Darwin and Huxley seem to make woman simply a lesser man, weaker in body
and mind,--an affectionate and docile animal, of inferior grade. That
there is any aim in the distinction of the sexes, beyond the perpetuation
of the race, is nowhere recognized by them, so far as I know. That there is
anything in the intellectual sphere to correspond to the physical
difference; that here also the sexes are equal yet diverse, and each the
natural completion and complement of the other,--this neither Huxley nor
Darwin explicitly recognizes. And with the utmost admiration for their
great teachings in other ways, I must think that here they are open to the
suspicion of narrowness.

Huxley wrote in "The Reader," in 1864, a short paper called "Emancipation--
Black and White," in which, while taking generous ground in behalf of the
legal and political position of woman, he yet does it pityingly, _de haut
en bas_, as for a creature hopelessly inferior, and so heavily weighted
already by her sex that she should be spared all further trials. Speaking
through an imaginary critic, who seems to represent himself, he denies
"even the natural equality of the sexes," and declares "that in every
excellent character, whether mental or physical, the average woman is
inferior to the average man, in the sense of having that character less in
quantity and lower in quality." Finally he goes so far as "to defend the
startling paradox that even in physical beauty man is the superior." He
admits that for a brief period of early youth the case may be doubtful, but
claims that after thirty the superior beauty of man is unquestionable. Thus
reasons Huxley; the whole essay being included in his volume of "Lay
Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews." [1]

Darwin's best statements on the subject may be found in his "Descent of
Man."[2] He is, as usual, more moderate and guarded than Huxley. He says,