society, would not be supported by their fellows, would soon be
extinguished by want. As wild beasts were extinguished and others tamed
and the materials for war improved, fewer men would be needed for hunting
and war; then they would remain at home and aid in building and planting;
many women would retire into the house to perfect domestic toil and
handicrafts, and on a small scale the common ancient evolution of society
would probably practically repeat itself. But for the present, we see no
such natural and spontaneous division of labour based on natural sexual
distinctions in the new fields of intellectual or delicately skilled manual
labour, which are taking the place of the old.

It is possible, though at present there is nothing to give indication of
such a fact, and it seems highly improbable, that, in some subtle manner
now incomprehensible, there might tend to be a subtle correlation between
that condition of the brain and nervous system which accompanies ability in
the direction of certain modern forms of mental, social labour, and the
particular form of reproductive function possessed by an individual. It
may be that, inexplicable as it seems, there may ultimately be found to be
some connection between that condition of the brain and nervous system
which fits the individual for the study of the higher mathematics, let us
say, and the nature of their sex attributes. The mere fact that, of the
handful of women who, up to the present, have received training and been
allowed to devote themselves to abstract study, several have excelled in
the higher mathematics, proves of necessity no pre-eminent tendency on the
part of the female sex in the direction of mathematics, as compared to
labour in the fields of statesmanship, administration, or law; as into
these fields there has been practically no admittance for women. It is
sometimes stated, that as several women of genius in modern times have
sought to find expression for their creative powers in the art of fiction,
there must be some inherent connection in the human brain between the