enious mechanical contrivances for arresting the
march of time or that physical decay of which we are all victims.
Sometimes they may be said to have indulged in an over-wrought technique,
which may be the reason why we are told that every woman is at heart a
decadent. Otto Weininger certainly thought so. I have always regretted
that the male sex was precluded by prejudice from following their
example. I regret somewhat acutely the desuetude of the periwig.

So we can take an example from women--they are so often our theme, let
them be our examples in a symbolical sense. If we choose, we too can
remain young intellectually, sensitive to new impressions, new impulses
and new revelations, whether of science or art. The Greeks of the fifth
century, and even of the age of St. Paul, preserved their youth by
cultivating the superb gift of curiosity, delightful anxiety about the
present and future. William Morris once described the Whigs as careless
of the past, ignorant of the present, and fearful of the future. Whatever
your politics are, do not be like the Whigs as described by William
Morris. Cultivate a feminine curiosity. I used to be told the old story
of Blue Beard as a warning against that particular failing. I see in it
a much profounder moral. It is the emancipation of woman; and asserts
her right, if not to vote, at least to be curious. Her curiosity rid the
world of a monster, and in her curiosity we see the nucleus of the new
drama. That little blood-stained key unlocked for us the cupboard where
the family skeleton had been left too long in the cold; it was time that
he joined the festive board, or, at least, appeared on the boards: and
now, I am glad to say, he has done so; and he is called new-fangled. Do
not let us call things 'new-fangled.' New-fangled medicine probably
saves fifty per cent. of the population from premature death. Do not
speak of the 'crudity of youth.' Youth is sometimes crude. It is better
than being rude. It is an error to mock at the single virtue a possible
offender may possess. I observe that men of science remain younger
intellectually, and even physically, than artists or men of letters. I
believe it is because to them science is always full of surprises and
fresh impressions. They know there is practically no end to their
knowledge; and that in the study of science there is no decay, whatever
they may detect in the crust of the earth or on the face of heaven. Th