the bottom of a well, for she is more surely
reached by descending to her abode from the so-called abstract, than by
climbing with our feet on the slippery concrete. Nay, even though
physical science still insists in words on holding on to 'facts' and the
testimony of the senses, forgetful that any fact is after all only a
"relative synthesis," we find it in its latest researches rapidly
approaching at both ends, things entirely out of the region of the
senses; for, beginning with invisible and intangible atoms, which we are
required to take on faith, and which are assuredly very abstract, we
find it passing to the correlation of forces and modes of motion, which
certainly are as abstract as atoms.

Shall we not be quite as safe then in attempting to solve the problem of
"woman's sphere, by applying to it abstract principles of right and
wrong," as by seeking for it alone "in Physiology?" Woman is not merely
a "cradle" and a grave, as she is assumed to be in the essay under
consideration, and all attempts to settle the question of her sphere by
considering her as such, are usually, and perhaps not unnaturally, found
to excite indignation.

To apply the above statement: the women who are urging to-day the
question of education are often accused of presenting education in the
light of a quack medicine which is warranted to cure all troubles. And
it is true that we do so present it, for the broader grows our
experience of men and women, and the more deeply and widely we think,
the more inevitably do we find this problem of education appearing
before us, in whatever direction we turn. It is like the ducal palace in
Carlsruhe, to which all the main streets of the city converge, and which
meets one's eyes at every corner.

The question of woman's Dress, for instance, is never to be solved by
approaching it from the outside. Earnest and vigorous writers may tell
women what they ought to do, and we all know perfectly well that if the
skirts of our dresses ended at the tops of our boots, and we were warmly
clad beneath in the full trousers proposed years ago by Mrs. Bloomer, we
could take much more exercise without fatigue, and should be saved much
time and much annoyance. Who but a woman can appreciate the trouble of
always being obliged to use one hand in carrying her skirts up long
flights of stairs? Who but a woman knows the inconvenience of her long
skirts in entering or leaving a carriage, or in a strong wind? Who but a