e middle of the seventies: "The best pupil in
Greek, for several years, among 1,300 students, has been a young lady;
the best pupil in mathematics in one of the strongest classes of our
Institute is, likewise, a young lady; and several among the best pupils
in natural science and the sciences in general are likewise young
ladies." Dr. Fairchild, President of Oberlin College in Ohio, where over
a thousand students of both sexes are instructed in common, said at
about the same time: "During my incumbency of eight years as professor
of ancient languages--Latin, Greek, and Hebrew--also in the ethical and
philosophic studies, and during my incumbency of eleven years in
abstract and applied mathematics, I have never noticed any difference in
the two sexes except in the manner of reciting." Edward H. Machill,
President of Swarthmore College in Delaware County, Pa., and author of a
pamphlet,[148] from which these facts are taken, says that, after an
experience of four years, he had arrived at the conclusion that, with an
eye to both manners and morals, the education of the two sexes in common
had given the best results. Many a pig-tail has yet to be cut off in
Germany before common sense shall have broken its way through here.

More recently, lively controversies have arisen in the literature of
almost all countries of civilization on the question whether woman could
achieve intellectually as much as man. While some, by dint of great
acumen and with the aid of facts supposed to be proofs, deny that such
is possible, others maintain that, on many fields, it undoubtedly is the
case. It is claimed that, generally speaking, woman is endowed with
qualities that man is deficient in, and _vice versa_: the male method of
reasoning is reflective and vigorous, woman's, on the contrary,
distinguishes itself by swiftness of perception and quickness of
execution. Certain it is that woman finds her way more quickly in
complicated situations, and has more tact than man. Ellis, who gathered
vast materials upon this question, turned to a series of persons, who
had male and female students under their guidance for many years, and
questioned them on their opinion and experience. McBendrick of Glasgow
answered him: "After having taught female students for twenty years, I
would sum up my observations with the statement that many women
accomplish as much as men in general, and that many men do not
accomplish as much as the female average." Other opin