Facts and Fictions of Life

I began an investigation into this matter a little while ago by questioning the arguments and logic of the medical pseudo-scientists from their own basis of facts. I ended by questioning the facts themselves, upon the evidence furnished me by leading members of the profession, some of whom are known in this country and abroad as leaders in original investigation as brain students and anatomists. None of these gentlemen knew the aim or motive of my inquiries, and they gave me all the information to be had on this subject without bias and quite freely. The specialists and brain students to whom my questions were submitted, were of widely different religious beliefs, which beliefs, of course, colored their theories as well as their motives, either consciously or unconsciously.

But the profession has reason to be proud of the ability of the most of these men, no less than of their sincerity and willingness to confess to ignorance of facts where proof was lacking. The abler the man the more willing was he to do this. One or two tried to explain, and, as it seemed to me, to force an agreement between scientific facts which they did possess, and their inherited belief in "revelation." Others, who did not themselves recognize it, performed the same mental gymnastics from mere force of habit, and gave a black eye to their facts in preserving a blind eye to their faith. But in the following results are to be found the opinions of eminent medical men, some of whom are Roman Catholic, some Protestant, and some of the negative systems of religion. So far as I know, not one is a believer in "Woman Suffrage," nor even in the more radical but less comprehensive measures for her development. Not one, who touched directly upon the subject, believed in sex equality in its entirety or had not personal prejudice and long-cherished sentiments opposed to it, if his reason approved. By some of them this was frankly stated, even while giving facts in her favor. Not more than one, so far as I know, is "agnostic" in religion or a believer in evolution in its entirety.

I have mentioned these latter points, because I found in this line of investigation, as in all others, that a man's religious leanings inevitably color and modify all of his opinions, and govern his entire mental outlook. They even add bitterness to his "jalop" and fizz in his "seltzer". If he absolutely believe in the "Garden of Eden" story he deals with "Adam" as a creature after "God's own heart and in his image," and therefore capable and deserving of all opportunity and development for and because of himself, and to promote his own happiness. "Eve," of course, receives due attention as a physical, anatomical specimen, "with intuitions" – a mere bone or rib of contention, as it were, between man and man. The more orthodox the man the bonier the rib. The more literal and consistent his faith the less likely is he to deal with woman as an intellectual being, capable of and entitled to the same or as liberal, mental, social, and financial opportunities or rights as are universally conceded in this country to be the birthright of man, and quite beyond farther controversy in his case. Evidence in her favor which cannot be evaded, must be overwhelming, indeed, then, if an investigator starts out handicapped with the theory of "revelation" as a part of his mental equipment, and with the "sphere of woman" formulated for him by the ancient Hebrews.

I went to the men whom the doctors themselves told me were the best authority to be found on the subject of brain anatomy and microscopy. One of these men, Dr. E. C. Spitzka, of New York, was referred to by physicians of all schools of practice as undoubtedly the best informed man in America, and second to none in the world, in this branch of the profession. They, one and all, told me that what he could not tell me himself on this subject, or could not tell me where to find, could not be of the slightest importance.

I have been asked to tell you just what I started out to learn, and how far I succeeded. But before I do this it may not be out of place to tell you an anecdote of my experience in this undertaking: I went personally with my questions to about twenty of the leading physicians of New York. [I had them submitted in other ways to many more in this and other cities. I got written communications from the Old World as well as the New.] Nearly every one of these twenty, after very kindly telling me what he himself knew and what he believed on the subject, referred me to the same man as the final appeal; but not one of them was willing to introduce me to him. They would introduce me to anybody and everybody else, but they did not like to risk sending me to him. He was, they said, utterly impatient of ignorance, and might treat me with scant courtesy. He would very likely tell me flatly that he could not waste time on so trivial a matter – that I and everybody else ought to know all about "sex in brain."

Now, this is a secret – I would not have it get out for a good deal. It took me a long while to get my courage up to go to that man without an introduction – a thing I did not do with any of the others. I finally, with fear and trembling, made up my mind to learn what he knew on this subject or perish in the attempt. So I took my life in my hands, put on my best gown – I had previously discovered that even brain anatomists are subject to the spell of good clothes – and went. I fully expected to be reduced to mere pulp before I left; but he listened quite patiently, asked me a few questions as to why I had come to him; told me to read him my questions; asked me sharply, "Who wrote those questions?" I said meekly, "I did." He looked at me critically, wrote something on a card, and dismissed me. I was uncertain whether, he had been so kind in his manner, because he considered me a harmless lunatic or not. Once in the street I read the card. I was to call again when he could give me more time.

I went not once, but many times. I devoted some months to brain anatomy and anthropology. In his laboratory he had brains from those of a mouse to those of the largest whale on record. He showed me the peculiarities of brains as shown by microscope and scales. He looked up points in foreign journals to which I had not access. In short, he did all he could to aid me; and he said that no such investigation as I was trying to learn about had ever yet been made, although no fair record of the difference of sex in brain, of which we hear so much, could possibly be made without it. He was delightfully frank, earnest, and thoroughly honest. He knew – and, what is better, he was willing to tell – where knowledge stopped and guessing began; a point sadly confused, I found, by even prominent members of the profession. "I do not know," was a hard sentence to get from a doctor so long as he was under the impression that others of his profession would know. "I do not know; nobody knows," came freely enough from the man who was sure of the boundaries of investigation, who recognized the vast difference between theories and proof. From him, and through him, I collected material that is of intense interest and importance to woman in this stage of the movement for her elevation.

It is only right that I say here that I am of opinion that he does not himself believe in the equality of the sexes, but he is too thoroughly scientific to allow his hereditary bias to color his statements of facts on this or any subject. In the hands of a man who has arrived at that point of mental poise and dignity, our case is safe, no matter what his sentiments may be. Such men do not go to their emotions for premises when it comes to a statement of scientific facts. There are writers on this subject who do.

As you all know, any statement calmly and persistently made is reasonably sure to be accepted as true, even by its victims. Frequency of iteration passes as proof. Even thoughtful men, after spending years of time in trying to explain why a thing is true, often end with the discovery that it is not true, after all. We are all familiar with the story of the wrangle of the philosophers as to why a vessel containing water weighed no more with a fish weighing a pound in it than it did after the fish was removed. After long and acrimonious debate over the principle of philosophy involved, some one bethought him to weigh it, and, of course, discovered that no unfamiliar principle was involved, since it was a simple misstatement as to facts.

The assumptions of "divine rights" by kings and priests stood as unquestioned facts for centuries by those who were the victims of both. The "divine right" of men rests still on the same bare-faced fraud, and is simply the last of this interesting trinity to die, and it naturally dies hard, as its fellows did. If a charlatan loudly asserts that he can do a certain thing, no matter how unlikely that thing is, if he insists that he has done it often, he will find many believers who will spend much time in an attempt to explain how he does it, while only the few will think to question first if he does it.

Upon this basis of calm assumption on the one side, and credulous acceptance on the other, has grown up a very general belief that there are great and well-defined natural anatomical differences between the brains of the sexes of the human race; that these differences are well known to the medical practitioner or anatomist, and that they plainly indicate inferiority of capacity in the female brain, which is structural, while, strangely enough, no one argues that this is the case in the lower animals. It therefore occurred to me to question – admitting that the microscope and scales really do show the differences to exist in adults – whether it would not be fair to assume, at least, that they are not natural and necessary sex differences, but that they are due to difference of opportunity and environment, and, under like conditions, would be produced between members of the same sex; that since this superiority of brain in the male sex is said to appear in the human race only, where alone, in all nature, superior opportunities and environments are held as a sex right and condition by the males, that the so-called "superiority of structure" is simply better development of the equally capable but restricted brain of the other sex.

I proposed to test this by an appeal to the brains of infants. And my assumption although not new, appeared to be borne out by the accepted, though unproven theory, that the brains of the men and women are nearer alike the lower we go into the human scale. This assumption is clearly based upon the idea that where the mental opportunities of the men and women are nearer equal the physical results are also similar. Indeed, Topinard plainly states this fact in his Anthropology. He says: "The reason that the brain of woman is lighter than that of man is that she has less cerebral activity to exercise in her sphere of duty. In former times it was relatively larger in the department of Lozère, because then the woman and man mutually shared the burdens of the daily labor. The truth is that the weight of the brain increases with the use we make of it." Since women are not given diversified and stimulating mental employment, they can not be expected to show the results of such training on the brain itself.

"Of the physiology of the brain comparatively little is known," says Dr. McDonald, author of "Criminology."

I was started on my work in this matter by several articles written by the boldest of the medical men in this country, who is the leader of the medical party which claims to be opposed to the educational and political advancement of women because of the inevitable injury to her physical constitution. The writings of such a man, aided by the circulation and prestige of the leading journals of the country, which publish them as authoritative, must inevitably influence school directors, voters, and legislators, and go far to crystalize the belief that facts are well known to the medical profession, with which it would be dangerous to trifle, when the truth is that the positive knowledge on the subject is not sufficient at this moment to form even an intelligent guess upon. In spite of this fact the well-known physician of whom I speak, Dr. Wm. A. Hammond, reiterates in these articles all of the old, and adds one or two new arguments to prove that woman should not be allowed to develop what brain she has, because she possesses very little and even that little is of inferior quality.

Professor Romanes, who is said by many to stand second only to Herbert Spencer in his branch of science, has also recently published a very extensive paper on mental differences of the sexes and the proper education of woman, which is, unfortunately, but most likely honestly, based upon this same assumption, under the belief that it was a demonstrated fact. His paper has been very widely copied in spite of its extreme length, and the fact that the same journals "absolutely can not find space" for even a moderately long one on the other side. The editors say, "The public is not interested in it" – that is, in its correction. I mention these two men not because they are peculiar in, but because they are honored representatives of, the so-called scientific school of objectors to human equality, and claim to base the right of male supremacy upon important scientific facts.

Of course all this is an old assumption and as such has been dealt with before. But Dr. Hammond now boldly asserts that these differences are easily discoverable by microscope and scale, and that they are natural, necessary sex differences. He claims: (1.) That woman's brain is inferior to man's in size and quality, and, therefore, in possibility. (2.) That these marks of inferiority are natural and potential, and not produced by environment. (3.) That they are easily recognizable in the brain mass itself. (4.) That in consequence of these natural organic and fundamental differences the female brain is incapable of, first, accuracy; second, sustained or abstract thought; third, unbiased judgment (judicial fairness); fourth, the accomplishment of any really first-class or original work in the fields of science, art, politics, invention, or even literature. He points out the great danger to woman herself, and to the race, as her children, if she is allowed to attempt those things for which the structure of her brain shows her to be incapacitated.

From this outlook it is easy to see that the nonprofessional voter, the school director, and the legislator might really feel it to be his duty to protect woman against her own ambition. It is in this way that the assertions of such men can, and do, cause the greatest injury to women. There are a number of other indictments; but for the present let us examine these. First, in the matter of size, the doctor concedes that the relative size and weight of the brain in the sexes is about the same, slightly in woman's favor, which he says does not count; although, when he finds this same difference between men, as between higher and lower races, he argues that it does count for a great deal. But in the dilemma to which this seemed to reduce him in proving his case, he says: "Numerous observations show beyond doubt that the intellectual power does not depend upon the weight of the brain relative to that of the body so much as it depends upon absolute brain weight." Now, if this were the case, an elephant would out-think any of us, and the whale, whose intellectual achievements have never been looked upon as absolutely incendiary (if we except Jonah's friend), would rank the greatest man on record, and have brain enough left to furnish material for a fair-sized female seminary.

The average human male brain is said to weigh from 1,300 to 1,400 grammes, and even a very young whale furnishes 2,312 grammes of "intellect-producing substance," as the doctor felicitously terms it, while the brain of a large whale weighed in 1883 tipped the beam at 6,700 grammes. Truly, then, if absolute brain weight and not relative weight is the test, here was a "mute inglorious Milton," indeed. Almost any elephant is several Cuviers in disguise, or perhaps an entire medical faculty.

The doctor says: "The female brain, however, is not only smaller than that of man, but it is different in structure, and this fact involves much more as regards the character of the mental faculties than does the element of size." Again he says: "Thus accurate measurements show that the anterior portion of the brain, comprising the frontal lobes, in which the highest intellectual faculties re side, is much more developed in man than in woman, and this not only as regards its size, but its convolutions also. Now, the part of the brain which is especially concerned in the evolution of mind is the gray matter, and this is increased or diminished in accordance with the number and complexity of the convolutions. The frontal lobes contain a greater amount of gray cortical matter than any other part of the brain, and they are, as we have seen, larger in man than in woman."

Accepting these sweeping statements for the moment – although many of them are questioned by the highest authority – would it not be fair to test the case as to whether this difference in adults is fundamental and pre-natal, or whether it is the result of outside artificial influences, by an appeal to the brain of infants. If the brains of one hundred infants (each child weighing ten pounds) were examined, would the brains of the fifty males be distinguishable from those of the fifty females? In other words, when the weight of the body, the age, and other conditions are the same as to health, parentage, etc., and before the artificial means of development, educational stimulus and opportunity are applied to the one and withheld from the other, could the sex be determined by the difference in brain, weight, shape, size, quality, or convolutions? That would be the test, although it would not allow for the ages of hereditary dwarfage of the one, and healthy exercise of the brains of the other sex; but, as an opening, I was willing to stand on that test. It was in pursuance of this idea that I caused the following questions to be submitted to a large number of the leading brain students of America, went myself somewhat into the study of anthropology, and collected from several countries certain bits of information as to just how much basis there is for all this cry about the difference in men's and women's brains.

Being a matter of heads, I wanted to know how much was "cry" and how much was "wool."

These are the questions submitted to the doctors, brain anatomists and microscopists at the outset of my task: (1.) Is it known to the medical profession whether in infants (of the same age, size, health, and inheritance at birth) the quantity, quality, and specific gravity of the gray matter differs in the sexes? Does the relative amount of gray matter differ? (2.) Do the convolutions? Form? Actual amount of gray matter, differ? (3.) Given the brain, only, of a number of infants of the same age, weight, etc., could the sex be determined by the difference in shape, quantity, quality, and convolutions? (4.) If so, are the differences more or less marked in infants than in adults? Is the frontal region of the brain larger and more developed in male than in female infants? Is the difference as marked as in adults? (5.) Does use, training, etc., develop gray matter, change texture, size, shape, etc., of the brain mass, or are these determined and fixed at birth? The same as to convolutions? (6.) Does use have to do with the location of the fissure of Rolando, or is that fixed at birth? In an uneducated man would there be as much of the brain in front of this fissure as in a man of trained and developed mind? (7.) Does use or development of the mental powers change the specific gravity of the brain mass? Would it be the same in a great scholar as in a common laborer of the same general size and health? (8.) Is there unanimity of opinion on these questions? Are the facts known or only conjectured? (9.) If ten boys of the same weight, health, and general inheritance were taken in infancy and five of them subjected for fifty years to the conditions of a street or farm laborer, while the other five received all the advantages of the life of a scholar, would the ten brains present the same relative likenesses at death as at birth? Would opportunity and mental exercise make a change in the brains of the five students that would be discoverable by microscope and scales?

In reply to the last question, the universal opinion was that it would be fair to assume that such difference would be perceptible. But one of the replies was that these points must necessarily remain only conjectural, since we can not do as the Scotch villager who shows to a wondering public the remains of a famous criminal, with this bit of history: "This is the skull and brain of a man who was hanged, at the age of forty, for murdering his entire family. This is the skull and brain of the same man at the age of seven. You can readily trace in the boy the man that was to be." Since it might be looked upon with disfavor if we were to attempt to brain people from time to time in an effort to discover the effects of culture upon the fissure of Rolando, we must base all such arguments upon reason and analogy. Is it not a fair presumption, since reason and analogy lead to this universally accepted theory as between man and man, that the same causes would produce the same results when applied between man and woman? Strangely enough, this is not held to be the case by these acute reasoners against sex equality in brain.

But to illustrate once more the necessity of questioning facts first and the reasons for them afterward, I am assured by the most profound and capable students of these branches of science, that if such differences exist in the brains of infants as are indicated by my questions, it is not known to those who make a specialty of brain study; but, upon the contrary, the differences between individuals of the same sex – in adults, at least – are known to be much more marked than any that are known to exist between the sexes. Take the brains of the two poets, Byron and Dante. Byron's weighed 1,807 grms., while Dante's weighed only 1,320 grms., a difference of 487 grms.; or take two statesmen, Cromwell and Gambetta. Cromwell's brain weighed 2,210 grms., which, by the way, is the greatest healthy brain on record – although Cuvier's is usually quoted as the largest, a part of the weight of his was due to disease, and if a diseased or abnormal brain is to be taken as the standard, then the greatest on record is that of a negro, criminal idiot – while Gambetta's was only 1,241 grms., a difference of 969 grms. Surely it would not be held because of this, that Gambetta and Dante should have been denied the educational and other advantages which were the natural right of Byron and Cromwell. Yet it is upon this very ground, by this very system of reasoning, that it is proposed to deny women equal advantages and opportunities, although the difference in brain weight between man and woman is claimed to be only 100 grms., and even this does not allow for difference in body weight, and is based upon a system of averages, which is neither complete nor accurate. There is, then, not only no proof that the sex of infants could be distinguished by their brains, but all of the evidence which does exist on this subject is wholly against the assumption.

Up to this point in my investigation I learned only what I had fully expected to learn. At the next step, and in connection with it, I met with information which seems to me to offer an opportunity for reflection upon the matter of mental – not to say verbal – accuracy in the sex which does not wear "bangs." In the papers referred to, Dr. Hammond asserted, and no male voice or pen has seen fit to publicly correct him, that "it is only necessary to compare an average male with an average female brain to perceive at once how numerous and striking are the differences existing between them." He then submits a formidable list of striking differences which include these: "The male brain is larger, its vertical and transverse diameters are greater proportionately, the shape is quite different, the convolutions are more intricate, the sulci deeper, the secondary fissures more numerous, and the gray matter of the corresponding parts of the brain decidedly thicker."

But as if all these were not enough to enable the merest novice to distinguish the one from the other, even if he were near-sighted, he offers these reinforcements: "It is quite certain, as the observations of the writer show, that the specific gravity of both the white and gray matter of the brain is greater in man than in woman." This would seem to leave woman without a reef to hang to; for if by any chance her brain did not fall short in gray matter, the specific gravity of the rest of it would enable the doctor to ticket her as accurately as though she were to appear with ear-rings and train in a ballroom. Of this point this is what the leading brain anatomist in America wrote me: "The only article recognized by the profession as important and of recent date which takes this theory as a working basis is by Morselli, and he is compelled to make the sinister admission, while asserting that the specific gravity is less in the female, that with old age and with insanity the specific gravity increases." If this is the case, I don't know that women need sigh over their short-coming in the item of specific gravity. There appear to be two very simple methods open to them by which they may emulate their brothers in the matter of specific gravity if they so desire. One of these is certain, if they live long enough, and the other – well, there is no protective tariff on insanity. But to finally clinch his argument, Dr. Hammond continues: "The question is, therefore, not so much that of quantity" (which appears to collide with his statement that it was the "absolute brain weight" which was the sublime test, and drops my whale into the water again), "as it is of quality. The brain of woman is different from that of man in structure."