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crossed inheritance is largely in action, helping to organically equilibriate the

sexes.

A more strongly-marked class still is the mixed race, North and South. The white blood being derived largely from a male ancestry, do mulatto women average a lighter complexion than mulatto men? Prominent men and women who have had much acquaintance with this class, without knowing why they were asked, have given answers like these:

"I think women among mulattoes do not show a lighter complexion than men to a greater degree than may be explained by exposure to the sun and the elements, or to similar causes."

Others answer: "The women as a class are undoubtedly much lighter than the men."

Taking the many classes of concurrent facts into account, may we not then fairly conclude that the brains of women to-day, and in all past time, are and have been, when equally exercised, as efficient and as available as masculine brains in promoting equivalent intellectual work? Do you ask? why then do not the feminine brains produce as large an amount of equally good work? There is time only for the Yankee method of answering by counter questions.

Why did nobody ever yet succeed in doing what he had been made to believe that he really could not accomplish?

Why do not people generally attempt just those difficult things which require much time, money and energy, and which, when achieved, must bring censure and obloquy to themselves and to their dearest friends? Let us put it in this way.

Why have the most honored names in religion and in science thought it incumbent upon them to preach devoutly and to reason profoundly that the inferiority of women is so rigorously foreordained or so deeply ingrained in every tissue of body and brain, that to rebel against manifest destiny is but utter hopelessness?

Do women need this tremendous putting down in one form and another, century after century?

Could the women of any past age reasonably have been expected to resist this mountain weight of physical and mental disparagement, or to rise superior to the helpless depression which it must inevitably produce? They have lived in a species of moral hypnotism, in which practically they were without the ability to attempt any of the higher forms of intellectual ambition.

At last we rebel. In the light of Religion and Science we assert the sufficient evidence of our full and positive equality, physical and mental. The sexes are greatly unlike in their work and in their methods of working; but, despite superficial appearances, the proof of the inequality of the woman to the man is not yet forthcoming. At any rate we have a divine right to ask that the fallacies and the shortcomings of our position shall be pointed out to us in the light of plain and reconsidered psycho-physiological evidence before we are again scientifically remanded to hopeless inferiority.

SUMMER COURSE IN BOTANY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

THE summer course of Botany for teachers and other adults began in 1875, on the 8th of July. It lasted six weeks, or until Friday, August 20.

The laboratory was open for work from eight in the morning until six in the evening, for five days in the week. Saturday and Sunday all labor was suspended there,

and the pupils could go away for visits or excursions on Friday, and return Monday. All the work was entirely voluntary on the part of the individual. Between eight and nine in the morning there was a general reading in "Sach's Botany" by the class. This book was a translation from the German to the English. After that the class were supplied with flowers by Prof. Goodale and his assistant, Mr. Wilson. These flowers were analysed by the pupils; these persons were of different capacity and culture in the study of Botany, and accordingly accomplished more or less in looking up the species and genera of flowers.

At twelve Prof. Goodale gave his lecture to the class, and it lasted one hour, delivered without any notes or assistance of any kind, except the plates and the heads of his subject which were placed on the blackboard beforehand. After the lecture was over there was an intermission, during which most of the scholars went to their boarding-places or residences, for luncheon or dinner. They were absent about an hour, and then contiuued the analysis of the flowers till six o'clock, if they pleased to do so. The number of pupils was twenty-three in all. I believe five were gentlemen and were seated in the lecture-room; these were men who were either professors in colleges, or physicians, or intending to fill such places when opportunity offered. There were seventeen or eighteen ladies, and some of these were to become either physicians or professors of Botany. Some came only two or three days in the week, and others staid only a short time at the Botanic Garden and took their work home. Some came only for the lecture. Some of the ladies studied in the evening after going home, and rose early and continued their work in the morning before going to the Garden. They were mostly very hard-working people, and at the end of the course, by Prof. Goodale's earnest desire, some of the class entered into a very light examination of the ground they had been over. I believe that some of them appeared quite honorably on this occasion. Prof. Goodale invited the class on the last evening of the term, to his house, and showed them many interesting specimens, and also exhibited starch grains through the compound microscope, with polarized light. We spent an hour or two very agreeably in this way. Prof. Goodale is a very interesting illustrator of his subject, and contrives to inspire those who study with him with an almost electrical enthusiasm for the study of Botany.

He was devoted to the business of the class, going about among the different pupils and aiding them in the labor of analysis, and spurring them on to the utmost exertion for themselves likewise. His assistant, Mr. Wilson, was also very valuable to the class. There was one excursion during the term to Wellesley College, opened for women last autumn. This took place in the afternoon. The course of study completed during the six weeks, was the same as for under-graduates of Harvard College for one year. The drawing of each flower analysed, was a particular and exact business, and some of the pupils did such specimens very finely, and painted them in water colors. Some pupils were able to examine two or three hundred specimens of flowers, during the course. The lectures given by Prof. Goodale begun with the leaf and went on to the flower and the different parts of the same. The second part went into Vegetable Physiology and told us about Protoplasm and the cell, the first living unit. In the second part of the course, the pupils were taught the use of the Compound Microscope, and also how to preserve specimens in glass, to be examined afterwards with any microscope and to use in teaching. The Botanic Garden furnishes a variety of species for study from many different countries and arranged according to the families to which they belong.

The laboratory is so situated as to be very cool in summer, and the garden is a pleasant spot to pass the time in. The course costs twenty-five dollars, and the price

ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMAN.

of board in houses not very remote, is from six to eight dollars per week. The
library and herbarium at the school are excellent and afford great advantages to
the pupils who undertake the course.
nesota, Indiana, or Pennsylvania, and some from Cambridge, Boston or other near
The pupils were from different States, as Min-
towns.

AGASSIZ SUMMER SCHOOL;

OR, THE SCHOOL AT PENIKESE.

BY AMY JOHNSON.

THE report that such a school was about to be opened spread very rapidly, and there was no lack of applicants, or delay on the part of the chosen fifty who had the good fortune to be admitted. of Colorado to the granite hills of New Hampshire gathered the students on the On the morning of July 8, 1873, from the mountains wharf of New Bedford to be transferred to Penikese Island, fifteen miles distant. Strange faces met on every side, but a common interest united them more firmly than formal courtesies.

Only fourteen out of fifty were ladies, and, as the propriety of their admission was questioned by Agassiz's best advisers, the credit is due to him, whose rare intelligence and prophetic wisdom saw that the woman's patience, endurance, quick insight, and neatness in work, eminently qualified her for the study of the sciences. Her work there called forth his best commendations.

He said nothing of sex, but very much of education; gave to all alike the best opportunities to be proved by the best work. shall henceforth speak for you," and witness. "There's no need to speak; the universe do it, claims her license in her work." Brains were busy, spirits stirring, hearts "She who did this thing was born to full, hands not idle, and every woman felt that scientific truth was as surely hers by right of discovery as though she were a Cuvier or a Humboldt. declamations of rights, no false modesty of position. While there were great diverThere were no bold sity and frequent collisions of opinion, these served only to sharpen the understanding and give more Catholic views. The variety of objects in scientific study afforded opportunities and sufficient motive in the magnitude of the consequences to exert oneself to the utmost in the pursuit of truth, and the most daring intrepidity in maintaining it. There was no levity, no feebleness, no indifference, but an habitual fervor and enthusiasm, a gravity approaching to piety in the study and handling of the most common objects.

The School of Penikese marks an epoch in the higher education of Woman, less on account of its real importance or truths taught, than of its influence upon the minds of American educators. Science must emancipate thought and, wherever introduced, revolutionizes. It has aptly been called the "Iconoclast," and while the tendency of the classics is to conservatism, the introduction of the sciences may be the catholicon.

The immediate results can be seen in the number of Scientifie Summer Schools that have followed and the increased interest everywhere in the sciences. The method of teaching from the object, making each student an investigator, has given a new interest to study and made the class-room a delight. Future years will reveal to those who continue the work the good done by the little School of Penikese.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

BY GRACEANNA LEWIS.

NATURALISTS, whatever may be their opinions on the question of Evolution, unite in believing in the existence of an Order of RelaTIONSHIP in the animal world. To trace this order and to seek its cause is one of the most interesting occupations which can engage the human mind, and is one well worthy of honest study through life, even if but little apparent progress should be made therein.

It is not possible to study Animal Life effectively without a general knowledge of its co-related branch, Vegetable Life; nor the System of Life as a whole without some attention to the Mineral Kingdom; nor can either Kingdom be fairly understood without due consideration of the Laws which control matter. The Physicist must aid the Biologist; and on their conclusions both the Botanist and Zoologist are largely dependent. Each science enriches the other, and we who can devote ourselves to but one gladly acknowledge our indebtedness to all who bestow their help. That Power which called us into being has endowed us with the desire to grasp thread after thread of knowledge, that we may hold them as clues to guide us through the labyrinths of unrevealed mysteries. We are obeying the dictates of the Soul when we follow their leading. The faculties which distinguish between things which are like and those which are unlike make of us classifiers, and we think of the class, rather than of the individuals which compose it. Thus we are enabled to take a general survey of nature.

When we speak of the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, or the animal kingdom, we remember that, in fact, vegetable and animal organisms are not distinctly separable, and that no man knows the conditions necessary for the production of either from their chemical components. We are also reminded that the distinctions between animate and inanimate matter cannot be too strongly insisted upon.

Protoplasm, formed by the combination of so many atoms of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen,-inanimate gases,-exists in all animate forms, whether these be of the vegetable or of the animal kingdom. Mineral compounds may be formed with exactly the same chemical constitution. Where does life arise, and whence comes its activity? The mind goes beyond these compounds to find that activity in the MOTIONS belonging to atoms of matter,

The ATOM is understood to be the material representative of Divine Energy,--the Germ of Being,—and to contain, in combination with other atoms, all the possibilities of the whole Life-System. If we adopt the idea that atoms partake of the eternal energy of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, who both called them into being and planned for them an infinity of combinations, we are prepared to consider the multiplicity of forms which are in existence, and to find in them all some binding principle of relationship.

Atoms, like magnets, are supposed to possess attractive and repellant poles, and to retain in combination both vibratory and rotary motions. Atoms which are held together by their axes of rotation are believed to give lines of MAGNETIC FORCE. Molecules, formed of atoms, possess similar polarities; as do particles and masses of

matter.

Magnetism acts end to end, and, since it holds matter to a central axis, it is a CENTRIPETAL FORCE. Other forces distribute from a centre, and are CENTRIFUGAL FORCES.

Light is electro-magnetic, and may combine in itself both the centripetal and centrifugal forces, moving in acc..rdance with these dual forces, all matter on which it acts.

The CRYSTALLIZING FORCES, which arrange mineral substances in definite order, according to the attractive and repellant polarities of their molecules, act so similarly to Light as to suggest the operation of either identical or analogous laws.

The VITAL FORCES, which control the system of life, operate in harmony with Light, and also with the Crystallizing Forces.

Therefore it may be understood that the centripetal and centrifugal forces in nature, similarly, act upon mineral, vegetable and animal forms. It may indeed be assumed that all forms are modifications of the sphere resulting from the action of these two classes of forces.

The primary structural forms which are built up under their action are the crystal in the mineral, and the cell in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Mineral masses are built of crystals; and cells form every higher structure in the vegetable and animal kingdoms.

Crystals are united in masses under laws which govern the primary forms: animate beings cannot escape from the action of the polarizing forces, although these may be modified by the action of the Vital Forces.

In the water-crystal the main axis is perpendicular to the plane of crystallization, or, in other words, it is at right angles to the branches. In their plane of crystallization snow-flakes may present a series of triangles. A snow-crystal of six rays may be a double triangle. There may be twelve or more points, the beauty usually depending on the complexity of design. Each point has its own axis, which governs the symmetrical disposition of the parts, but the design is similar in circles of six rays each. In the crystal the centripetal and centrifugal forces are modified by molecular

action.

In the flower, the essential parts, the stamen, pistil, and ovary, are in the axis of growth. The less important corolla diverges from the centre, as do the rays of the snow-crystal. In the fruit, the line connecting the stem and blossom ends, corresponds to the perpendicular axis of the snow-flake, the seeds being disposed by various methods around that axis.

In the tree, the main trunk is the axis of growth; the branches diverge from this axis under the same law which sends the molecules of water on their divergent paths of crystallization. Each branch of the tree has its special axis, from which the minor branches diverge; and leaves ray from the branch as the branch rays from the stem, the ribs of the leaf following the same general law of divergence. In the plant we see the action of centripetal and centrifugal forces, controlled by Growth Force.

A large proportion of the Protozoans and Radiates resemble crystals in form. Some of them, especially among Rhizopods, are strikingly similar to crystals. The limbs of animals correspond to the branches of plants. They bud at right angles to the axis of growth, but may be modified so as to become parallel with it, as in the lower extremities of man.

In the groups of animals, as well as in the individual forms, we find evidence of the operation of the same laws. There is a well-defined axis, and there is a circle of radiation in every great group. The branches of such groups are related to each other by characters which make it impossible to confound them with members of a higher circle.

These circles—or, more accurately, coils of ascending spirals-represent the disposition of the rays of a color disk, the plane of crystallization of a water-crystal, the

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