Lecture on some of the distinctive characteristics of the female : delivered before the class of the Jefferson Medical College, January 5, 1847 / by Charles D. Meigs ; published by the class.

  • Meigs, Charles D. (Charles Delucena), 1792-1869.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture on some of the distinctive characteristics of the female : delivered before the class of the Jefferson Medical College, January 5, 1847 / by Charles D. Meigs ; published by the class. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    I knew 'twas a trumpet's note, And I see my brethren's lances gleam, And their pennons wave by the mountain stream. And their plumes on the glad wind float. Cease awhile, &e. I am here in my heavy chain! And I look on the torrent sweeping by, And an eagle rushing to the sky, And a host to its battle plain! Cease awhile, &c. Must I pine in my fetters here With the wild wave's foam And the free-bird's flight, And the tall spears glancing in my sight, And the trumpet in my ear 1 Cease awhile, Clarion, &c. &c. Now, for my part, I cannot but see in these verses of that most sweet poetess, proofs of her liveliest sensibility to both the nature and the intenseness of those male passions, which, however they may be fitted to enkindle her admiration, and enslave her heart, as forming a perfect antithesis to her own gentle nature, would, as existing in her own breast, demoralize and deform it. The military pennons and plumes floating on the glad wind, and the tall spears glancing in her mental sight, are not for her to wear or wield. But she may well glory in the hero, who is both able to wield and to wear them. As to the more strictly moral attributes and propensities of the female, what are the facts? Is not her heart, in general, the seat of tenderer and gentler emotions than those of her mate? Her susceptible soul is acutely alive to the human charities and trembling sympathies that spring spontaneously in the delicate innervations of her feminine constitution. She cannot unmoved look on scenes of woe. She melts at the spectacle of human distress—a maiden sheltering a wounded dove in her bosom is an eidolon of the sex. Mungo Park in the Sahara, and Ledyard among the wildest