The human element in sex : a consideration of facts in relation to the physical and mental organisation of men and women, addressed to students of medicine / by E. Blackwell.

  • Blackwell, Elizabeth, 1821-1910.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The human element in sex : a consideration of facts in relation to the physical and mental organisation of men and women, addressed to students of medicine / by E. Blackwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    race. The mental or emotional element must therefore largely engage the attention of the physiologist, who studies the characteristics of human nature; for this exceptional character of human sex indicating so remarkable a difference from the rest of the animal creation, would render the simple exclusive study of physical phenomena—as representing human sex—as useless and unphilosophical a method of investigation as would be the study of music on dumb instruments. The exceptional character of human sex must be taken as a guide in any inquiry into its structure, nature, distinctions, and uses, for the clue to a true knowledge of the functions of the bodily organs in man and woman, is found in this striking peculiarity of the human race, viz. : that these functions are largely dominated by the mental organisation, and that sex in the human being does not mean simply the action of the physical organs, but also the conjoined mental principle directing those organs. Sex, therefore, in the human race alone, rests upon a mental foundation, viz. that intellectual sentiment of keen self-consciousness, which is capable of great development towards good or towards evil; for as all simply material satisfaction soon reaches the limit which bounds matter, so mental or spiritual enjoyment is capable of indefinite growth. It is this mental sentiment peculiar to human sex which is capable of a two-fold development. It may grow into a noble sympathy, self-sacrifice.