The best records we have indicate that the onset of puberty causes decided changes in the rate of growth of the two sexes and causes the girls to mature more rapidly than the boys. It so happens that this corresponds with popular observation the world over. To what extent the difference in strength as shown by muscular tests or athletic records is due to nature, to what extent to differences in daily life, in training and in ideals it is hard to determine. There seems to be no question that man is stronger. In the animal kingdom this question is in doubt, for in a few cases at least the female is larger. Manouvrier put the ratio of muscular force to body weight as 87.1 for men and 54.5 for women. In England the average lung capacity seems to be 217 cubic inches for men, 132 for women.5 The average height of English men is put at 67.4 inches, of women, 62.7. In America Sargent found among college men and women the following averages: A comparison of 2,300 students at Yale as compared with 1,600 women at Oberlin gave the following results: The athletic records of the University of Pennsylvania and Vassar for the year 1913 were: Hundred yard dash Running high jump Running broad jump Penn. Vassar 13 sec. 4 ft. 74 in. 14 ft. 61⁄2 in. In man the arms and legs are relatively longer than in woman. In woman the thigh is decidedly shorter; it is set at a different angle, and is usually of larger girth than in man. The shape of the pelvis is perhaps the most striking difference between the sexes. In the balance of the animal world there is no corresponding phenomenon. The development of the large, broad pelvis of woman has been accompanied by an increase in the size of the head. "The form of woman is rounder and less variable than that of man, and art has been able to produce a more nearly ideal figure of woman than of man; at the same time, the bones of woman weigh less with reference to the body weight than the bones of man, and both these facts indicate less variation and more constitutional passivity in woman. The trunk of woman is relatively longer than that of man, and her abdomen is relatively more prominent, and is so represented in art. In these respects she resembles the child and the lower races, i.e., the less developed forms. Ranke states that the typical adult male form is characterized by a relatively shorter trunk, relatively longer arms, legs, hands and feet, and relatively to the long upper arms and thighs by still longer forearms and lower legs, and relatively to the whole upper 7 THOMAS, W. I. Sex and Society, p. 22. 8 ELLIS, H. o. c., p. 46. extremity by a still longer lower extremity; while the typical female form approaches the infantile condition in having a relatively longer trunk, shorter arms, legs, hands and feet; relatively to the short upper arms still shorter forearms; and relatively to short thighs still shorter lower legs, and relatively to the whole short upper extremity a still shorter lower extremity - a very striking evidence of the ineptitude of woman for the expenditure of physiological energy through motor action." 9 Among many races there is a marked growth of hair on the face of the mature man which is entirely lacking on the face of the woman, though the latter often preserves the coat of down, the lanugo, which is found early in life. Woman's hair is massed on her head and seems to be thicker and to grow longer than man's. There is reason to believe that woman is less likely to become bald. The breaking of the boy's voice at puberty is well known. Due to the growth of the larynx the voice becomes stronger and deeper while there is little change in that of a woman. The thyroid gland, which lies just below and behind the vocal organs, is much larger and stronger in the woman.1 10 The differences in the skull are slight. The glabella, or bony projection over the nose, and the superciliary ridges are more marked in men. These overhanging brows increase with age. The frontal air sinuses are smaller in women. Some bosses on the head remain more prominent with women, but the man has thicker and stronger skull bones and the muscular prominences are more developed.11 It is claimed that in young infants the male brain is 9 THOMAS, W. I. o. c., pp. 20-21. 10 ELLIS, H. o. c., p. 266. 11 Ibid., pp. 78-80. already heavier, 400 grams to 380. The brain grows during childhood, reaching its maximum weight in women at about the age of 20, while in men the maximum is reached some time between 20 and 30. Thereafter it probably decreases slowly and falls rapidly in women between the ages of 50 and 60, the marked decline for men coming later between the ages of 60 and 70. From the age of 20 to 60 the male brain averages some 145 grams heavier than the female, after the age of 60 some 173 grams. The following table gives the results of many studies: Observer 12 Wagner Huschke Broca Topinard Bischoff Boyd Manouvrier Total average Trouble comes when we attempt to interpret these results. Man's height in comparison with woman's may be stated as 100 to 93. On this basis the brain weights are as 100 to 90 and man's brain appears to be relatively heavier. If, however, we take the body weight as the basis the results are reversed. Man's body weight as compared to that of woman may be put as 100 to 83; the brain weight remaining, of course, 100 to 90. Moreover the brain weight is relatively fixed while the body fluctuates, and in addition women have more fat. If we try to eliminate this and compare on the basis of active organic tissues we should have to put the ratio as 100 to 70 and 12 MOEBIUS, P. J. Ueber den physiologischen Schwachsinn des Weibes, pp. 1–39. 13 ELLIS, H. o. c., 103. woman's relative superiority in brain weight would be more pronounced. We are really ignorant of any relationship between weight of brain and mental capacity, hence, all deductions based on brain weight are of doubtful value. Two insane women, one with a brain of 1,742 gr., the other of 1,587 gr.,, are reported and these weights, be it noticed, are far above the average for normal men; while one male idiot is said to have had a brain weighing 2,850 gr. There seems to be no justification in the present state of knowledge for assuming that either sex has any advantage so far as mental ability is concerned. Even Broca, the French anthropologist, who in early life thought that man was superior in this regard, later came to think that it was a question of education.14 Apparently one of the most significant differences yet discovered is in the specific gravity of the composition of the blood. All observers seem to agree that the blood of woman contains fewer red corpuscles, while the specific gravity is lower. "In males the specific gravity is about 1,066 at birth, and falls during the subsequent two years, being about 1,050 in the third year; thence it rises till about seventeen years of age, when it is about 1,058. It remains at this height during middle life, and falls slightly in old age. "In females the specific gravity, starting at about 1,066 at birth, falls in infancy, as in males, to about 1,049 in the third year. Thence it rises till the fourteenth year, when it is about 1,055.5. Between seventeen and fortyfive years of age it is lower than at the age of fourteen, and is about three degrees lower than in men. 14 ELLIS, H. o. c., p. 123. |