And the criticism is just: the differences affect the whole nature, and are not, as Plato supposes, confined to a single point.

But neither can we say how far these differences are due to education and the opinions of mankind, or physically inherited from the habits and opinions of former generations.

Women have been always taught, not exactly that they are slaves, but that they are in an inferior position, which is also supposed to have compensating advantages; and to this position they have conformed.

It is also true that the physical form may easily change in the course of generations through the mode of life; and the weakness or delicacy, which was once a matter of opinion, may become a physical fact.

The characteristics of sex vary greatly in different countries and ranks of society, and at different ages in the same individuals.