As far as could be judged from Lord Granville's cautious
speech at the public presentation of degrees on the following day, his own mind is somewhat disinclined at present to the admission of women to degrees, or at least if not disinclined, inclined to fear the effects of encouraging women to enter into full competition with men. That, however, could be easily avoided, without refusing them the same degrees, and degrees implying precisely the same examination and the same standards of merit, by simply classifying the women entirely separately from the men. It may be, however, that the Chancellor was chiefly anxious to guard the discussion from the intrusion of the fallacy as to the "equality of the sexes," for he began by remarking that, judging by the analogy of birds, by the plumage of peacock and cock-pheasant, he had often doubted whether the bearded men were not really the more beautiful of the two sexes,—implying, of course, that it was just as likely that men should be the most beautiful, as that women should be the most energetic and capable of labour. That is a useful hint. But it is no reason against the practice of weighing a heavy weight and a light one in the same scales, to allege that the one is heavy and the other is light.
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