Читать книгу The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother - George H. Napheys - Страница 5

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The distinction of the sexes belongs neither to the highest nor to the lowest forms of existence. Animals and vegetables of the humblest character have no sex. So it is with spirits. Revelation implies that beyond this life sexual characteristics cease. On one occasion the Sadducees put this question to Christ: There was a woman who lawfully had seven husbands, one after the other; now, at the resurrection, which of these shall be her husband? or shall they all have her to wife? He replied that hereafter there shall be neither marrying nor giving in marriage, but that all shall be 'as the angels which are in heaven.' Sexuality implies reproduction, and that is something we do not associate with spiritual life.

It further implies imperfection, which is equally far from our hopes of happiness beyond the grave. The polyp, which reproduces by a division of itself, is in one sense more complete than we are. The man is in some respects inferior to the woman; the woman in others is subordinate to man. A happy marriage, a perfect union, they twain one flesh, is the type of the independent, completed being. Without the other, either is defective. 'Marriage,' said Napoléon, 'is strictly indispensable to happiness.'

There is, in fact, a less difference between the sexes than is generally believed. They are but slight variations from one original plan. Anatomists maintain, with plausible arguments, that there is no part or organ in the one sex but has an analogous part or organ in the other, similar in structure, similar in position. Just as the right side resembles the left, so does man resemble woman.

Let us see what differences there really are:

The frame of woman is shorter and slighter. In the United States the men average five feet eight inches in height, and one hundred and forty-five pounds in weight; the women, five feet two and a half inches in height, and one hundred and twenty-five pounds in weight. Man has broad shoulders and narrow hips; woman has narrow shoulders and broad hips. Her skull is formed of thinner bones, and is in shape more like that of a child. Its capacity, in proportion to her height, is very little less than in man—about one-fiftieth, it is said—which, so far as brain-power is concerned, may readily be made up by its finer texture. Her shoulders are set farther back than in the other sex, giving her greater breadth of chest in front. This is brought about by the increased length of her collar-bone; and this is the reason why she can never throw a ball or stone with the accuracy of a man. Graceful in other exercises, here she is awkward.

Her contour is more rounded, her neck is longer, her skin smoother, her voice softer, her hair less generally distributed over the body, but stronger in growth than in man. She breathes with the muscles of her chest—he with those of his abdomen. He has greater muscular force—she more power of endurance. Beyond all else she has the attributes of maternity—she is provided with organs to nourish and protect the child before and after birth.