In our public
schools tall grades included) 72 per cent.
of the teachers are women. There are
over one thousand five hundred women
attending medical colleges. and within
twenty-four years women have almost
created the profession Of nursing. In 1906
were Eladuatcd about 5000 trained nurses,
of whom over 1000 were women During
the same year more than four hundred
women entered the field as clergymen,
lawyers. dentists and pharmacologists."
There is only small percentage DR..
Densmore admits. of women right now
y whose bodily as well as intellectual powers
are developed to such an extent as to en-
able them to compete successfully with
men in the more strenuous pursuits. But
inasmuch as the new spheres of activity
which women are entering every year in
increasing numbers tend to develop by
exercise those very faculties In which
women are now deficient. he holds that
physical and mental equality of the sexes
is an ultimate already scientifically IN
sight He argues. too, that this evou-
tion, per industriam. will not unfit the
future woman for matchood and ma
ternity but on the contrary must improve
her along the lines of all her functions.
In chapter 8. "Superficial Views If
Woman's Place" DIR. Densmore in quiet,
hut most effective way takes a fall" out
of Schopenhauer. Weininger and Heine-
mann. In this occurs the only blunder we
have been able to find in the book Quot
ing Heinemann on Weininger, page 1885, he
says "a fountain Of the purest wisdom"
OnNpage 1872, this Is r%quoted as "a foun-
tain of the ripest wisdom clearly an
error. ard a rather amazing one for
scholar to make, for who ever heard of
ripe fountain?
Chapter eulogizes by way of con-
trast to Schopenhauer. Welninger ct al,
that remarkable thinker, Mrs Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, whom we used to know
when she was Mrs. Stetson. and whose
humorous poem "Similar Cases." the thing
which first famed her. we had the good
fortune to bring to the heed of the world,
when editing The Nationalist Magazine
nineteen years ago.
Since then Mrs. Gilman has amply justi-
fed the belief we then had in her intel
iectual powers aud DR. Densmore has
rightly assigned to her in his picture gal
lery of brilliant women one of the high
est places. Picture gallery we say adj
visedly, for Sex Equality is embelished
Rachel Maria Theresa. Catharine H., Vic
torla, Jenny Lind, Mary Shelley, Mary
F. Woolstencraft Goodwin, George Eliot
7 George Sand, Florence Nightingale. Mrs
Gilman Angelica Kaufman. Marie Lee
brun. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen Mary
Somerville. Frances Burney, Amelia Opie.
Felicia Hemans, Elizabeth Barrett Brown
Ing Christina 6. Rosetti and Harriet Mar
tineau also Darwin and Spencer.
Some of these pictures are exceedingly
j curious. Madame de Stael for example,
seems to be quite beauty, although his
tory informs US that her face was her mis-
fortune We are bit surprised at not
seeing Julia Ward Howe, Mary Livermore,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and several others
( IN this collection, and at not finding their
I achievements dwelt upon by this author
Chapter Z. I'll which DR.. Densmore ex-
amines the theories of Charles Godfrey
Leland and Edward Carpenter as to an
alternate Sex, or an intermediate SEX is
possibly at once the most interesting and
disappointing part of this book. Here the
doctor seems to be little afraid of his
topic, and rather abruptly relegates the
musings of Mr. Leland, Mr.. Ulrich and MI,
Carpenter tc the realm of the pathology Of
the abnormal and the morbid. The book
ends with a mild epigram: "The more
man learns, the less need he feels TO criti-
cise and advise the government of the