This power has not only been denied to women; but writers have
insisted that it is inconsistent, with a few exceptions, with
their sexual character. Let men prove this, and I shall grant
that woman only exists for man. I must, however, previously
remark, that the power of generalizing ideas, to any great
extent, is not very common amongst men or women. But this
exercise is the true cultivation of the understanding; and every
thing conspires to render the cultivation of the understanding
more difficult in the female than the male world.
