with whom he happens to have fallen in love. An average ideal of manhood could be established with much greater ease than one of womanhood. If a vote could be taken on the matter, then surely a bearded biped in uniform, that is, a trained homicide, skull-splitter, or first-class blood-and-iron man, would receive the majority among men. But which woman would receive the majority, whether it would be the Virgin Mary or the not Virgin Venus, I cannot tell in these Christian times. In this state of helplessness I am thrown upon my own taste, and if I follow this I have the encouraging consciousness that in at least one important particular, namely in regard to nationality, my judgment is no prejudice. Let Olympia — in order to give a name to the ideal woman — speak German, or French, or English, or Italian, or Spanish, I shall honor her equally if only she unites within herself those qualities which make of her the model female of the human species.
Even without being a materialist, I would have to begin with the physical personality in order to sketch the model female of the human species, and the first physical requirement is, of course, beauty. But what is beauty? Even if all the artists and philosophers, all the painters, sculptors and poets came to my aid, I would not be able to determine absolutely and exactly what feminine beauty consisted of. Shall I study it in Raphael's Madonna, or in the Venus of Medici? Neither of the two would call out my enthusiasm if I saw them bodily before me. This
