And the phenomenon of tides is very marked in all that we undertake.

There is a period of advance and then a pause and a period of decline, and after another pause the tide rises again.

It may perhaps be accounted for in part by the very fact that we do so much for ourselves in England, and look askance at anything which curtails the freedom of our movements, when we are in earnest about a question; but this independence is rapidly diminishing under the more elaborate administration of recent years, and the increase of State control in education.

Whatever may be the effect of this in the future, it seems as if there were at present a moment of reconsideration as to whether we have been quite on the right track in the pursuit of higher education for women, and a certain discontent with what has been achieved so far.

There are at all events not many who are cordially pleased with the results.