They are also to be observed as a
consequence of operations much more commonly and irresponsibly performed
a few years ago than now, which abruptly deprived the organism of the
internal secretion through which, as we may surmise, the femaleness
factor in the germ makes its presence effective.
If these propositions are valid, they are certainly important. Our
attitude towards them will depend upon our estimates of the worth of
distinctive womanhood. We may regard it as a loss to society that what
might have been a woman should become only a sort of man of rather less
than average efficiency. Or we may hail with delight the possibility
that, after all, we may be able, by judicious education, to make men of
our daughters. But, whatever our estimates, certainly it is of great
interest to inquire how far and in what directions education may affect
the development of what was given in the germ. We cannot yet answer this
question. In a thousand matters it is all-important to know in what
degree education can control nature, but until we know what the nature
of the individual is we cannot decide. Professor Bateson has clearly
shown that we shall be able duly to estimate environment only when
Mendelian analysis has gone much further, and has instructed us in
detail as to the nature of the material upon which environment is to
act.
For instance, there is the well-established fact that women who have
undergone "higher education" show a low marriage-rate, and produce very
few children.
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