Miss G---- worked her way through New-England primary, grammar, andhigh schools to a Western college, which she entered with credit toherself, and from which she graduated, confessedly its first scholar,leading the male and female youth alike. All that need be told of hercareer is that she worked as a student, continuously andperseveringly, through the years of her first critical epoch, and fora few years after it, without any sort of regard to the periodicaltype of her organization. It never appeared that she studied excessively in other respects, or that her system was weakened whilein college by fevers or other sickness. Not a great while aftergraduation, she began to show signs of failure, and some years laterdied under the writer's care. A post-mortem examination was made,which disclosed no disease in any part of the body, except in thebrain, where the microscope revealed commencing degeneration.
This was called an instance of death from over-work. Like thepreceding case, it was not so much the result of over-work as ofun-physiological work. She was unable to make a good brain, that couldstand the wear and tear of life, and a good reproductive system thatshould serve the race, at the same time that she was continuouslyspending her force in intellectual labor. Nature asked for aperiodical remission, and did not get it. And so Miss G---- died, notbecause she had mastered the wasps of Aristophanes and the MécaniqueCéleste, not because she had made the acquaintance of Kant andKölliker, and ventured to explore the anatomy of flowers and thesecrets of chemistry, but because, while pursuing these studies, whiledoing all this work, she steadily ignored her woman's make. Believingthat woman can do what man can, for she held that faith, she strovewith noble but ignorant bravery to compass man's intellectualattainment in a man's way, and died in the effort. If she had aimed atthe same goal, disregarding masculine and following feminine methods,she would be alive now, a grand example of female culture, attainment,and power.
These seven clinical observations are sufficient to illustrate thefact that our modern methods of education do not give the femaleorganization a fair chance, but that they check development, andinvite weakness. It would be easy to multiply such observations, fromthe writer's own notes alone, and, by doing so, to swell this essayinto a portly volume; but the reader is spared the needlessinfliction. Other observers have noticed similar facts, and haveurgently called attention to them.
Dr. Fisher, in a recent excellent monograph on insanity, says, "A fewexamples of injury from _continued_ study will show how mental strainaffects the health of young girls particularly. Every physician could,no doubt, furnish many similar ones."
"Miss A---- graduated with honor at the normal school after severalyears of close study, much of the time out of school; never attendedballs or parties; sank into a low state of health at once withdepression. Was very absurdly allowed to marry while in this state,and soon after became violently insane, and is likely to remain so."
"Miss A---- graduated at the grammar school, not only first, but_perfect_, and at once entered the normal school; was very ambitiousto sustain her reputation, and studied hard out of school; was slow tolearn, but had a retentive memory; could seldom be induced to go toparties, and, when she did go, studied while dressing, and on the way;was assigned extra tasks at school, because she performed them sowell; was a _fine healthy girl in appearance_, but broke downpermanently at end of second year, and is now a victim of hysteria anddepression."
"Miss C----, of a nervous organization, and quick to learn; her healthsuffered in normal school, so that her physician predicted insanity ifher studies were not discontinued. She persevered, however, and is nowan inmate of a hospital, with hysteria and depression."
"A certain proportion of girls are predisposed to mental or nervousderangement. The same girls are apt to be quick, brilliant, ambitious,and persistent at study, and need not stimulation, but repression. Forthe sake of a temporary reputation for scholarship, they risk theirhealth at the _most susceptible period_ of their lives, and break down_after the excitement of school-life has passed away_. For _sexualreasons_ they cannot compete with boys, whose out-door habits stillfurther increase the difference in their favor. If it was a questionof school-teachers instead of school-girls, the list would be long ofyoung women whose health of mind has become bankrupt by a_continuation_ of the mental strain commenced at school. Any method ofrelief in our school-system to these over-susceptible minds should bewelcomed, even at the cost of the intellectual supremacy of woman inthe next generation."[17]
The fact which Dr. Fisher alludes to, that many girls break down notduring but _after_ the excitement of school or college life, is animportant one, and is apt to be overlooked. The process by which thedevelopment of the reproductive system is arrested, or degeneration ofbrain and nerve-tissue set a going, is an insidious one. At itsbeginning, and for a long time after it is well on in its progress, itwould not be recognized by the superficial observer. A class of girlsmight, and often do, graduate from our schools, higher seminaries,and colleges, that appear to be well and strong at the time of theirgraduation, but whose development has already been checked, and whosehealth is on the verge of giving way. Their teachers have knownnothing of the amenorrhoea, menorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea, or leucorrhoeawhich the pupils have sedulously concealed and disregarded; and thecunning devices of dress have covered up all external evidences ofdefect; and so, on graduation day, they are pointed out by theirinstructors to admiring committees as rosy specimens of both physicaland intellectual education. A closer inspection by competent expertswould reveal the secret weakness which the labor of life that they areabout to enter upon too late discloses.
The testimony of Dr. Anstie of London, as to the gravity of the evilsincurred by the sort of erroneous education we are considering, isdecided and valuable. He says, "For, be it remembered, the epoch ofsexual development is one in which an enormous addition is being madeto the expenditure of vital energy; besides the continuous processesof growth of the tissues and organs generally, the sexual apparatus,with its nervous supply, is making _by its development heavy demands_upon the nutritive powers of the organism; and it is scarcely possiblebut that portions of the nervous centres, not directly connected withit, should proportionally suffer in their nutrition, probably throughdefective blood supply. When we add to this the abnormal strain thatis being put on the brain, in many cases, by a forcing plan of mentaleducation, we shall perceive a source not merely of exhaustiveexpenditure of nervous power, but of secondary irritation of centreslike the medulla oblongata that are probably already somewhat loweredin power of vital resistance, and proportionably _irritable_."[18] Alittle farther on, Dr. Anstie adds, "But I confess, that, with me, theresult of close attention given to the pathology of neuralgia has beenthe ever-growing conviction, that, next to the influence of neuroticinheritance, there is no such frequently powerful factor in theconstruction of the neuralgic habit as mental warp of a certain kind,the product of an unwise education." In another place, speaking of theliability of the brain to suffer from an unwise education, andreferring to the sexual development that we are discussing in thesepages, he makes the following statement, which no intelligentphysician will deny, and which it would be well for all teachers whocare for the best education of the girls intrusted to their charge toponder seriously. "I would also go farther, and express the opinion,that peripheral influences of an extremely powerful and _continuous_kind, where they concur with one of those critical periods of life atwhich the central nervous system is relatively weak and unstable, canoccasionally set going a non-inflammatory centric atrophy, which maylocalize itself in those nerves upon whose centres the morbificperipheral influence is perpetually pouring in. Even such influencesas the psychical and emotional, be it remembered, must be consideredperipheral."[19] The brain of Miss G----, whose case was related a fewpages back, is a clinical illustration of the accuracy of thisopinion.
Dr. Weir Mitchell, one of our most eminent American physiologists, hasrecently borne most emphatic testimony to the evils we have pointedout: "Worst of all," he says, "to my mind, most destructive in everyway, is the American view of female education. The time taken for themore serious instruction of girls extends to the age of eighteen, andrarely over this. During these years, they are undergoing such organicdevelopment as renders them remarkably sensitive." ... "To show moreprecisely how the growing girl is injured by the causes justmentioned" (forced and continued study at the sexual epoch) "wouldcarry me upon subjects unfit for full discussion in these pages; butno thoughtful reader can be much at a loss as to my meaning." ..."To-day the American woman is, to speak plainly, physically unfit forher duties as woman, and is, perhaps, of all civilized females, theleast qualified to undertake those weightier tasks which tax soheavily the nervous system of man. She is not fairly up to what Natureasks from her as wife and mother. How will she sustain herself underthe pressure of those yet more exacting duties which now-a-days she iseager to share with the man?"[20]
In our schools it is the ambitious and conscientious girls, those whohave in them the stuff of which the noblest women are made, thatsuffer, not the romping or lazy sort; and thus our modern ways ofeducation provide for the "non-survival of the fittest." A speakertold an audience of women at Wesleyan Hall not long ago, that he onceattended the examination of a Western college, where a girl beat theboys in unravelling the intracacies of Juvenal. He did not report theconsumption of blood and wear of brain tissue that in her college wayof study correlated her Latin, or hint at the possibility of arresteddevelopment. Girls of bloodless skins and intellectual faces may beseen any day, by those who desire the spectacle, among the scholars ofour high and normal schools,--faces that crown, and skins that cover,curving spines, which should be straight, and neuralgic nerves thatshould know no pain. Later on, when marriage and maternity overtakethese girls, and they "live laborious days" in a sense not intended byMilton's line, they bend and break beneath the labor, like loadedgrain before a storm, and bear little fruit again. A training thatyields this result is neither fair to the girls nor to the race.
This was called an instance of death from over-work. Like thepreceding case, it was not so much the result of over-work as ofun-physiological work. She was unable to make a good brain, that couldstand the wear and tear of life, and a good reproductive system thatshould serve the race, at the same time that she was continuouslyspending her force in intellectual labor. Nature asked for aperiodical remission, and did not get it. And so Miss G---- died, notbecause she had mastered the wasps of Aristophanes and the MécaniqueCéleste, not because she had made the acquaintance of Kant andKölliker, and ventured to explore the anatomy of flowers and thesecrets of chemistry, but because, while pursuing these studies, whiledoing all this work, she steadily ignored her woman's make. Believingthat woman can do what man can, for she held that faith, she strovewith noble but ignorant bravery to compass man's intellectualattainment in a man's way, and died in the effort. If she had aimed atthe same goal, disregarding masculine and following feminine methods,she would be alive now, a grand example of female culture, attainment,and power.
These seven clinical observations are sufficient to illustrate thefact that our modern methods of education do not give the femaleorganization a fair chance, but that they check development, andinvite weakness. It would be easy to multiply such observations, fromthe writer's own notes alone, and, by doing so, to swell this essayinto a portly volume; but the reader is spared the needlessinfliction. Other observers have noticed similar facts, and haveurgently called attention to them.
Dr. Fisher, in a recent excellent monograph on insanity, says, "A fewexamples of injury from _continued_ study will show how mental strainaffects the health of young girls particularly. Every physician could,no doubt, furnish many similar ones."
"Miss A---- graduated with honor at the normal school after severalyears of close study, much of the time out of school; never attendedballs or parties; sank into a low state of health at once withdepression. Was very absurdly allowed to marry while in this state,and soon after became violently insane, and is likely to remain so."
"Miss A---- graduated at the grammar school, not only first, but_perfect_, and at once entered the normal school; was very ambitiousto sustain her reputation, and studied hard out of school; was slow tolearn, but had a retentive memory; could seldom be induced to go toparties, and, when she did go, studied while dressing, and on the way;was assigned extra tasks at school, because she performed them sowell; was a _fine healthy girl in appearance_, but broke downpermanently at end of second year, and is now a victim of hysteria anddepression."
"Miss C----, of a nervous organization, and quick to learn; her healthsuffered in normal school, so that her physician predicted insanity ifher studies were not discontinued. She persevered, however, and is nowan inmate of a hospital, with hysteria and depression."
"A certain proportion of girls are predisposed to mental or nervousderangement. The same girls are apt to be quick, brilliant, ambitious,and persistent at study, and need not stimulation, but repression. Forthe sake of a temporary reputation for scholarship, they risk theirhealth at the _most susceptible period_ of their lives, and break down_after the excitement of school-life has passed away_. For _sexualreasons_ they cannot compete with boys, whose out-door habits stillfurther increase the difference in their favor. If it was a questionof school-teachers instead of school-girls, the list would be long ofyoung women whose health of mind has become bankrupt by a_continuation_ of the mental strain commenced at school. Any method ofrelief in our school-system to these over-susceptible minds should bewelcomed, even at the cost of the intellectual supremacy of woman inthe next generation."[17]
The fact which Dr. Fisher alludes to, that many girls break down notduring but _after_ the excitement of school or college life, is animportant one, and is apt to be overlooked. The process by which thedevelopment of the reproductive system is arrested, or degeneration ofbrain and nerve-tissue set a going, is an insidious one. At itsbeginning, and for a long time after it is well on in its progress, itwould not be recognized by the superficial observer. A class of girlsmight, and often do, graduate from our schools, higher seminaries,and colleges, that appear to be well and strong at the time of theirgraduation, but whose development has already been checked, and whosehealth is on the verge of giving way. Their teachers have knownnothing of the amenorrhoea, menorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea, or leucorrhoeawhich the pupils have sedulously concealed and disregarded; and thecunning devices of dress have covered up all external evidences ofdefect; and so, on graduation day, they are pointed out by theirinstructors to admiring committees as rosy specimens of both physicaland intellectual education. A closer inspection by competent expertswould reveal the secret weakness which the labor of life that they areabout to enter upon too late discloses.
The testimony of Dr. Anstie of London, as to the gravity of the evilsincurred by the sort of erroneous education we are considering, isdecided and valuable. He says, "For, be it remembered, the epoch ofsexual development is one in which an enormous addition is being madeto the expenditure of vital energy; besides the continuous processesof growth of the tissues and organs generally, the sexual apparatus,with its nervous supply, is making _by its development heavy demands_upon the nutritive powers of the organism; and it is scarcely possiblebut that portions of the nervous centres, not directly connected withit, should proportionally suffer in their nutrition, probably throughdefective blood supply. When we add to this the abnormal strain thatis being put on the brain, in many cases, by a forcing plan of mentaleducation, we shall perceive a source not merely of exhaustiveexpenditure of nervous power, but of secondary irritation of centreslike the medulla oblongata that are probably already somewhat loweredin power of vital resistance, and proportionably _irritable_."[18] Alittle farther on, Dr. Anstie adds, "But I confess, that, with me, theresult of close attention given to the pathology of neuralgia has beenthe ever-growing conviction, that, next to the influence of neuroticinheritance, there is no such frequently powerful factor in theconstruction of the neuralgic habit as mental warp of a certain kind,the product of an unwise education." In another place, speaking of theliability of the brain to suffer from an unwise education, andreferring to the sexual development that we are discussing in thesepages, he makes the following statement, which no intelligentphysician will deny, and which it would be well for all teachers whocare for the best education of the girls intrusted to their charge toponder seriously. "I would also go farther, and express the opinion,that peripheral influences of an extremely powerful and _continuous_kind, where they concur with one of those critical periods of life atwhich the central nervous system is relatively weak and unstable, canoccasionally set going a non-inflammatory centric atrophy, which maylocalize itself in those nerves upon whose centres the morbificperipheral influence is perpetually pouring in. Even such influencesas the psychical and emotional, be it remembered, must be consideredperipheral."[19] The brain of Miss G----, whose case was related a fewpages back, is a clinical illustration of the accuracy of thisopinion.
Dr. Weir Mitchell, one of our most eminent American physiologists, hasrecently borne most emphatic testimony to the evils we have pointedout: "Worst of all," he says, "to my mind, most destructive in everyway, is the American view of female education. The time taken for themore serious instruction of girls extends to the age of eighteen, andrarely over this. During these years, they are undergoing such organicdevelopment as renders them remarkably sensitive." ... "To show moreprecisely how the growing girl is injured by the causes justmentioned" (forced and continued study at the sexual epoch) "wouldcarry me upon subjects unfit for full discussion in these pages; butno thoughtful reader can be much at a loss as to my meaning." ..."To-day the American woman is, to speak plainly, physically unfit forher duties as woman, and is, perhaps, of all civilized females, theleast qualified to undertake those weightier tasks which tax soheavily the nervous system of man. She is not fairly up to what Natureasks from her as wife and mother. How will she sustain herself underthe pressure of those yet more exacting duties which now-a-days she iseager to share with the man?"[20]
In our schools it is the ambitious and conscientious girls, those whohave in them the stuff of which the noblest women are made, thatsuffer, not the romping or lazy sort; and thus our modern ways ofeducation provide for the "non-survival of the fittest." A speakertold an audience of women at Wesleyan Hall not long ago, that he onceattended the examination of a Western college, where a girl beat theboys in unravelling the intracacies of Juvenal. He did not report theconsumption of blood and wear of brain tissue that in her college wayof study correlated her Latin, or hint at the possibility of arresteddevelopment. Girls of bloodless skins and intellectual faces may beseen any day, by those who desire the spectacle, among the scholars ofour high and normal schools,--faces that crown, and skins that cover,curving spines, which should be straight, and neuralgic nerves thatshould know no pain. Later on, when marriage and maternity overtakethese girls, and they "live laborious days" in a sense not intended byMilton's line, they bend and break beneath the labor, like loadedgrain before a storm, and bear little fruit again. A training thatyields this result is neither fair to the girls nor to the race.
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