Page:Vindication Women's Rights (Wollstonecraft).djvu/132

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VlNDICATION OF THE

to nature, apparently reaſonable ſpeculations muſt yield. A further concluſion obviouſly preſented itſelf; if polygamy be neceſſary, woman muſt be inferiour to man, and made for him.

With reſpect to the formation of the fœtus in the womb, we are very ignorant; but it appears to me probable, that an accidental phyſical cauſe may account for this phenomenon, and prove it not to be a law of nature. I have met with ſome pertinent obſervations on the ſubject in Forſter's Account of the Iſles of the South-Sea, that will explain my meaning. After obſerving that of the two ſexes amongſt animals, the moſt vigorous and fiery conſtitution always prevails, and produces its kind; he adds,—'If this be applied to the inhabitants of Africa, it is evident that the men there, accuſtomed to polygamy, are enervated by the uſe of ſo many women, and therefore leſs vigorous; the women, on the contrary, are of a warmer conſtitution, not only on account of their more irritable nerves, more ſenſible organization, and more lively fancy; but likewiſe becauſe they are deprived in their matrimony of that ſhare of phyſical love which, in a monogamous condition, would all be theirs; and thus, for the above reaſons, the generality of children are born females.'

'In the greater part of Europe it has been proved by the moſt accurate liſts of mortality, that the proportion of men to women is nearly equal, or, if any difference takes place, the males born are more numerous, in the proportion of 105 to 100.'

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