Conclusion

On knowing nature's syntax: Preliminary cisness, victorian physiology and George Eliot

“…29 He warns that girls who expend their energy on 'excessive study' rather than the cultivation of their physical bodies will not 'grow up well-made and healthy', but rather 'pale, angular, [and] flat-chested'. 30 This 'physical degeneracy' is a concern because men 'care little for erudition in woman' but 'very much for physical beauty': over-educated girls are 'not unfrequently doom[ed] to celibacy'. 31 That is, secondary sex characteristics require a certain kind of upbringing for their physical development; properly sexed, reproductive adulthood does not come as 'naturally' as one might think.…”

“…30 This 'physical degeneracy' is a concern because men 'care little for erudition in woman' but 'very much for physical beauty': over-educated girls are 'not unfrequently doom[ed] to celibacy'. 31 That is, secondary sex characteristics require a certain kind of upbringing for their physical development; properly sexed, reproductive adulthood does not come as 'naturally' as one might think. Spencer admits that some may find his claims 'derogatory', but he rejoins by doubling down: to 'sacrifice the body to the mind' is to forget that '[Nature's] supreme end' is the 'welfare of posterity'.…”

“…83 A physiologist might theorise that her bodily economy had diverted too much energy to her public vocation for her to be properly, physically womanly; she 'sacrifice [d] the body to the mind', and, as Spencer warned, condemned herself to 'physical degeneracy' and a curtailed reproductive future. 84 The narrator is quick to note, though, that 'Nature' does not have 'theatrical properties' and thus does not '"[make] up" her characters, so that there may be no mistake about them'. 85 Nature does not offer straightforward meaning in the physical body.…”