Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Gender, Design, Human Species, Physiology

    Argues that men's and women's bodies have been formed for particular practices: believes the 'hand of man is formed' to undertake such tasks as guiding the plough while the 'delicate fingers of woman are calculated for the dexterities of the sempstress'. Contends that the 'constitution of the universe' is such that shirt-buttons come off and that men are not endowed with the physiology or temperament for sewing or the 'economy of the kitchen'. Notes that 'owing to its physiological relations to the external world, the nervous system of the infant is peculiarly susceptible to irritation from the application of moisture to the skin', which makes the infant scream. Contrasts the aggressive approach taken by men to this problem with the tender approach taken by women.