There is a
trinity in our anatomy. Three systems, to which all the organs are
directly or indirectly subsidiary, divide and control the body. First,
there is the nutritive system, composed of stomach, intestines, liver,
pancreas, glands, and vessels, by which food is elaborated, effete
matter removed, the blood manufactured, and the whole organization
nourished. This is the commissariat. Secondly, there is the nervous
system, which co-ordinates all the organs and functions; which enables
man to entertain relations with the world around him, and with his
fellows; and through which intellectual power is manifested, and human
thought and reason made possible. Thirdly, there is the reproductive
system, by which the race is continued, and its grasp on the earth
assured. The first two of these systems are alike in each sex. They
are so alike, that they require a similar training in each, and yield
in each a similar result. The machinery of them is the same. No
scalpel has disclosed any difference between a man's and a woman's
liver. No microscope has revealed any structure, fibre, or cell, in
the brain of man or woman, that is not common to both. No analysis or
dynamometer has discovered or measured any chemical action or
nerve-force that stamps either of these systems as male or female.
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