im?"

"Merely second-class beings detailed for the work. Take no notice of
them. They will not, of course, venture to remain in our presence."

The four men deposited their master gently on a bed of tufted grass and
marched away again without a word. So far as I could compute, there were
now some two hundred first-class beings stretched out motionless under
the pleasant and vivifying warmth of the sun.

"May we not," I asked as we reposed ourselves, "take this opportunity
for some continuation of your lecture? There is still much about which I
am curious."

"On what point would you wish me to speak first?"

"I am told that among beings of the first class at any rate sex is
abolished."

"Can sex be of interest to any thinking being? It is of no interest at
all to me."

"It happens," I said boldly, "to be of the very first interest to
myself."

"Very well," said the Professor. "We must withdraw to some distance, so
that our voices do not disturb the meditations of others."

I followed him to the spot that he selected. We lay on our backs on the
sand and he continued his discourse.

"The practical abolition of sex has with us been a very gradual process
extending over centuries. It began with that great social upheaval of
which I have already told you. To declare the complete equality of men
was to declare the complete equality of the sexes. It ended about one
hundred and fifty years ago when the words "men" and "women" ceased to
be used by first-class beings, and no distinction of sex was admitted.
That I think is all you want to know."

"Pardon me," I said. "You give me no explanation whatever."

"The thing explains itself. Take first the case of a male. You will find
in him so many factors mental and physical which belong to the race and
so many which belong to the individual. In the case of a male the
factors which belong to the individual are very much in excess of those
which belong to the race. In the female we find the reverse of this. The
factors which belong to the race are in her largely in excess of those
which belong to the individual. She is the martyr and trustee of
humanity. That was the state of affairs before the great social upheaval
of which I have spoken. When women began to mix in every business,
profession, and sport, a new type of woman very soon declared
itself--unusually tall, flat-chested, small in the hips, destitute of
femininity. Briefly, the male type and the female type began