FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[134]Cf. the preceding chapter, p. 140. See alsoHistoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne, Tom. I, p. 317, par. M. Delambre, Paris, 1817.[135]"Calor etiam solis in hieme maior est sub terra quam super terram, quod si tunc frigus tantum esset sub terra quam super terram, vel si in æstate calor tantus esset sub terra quantus est super terram, de immoderatione ista terra tota scinderetur."Hildegardis Causæ et Curæ, p. 7, Lipsiæ, 1903.[136]Commentaire de Theon d'Alexandrie, p. X, translated by the Abbé Halma, Paris, 1882.[137]"Enfin de leur faire connoistre qu'elles ne sont pas incapable de l'estude, si elles s'en vouloient donner la peine puisqu'entre le cerveau d'une femme et celui d'un homme il n'y a aucune difference." Cf.Journal de Savans, Tom. III, p. 304, à Amsterdam, 1687.[138]D'ou vient qu'elle a l'œil troublé et le teint si terni?C'est que sur le calcul, dit-on, de Cassini,Un astrolabe à la main, elle a, dans la gouttière,A suivre Jupiter passé la nuit entière.[139]"Celebre inter observatores hujus ævi nomen adeptus est Godfredus Kirchius, astronomus nuper regius in Societate Scienciarum Berlinensi; mense Julio A, 1710 mortuus. Ejus vidua, Maria Magdalena Winckelmannia, non minore in observando et calculo astronomico dexteritate pollet, ac in utroque labore maritum, cum viveret, fideliter juvit ... quod laudi ducitur fœminæ ea animo comprehendisse, quæ sine ingenii vi studiique assiduitate non comprehenduntur,"Acta Eruditorum, pp. 78, 79, Lipsiæ, 1712.[140]Préface HistoriquetoPrincipes Mathématiques de la Philosophie Naturellepar feue Madame la Marquise du Chastellet, Tom. I, p. V, Paris, 1759.[141]The Unpublished Correspondence of Madame du Deffand, Vol. I, pp. 202-203, London, 1810.[142]Mme. du Deffand's venomous letter, somewhat abridged, reads as follows: "Imagine a tall, hard and withered woman, narrow-chested, with large limbs, enormous feet, a very small head, a thin face, a pointed nose, two small sea-green eyes, her color dark, her complexion florid, her mouth flat, her teeth set far apart and very much decayed; there is the figure of the beautiful Émilie, a figure with which she is so well pleased that she spares nothing for the sake of setting it off. Her manner of dressing her hair, her adornments, her top-knots, her jewelry, all are in profusion; but, as she wishes to be lovely in spite of nature, and as she wishes to appear magnificent in spite of fortune, she is obliged, in order to obtain superfluities, to go without necessaries such as under-garments and other trifles."She was born with sufficient intellect, and the desire to appear as though she had a great deal made her prefer to study the most abstract sciences rather than more general and pleasant branches of knowledge. She thought she would gain a greater reputation by this peculiarity and a more decided superiority over other women."She did not limit herself to this ambition. She wished to be a princess as well, and she became so, not by the grace of God nor by that of the King, but by her own act. This absurdity went on like the others. One became accustomed to regard her as a princess of the theatre, and one almost forgot that she was a woman of rank."Madame worked so hard to appear what she was not that no one knew what she really was. Even her faults were perhaps not natural. They may have had something to do with her pretensions, her want of respect with regard to the state of princess, her dullness in that ofsavante, and her stupidity in that of ajolie femme."However much of a celebrity Mme. du Châtelet may be, she would not be satisfied if she were not celebrated, and that is what she desired in becoming the friend of M. de Voltaire. To him she owes theéclatof her life, and it is to him that she will owe immortality." SeeLettres de la Marquise du Deffand à Horace Walpole, Tom. I, pp. 200-201, Paris, 1824.As a contrast to this atrocious caricature, it is but due to the memory of Mme. du Châtelet to give her portrait by Voltaire, to whom she was ever the beautiful, the charming Urania, the"Vaste et puissante génie,Minerve de la France, immortelle Émilie."It is contained in the following verses:"L'esprit sublime et la delicatesse,L'oubli charmante de sa propre beautéL'amitié tendre et l'amour emportéSont les attraits de ma belle maîtresse."If the whole truth were known, it would, doubtless, be found somewhere between the above extreme and contradictory views, and the cause of the caustic statements of Mesdames de Staël and du Deffand would probably be found to be quite accurately expressed in the first part of Voltaire'sEpistle on Calumny, which was written about the beginning of his particular relationship with "the divine Émilie." The first lines of this epistle, as translated by Smollett, are:"Since beautiful, 'twill be your fate,Emelia, to incur much hate;Almost one-half of human raceWill even curse you to your face;Possesst of genius, noblest fire,With fear you will each breast inspire;As you too easily confide,You'll often be betrayed, belied;You ne'er of virtue made parade,To hypocrites no court you've paid,Therefore, of Calumny beware,Foe to the virtuous and the fair."[143]In his work onComets, Clairaut at first gave Mme. Lepaute full credit for her work which had been of such inestimable service to himself; but, in order to gratify a woman who, having pretensions without knowledge, was very jealous of the superior attainments of Mme. Lepaute, he had the weakness subsequently to suppress his generous tribute to merit. Commenting on this strange conduct of his assistant, Lalande expresses himself as follows: "We know that it is not rare to see ordinary women depreciate those who have knowledge, tax them with pedantry and contest their merit in order to avenge themselves upon them for their superiority. The latter are so few in number that the others have almost succeeded in making them conceal their acquirements."[144]Bibliographie Astronomique, pp. 676-687, par Jérôme de la Lande, Paris, 1803.[145]Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, p. 144, by Mrs. John Herschel, London, 1879.[146]So sensitive was Miss Herschel in her old age regarding the reputation of her brother, William, who had always been her idol and the one in whom she had concentrated all her affection, that she came to look askance at every person and thing that seemed calculated to dull the glory of his achievements. Thus her niece, in writing to Sir John Herschel, after her death, declares: "She looked upon progress in science as so much detraction from her brother's fame; and, even your investigations would have become a source of estrangement had she been with you." In a letter to Sir John Herschel, written four years before her death, she exhibits, in an amusing fashion, her jealous spirit anent the great telescope of Lord Rosse. "They talk of nothing here at the clubs," she writes, "but of the great mirror and the great man who made it. I have but one answer for all—Der Kerl ist ein Narr—the fellow is a fool."Even "Every word said in her own praise seemed to be so much taken away from the honour due to her brother. She had lived so many years in companionship with a truly great man, and in the presence of the unfathomable depths of the starry heavens, that praise of herself seemed childish exaggeration." And notwithstanding the honor and recognition which she received from learned men and learned societies for her truly remarkable astronomical labors, her dominant idea was always the same—"I am nothing. I have done nothing. All I am, all I know, I owe to my brother. I am only a tool which he shaped to his use—a well-trained puppy-dog would have done as much." Op. cit., pp. IX, 335 and 346.[147]Op. cit., p. 224.[148]Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, ut. sup., pp. 226-227.[149]Maria Mitchell, Life, Letters and Journals, compiled by Phebe Mitchell Kendall, p. 267 et seq., Boston, 1896.[150]Miss Klumpke, the reader may be interested in knowing, belongs to a singularly gifted family. Her sister, Augusta, is a distinguished physician and an authority on nervous diseases. Hers is the glory to be the first woman permitted, after an exceptionally severe examination, to serve asinternein the Paris hospitals. Julia, her youngest sister, who achieved distinction as a violinist with Ysaye, was one of the first to pass the examination required of women entering the ParisLycées, while Anna, the eldest, has won fame as an artist, and as the friend, heiress and executrix of France's famous daughter, Rosa Bonheur.

[134]Cf. the preceding chapter, p. 140. See alsoHistoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne, Tom. I, p. 317, par. M. Delambre, Paris, 1817.

[135]"Calor etiam solis in hieme maior est sub terra quam super terram, quod si tunc frigus tantum esset sub terra quam super terram, vel si in æstate calor tantus esset sub terra quantus est super terram, de immoderatione ista terra tota scinderetur."Hildegardis Causæ et Curæ, p. 7, Lipsiæ, 1903.

[136]Commentaire de Theon d'Alexandrie, p. X, translated by the Abbé Halma, Paris, 1882.

[137]"Enfin de leur faire connoistre qu'elles ne sont pas incapable de l'estude, si elles s'en vouloient donner la peine puisqu'entre le cerveau d'une femme et celui d'un homme il n'y a aucune difference." Cf.Journal de Savans, Tom. III, p. 304, à Amsterdam, 1687.

[138]D'ou vient qu'elle a l'œil troublé et le teint si terni?C'est que sur le calcul, dit-on, de Cassini,Un astrolabe à la main, elle a, dans la gouttière,A suivre Jupiter passé la nuit entière.

[138]

D'ou vient qu'elle a l'œil troublé et le teint si terni?C'est que sur le calcul, dit-on, de Cassini,Un astrolabe à la main, elle a, dans la gouttière,A suivre Jupiter passé la nuit entière.

[139]"Celebre inter observatores hujus ævi nomen adeptus est Godfredus Kirchius, astronomus nuper regius in Societate Scienciarum Berlinensi; mense Julio A, 1710 mortuus. Ejus vidua, Maria Magdalena Winckelmannia, non minore in observando et calculo astronomico dexteritate pollet, ac in utroque labore maritum, cum viveret, fideliter juvit ... quod laudi ducitur fœminæ ea animo comprehendisse, quæ sine ingenii vi studiique assiduitate non comprehenduntur,"Acta Eruditorum, pp. 78, 79, Lipsiæ, 1712.

[140]Préface HistoriquetoPrincipes Mathématiques de la Philosophie Naturellepar feue Madame la Marquise du Chastellet, Tom. I, p. V, Paris, 1759.

[141]The Unpublished Correspondence of Madame du Deffand, Vol. I, pp. 202-203, London, 1810.

[142]Mme. du Deffand's venomous letter, somewhat abridged, reads as follows: "Imagine a tall, hard and withered woman, narrow-chested, with large limbs, enormous feet, a very small head, a thin face, a pointed nose, two small sea-green eyes, her color dark, her complexion florid, her mouth flat, her teeth set far apart and very much decayed; there is the figure of the beautiful Émilie, a figure with which she is so well pleased that she spares nothing for the sake of setting it off. Her manner of dressing her hair, her adornments, her top-knots, her jewelry, all are in profusion; but, as she wishes to be lovely in spite of nature, and as she wishes to appear magnificent in spite of fortune, she is obliged, in order to obtain superfluities, to go without necessaries such as under-garments and other trifles."She was born with sufficient intellect, and the desire to appear as though she had a great deal made her prefer to study the most abstract sciences rather than more general and pleasant branches of knowledge. She thought she would gain a greater reputation by this peculiarity and a more decided superiority over other women."She did not limit herself to this ambition. She wished to be a princess as well, and she became so, not by the grace of God nor by that of the King, but by her own act. This absurdity went on like the others. One became accustomed to regard her as a princess of the theatre, and one almost forgot that she was a woman of rank."Madame worked so hard to appear what she was not that no one knew what she really was. Even her faults were perhaps not natural. They may have had something to do with her pretensions, her want of respect with regard to the state of princess, her dullness in that ofsavante, and her stupidity in that of ajolie femme."However much of a celebrity Mme. du Châtelet may be, she would not be satisfied if she were not celebrated, and that is what she desired in becoming the friend of M. de Voltaire. To him she owes theéclatof her life, and it is to him that she will owe immortality." SeeLettres de la Marquise du Deffand à Horace Walpole, Tom. I, pp. 200-201, Paris, 1824.As a contrast to this atrocious caricature, it is but due to the memory of Mme. du Châtelet to give her portrait by Voltaire, to whom she was ever the beautiful, the charming Urania, the"Vaste et puissante génie,Minerve de la France, immortelle Émilie."It is contained in the following verses:"L'esprit sublime et la delicatesse,L'oubli charmante de sa propre beautéL'amitié tendre et l'amour emportéSont les attraits de ma belle maîtresse."If the whole truth were known, it would, doubtless, be found somewhere between the above extreme and contradictory views, and the cause of the caustic statements of Mesdames de Staël and du Deffand would probably be found to be quite accurately expressed in the first part of Voltaire'sEpistle on Calumny, which was written about the beginning of his particular relationship with "the divine Émilie." The first lines of this epistle, as translated by Smollett, are:"Since beautiful, 'twill be your fate,Emelia, to incur much hate;Almost one-half of human raceWill even curse you to your face;Possesst of genius, noblest fire,With fear you will each breast inspire;As you too easily confide,You'll often be betrayed, belied;You ne'er of virtue made parade,To hypocrites no court you've paid,Therefore, of Calumny beware,Foe to the virtuous and the fair."

"She was born with sufficient intellect, and the desire to appear as though she had a great deal made her prefer to study the most abstract sciences rather than more general and pleasant branches of knowledge. She thought she would gain a greater reputation by this peculiarity and a more decided superiority over other women.

"She did not limit herself to this ambition. She wished to be a princess as well, and she became so, not by the grace of God nor by that of the King, but by her own act. This absurdity went on like the others. One became accustomed to regard her as a princess of the theatre, and one almost forgot that she was a woman of rank.

"Madame worked so hard to appear what she was not that no one knew what she really was. Even her faults were perhaps not natural. They may have had something to do with her pretensions, her want of respect with regard to the state of princess, her dullness in that ofsavante, and her stupidity in that of ajolie femme.

"However much of a celebrity Mme. du Châtelet may be, she would not be satisfied if she were not celebrated, and that is what she desired in becoming the friend of M. de Voltaire. To him she owes theéclatof her life, and it is to him that she will owe immortality." SeeLettres de la Marquise du Deffand à Horace Walpole, Tom. I, pp. 200-201, Paris, 1824.

As a contrast to this atrocious caricature, it is but due to the memory of Mme. du Châtelet to give her portrait by Voltaire, to whom she was ever the beautiful, the charming Urania, the

"Vaste et puissante génie,Minerve de la France, immortelle Émilie."

It is contained in the following verses:

"L'esprit sublime et la delicatesse,L'oubli charmante de sa propre beautéL'amitié tendre et l'amour emportéSont les attraits de ma belle maîtresse."

If the whole truth were known, it would, doubtless, be found somewhere between the above extreme and contradictory views, and the cause of the caustic statements of Mesdames de Staël and du Deffand would probably be found to be quite accurately expressed in the first part of Voltaire'sEpistle on Calumny, which was written about the beginning of his particular relationship with "the divine Émilie." The first lines of this epistle, as translated by Smollett, are:

"Since beautiful, 'twill be your fate,Emelia, to incur much hate;Almost one-half of human raceWill even curse you to your face;Possesst of genius, noblest fire,With fear you will each breast inspire;As you too easily confide,You'll often be betrayed, belied;You ne'er of virtue made parade,To hypocrites no court you've paid,Therefore, of Calumny beware,Foe to the virtuous and the fair."

[143]In his work onComets, Clairaut at first gave Mme. Lepaute full credit for her work which had been of such inestimable service to himself; but, in order to gratify a woman who, having pretensions without knowledge, was very jealous of the superior attainments of Mme. Lepaute, he had the weakness subsequently to suppress his generous tribute to merit. Commenting on this strange conduct of his assistant, Lalande expresses himself as follows: "We know that it is not rare to see ordinary women depreciate those who have knowledge, tax them with pedantry and contest their merit in order to avenge themselves upon them for their superiority. The latter are so few in number that the others have almost succeeded in making them conceal their acquirements."

[144]Bibliographie Astronomique, pp. 676-687, par Jérôme de la Lande, Paris, 1803.

[145]Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, p. 144, by Mrs. John Herschel, London, 1879.

[146]So sensitive was Miss Herschel in her old age regarding the reputation of her brother, William, who had always been her idol and the one in whom she had concentrated all her affection, that she came to look askance at every person and thing that seemed calculated to dull the glory of his achievements. Thus her niece, in writing to Sir John Herschel, after her death, declares: "She looked upon progress in science as so much detraction from her brother's fame; and, even your investigations would have become a source of estrangement had she been with you." In a letter to Sir John Herschel, written four years before her death, she exhibits, in an amusing fashion, her jealous spirit anent the great telescope of Lord Rosse. "They talk of nothing here at the clubs," she writes, "but of the great mirror and the great man who made it. I have but one answer for all—Der Kerl ist ein Narr—the fellow is a fool."Even "Every word said in her own praise seemed to be so much taken away from the honour due to her brother. She had lived so many years in companionship with a truly great man, and in the presence of the unfathomable depths of the starry heavens, that praise of herself seemed childish exaggeration." And notwithstanding the honor and recognition which she received from learned men and learned societies for her truly remarkable astronomical labors, her dominant idea was always the same—"I am nothing. I have done nothing. All I am, all I know, I owe to my brother. I am only a tool which he shaped to his use—a well-trained puppy-dog would have done as much." Op. cit., pp. IX, 335 and 346.

Even "Every word said in her own praise seemed to be so much taken away from the honour due to her brother. She had lived so many years in companionship with a truly great man, and in the presence of the unfathomable depths of the starry heavens, that praise of herself seemed childish exaggeration." And notwithstanding the honor and recognition which she received from learned men and learned societies for her truly remarkable astronomical labors, her dominant idea was always the same—"I am nothing. I have done nothing. All I am, all I know, I owe to my brother. I am only a tool which he shaped to his use—a well-trained puppy-dog would have done as much." Op. cit., pp. IX, 335 and 346.

[147]Op. cit., p. 224.

[148]Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, ut. sup., pp. 226-227.

[149]Maria Mitchell, Life, Letters and Journals, compiled by Phebe Mitchell Kendall, p. 267 et seq., Boston, 1896.

[150]Miss Klumpke, the reader may be interested in knowing, belongs to a singularly gifted family. Her sister, Augusta, is a distinguished physician and an authority on nervous diseases. Hers is the glory to be the first woman permitted, after an exceptionally severe examination, to serve asinternein the Paris hospitals. Julia, her youngest sister, who achieved distinction as a violinist with Ysaye, was one of the first to pass the examination required of women entering the ParisLycées, while Anna, the eldest, has won fame as an artist, and as the friend, heiress and executrix of France's famous daughter, Rosa Bonheur.

Physics, being one of the inductive sciences, received little attention until modern times. True, the Greeks were familiar with some of the fundamental facts of the mechanics of solids and fluids, and had some notions respecting the various physical forces; but their knowledge of what until recently was known as natural philosophy was extremely limited. Aristotle, Pythagoras and Archimedes were among the most successful investigators of their time respecting the laws and properties of matter, and contributed materially to the advancement of knowledge regarding the phenomena of the material universe; but the sum total of their information of what we now know as physics could be embodied in a few pages.

In view of the foregoing facts, we should not expect to find women engaged in the study, much less in the teaching, of physical science during ancient times. And yet, if we are to credit Boccaccio, who bases his statements on those of early Greek writers, there was at least one woman that won distinction by her knowledge of natural philosophy as early as the days of Socrates. In his work,De Laudibus Mulierum, which treats of the achievements of some of the illustrious representatives of the gentler sex, the genial author of theDecamerongives special praise to one Arete of Cyrene for the breadth and variety of her attainments. She was the daughter of Aristippus, the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, and is represented as being a veritable prodigy of learning. For among her manyclaims to distinction she is said to have publicly taught natural and moral philosophy in the schools and academies of Attica for thirty-five years, to have written forty books, and to have counted among her pupils one hundred and ten philosophers. She was so highly esteemed by her countrymen that they inscribed on her tomb an epitaph which declared that she was the splendor of Greece and possessed the beauty of Helen, the virtue of Thirma, the pen of Aristippus, the soul of Socrates, and the tongue of Homer.[151]

This is high praise, indeed, but, when we recollect that Arete lived during the golden age of Greek learning and culture, that she had exceptional opportunities of acquiring knowledge in every department of intellectual effort; when we recall the large number of women who, in their time, distinguished themselves by their learning and accomplishment, and reflect on the advantages they enjoyed as pupils of the ablest teachers of the Lyceum, the Portico, and the Academy; when we remember further that they lived in an atmosphere of intelligence such as has since been unknown; when we call to mind the signal success that rewarded the pursuit of knowledge by the scores of women mentioned by Athenæus and other Greek writers; when we peruse the fragmentary notices of their achievements as recorded in the pages of more recent investigators regarding the educational facilities of a certain class ofwomen living in Athens and the eminence which they attained in science, philosophy and literature, we can realize that the character and amount of Arete's work as an author and as a teacher have not been overestimated.

Living in an age of prodigious mental activity, when women, as well as men, were actuated by an abiding love of knowledge for its own sake, there is nothing surprising in finding a woman like Arete commanding the admiration of her countrymen by her learning and eloquence. For was not the learned and eloquent Aspasia her contemporary? And did not Theano, the wife of Pythagoras, take charge of her husband's school after his death; and does not antiquity credit her with being not only a successful teacher of philosophy, but also a writer of books of recognized value? Such being the case, what is there incredible in the statements made by ancient writers regarding the literary activity of Arete, and about her eminence as a teacher of science and philosophy? She was but one of many of the Greek women of her age that won renown by their gifts of intellect and by their contributions to the educational work of their time and country.

Better known than Arete, but probably not superior to her as a teacher or writer, was the illustrious Hypatia of Alexandria. She, too, like her distinguished predecessor in Athens, was an instructor in natural philosophy, as well as other branches of science. Of her we know more than we do of the daughter of Aristippus, but even our knowledge of the acquisitions and achievements of Hypatia is, unfortunately, extremely meager. We do, however, know from the historian, Socrates, and from Synesius, bishop of Ptolemais, who was her pupil, that she was one of the most richly dowered women of all time. Born and educated in Alexandria when its schools and scholars were the most celebrated in the world, she was even at an early age regarded as a marvel of learning. For, not satisfied with excelling her father, Theon, in mathematics, of which hewas a distinguished professor, she, as Suidas informs us, devoted herself to the study of philosophy with such success that she was soon regarded as the ablest living exponent of the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle. "Her knowledge," writes the historian, Socrates, "was so great that she far surpassed all the philosophers of her time. And succeeding Plotinus, in the Platonic school which he had founded in the city of Alexandria, she taught all the branches of philosophy with such signal success that students flocked to her in crowds from all parts."[152]Her home, as well as her lecture room, was the resort of the most noted scholars of the day, and was, with the exception of the Library and the Museum, the most frequented intellectual center of the great city of learning and culture. Small wonder, then, that her contemporaries lauded her as an oracle and as the most brilliant luminary in Alexandria's splendid galaxy of thinkers and scholars—sapientis artis sidus integerrimum.

Among the many inventions attributed to Hypatia, besides the planisphere and astrolabe which she designed for the use of astronomers, are several employed in the study of natural philosophy. Probably the most useful of these is an areometer mentioned by her pupil Synesius. He calls it a hydroscope and describes it as having the form and size of a flute, and graduated in such wise that it can be used for determining the density of liquids. That Hypatia was thoroughly familiar with the science of natural philosophy, as then known, there can be no doubt. That she also contributed materially to its advancement, as well as tothat of astronomy, in which she always exhibited a special interest, there is every reason to believe.[153]

After the death of Hypatia, the study of natural philosophy was almost entirely neglected for more than a thousand years. The first woman in modern times to attract attention by her discussion of physical problems was the famous Marquise du Châtelet, although she was better known as a mathematician and as the translator into the French of Newton'sPrincipia. In her château at Cirey she had a well-equipped physical cabinet in which she took special delight. But in her time, as in that of Hypatia, natural philosophy was far from being the broad experimental science which it has become through the marvelous discoveries made in heat, light, electricity and magnetism during the last hundred years, as well as through those countless brilliant investigations which have led up to our present doctrine of the correlation and conservation of the various physical forces. There was then no occasion for those delicate instruments of precision which are now found in every physical laboratory by means of which the man of science is able to investigate phenomena and determine laws that were quite unknown until a few years ago.

In the time of Mme. du Châtelet, as during the century following, natural philosophy consisted rather in the mechanical and mathematical than in the physical study of nature. This is illustrated by the title of the great work on the translation of which she spent the best years of her life—Newton's immortalPhilosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

The Marquise's first scientific work was an investigation regarding the nature of fire. The French Academy ofSciences had offered a prize for the best memoir on the subject. Among the contestants for the coveted honor were the chatelaine of Cirey and the celebrated Swiss mathematician, Leonard Euler. The Marquise was unsuccessful in the contest, but her paper was of such value that the eminent physicist and astronomer, Arago, was able to characterize it as an "elegant piece of work, embracing all the facts relating to the subject then known to science and containing among the experiments suggested one which proved so fecund in the hands of Herschel." In this remarkableMémoire sur le Feu, which is printed in theCollectionsof the Academy, the Marquise anticipates the results of subsequent researches of others by maintaining that both heat and light have the same cause, or, as we should now say, are both modes of motion.

The second book written by this remarkable woman is entitledInstitutions de Physique, and was dedicated to her son, for whose benefit it was primarily written. It deals specially with the philosophy of Leibnitz and discusses such questions as force, time and space. Her views respecting the nature of the force calledvis viva, which was much discussed in her time, are of particular interest, as they are not only opposed to those which were held by Descartes and Newton, but also because they are in essential accord with those now accepted in the world of science.

All things considered, the Marquise du Châtelet deservedly takes high rank in the history of mathematical physics. In this department of science she has had few, if any, superiors among her own sex. And, when we recollect that she labored while the foundations of dynamics were still being laid, we shall more readily appreciate the difficulties she had to contend with and the distinct service which her researches and writings rendered to the cause of natural philosophy among her contemporaries.

The first woman to occupy a chair of physics in a university was the famous daughter of Italy, Laura MariaCatarina Bassi. She was born in Bologna in 1711—but five years after the birth of Madame du Châtelet—and from her most tender years she exhibited an exceptional facility for the acquisition of knowledge.

After she had, through the assistance of excellent masters, become proficient in French and Latin, she took up the study of logic, metaphysics and natural philosophy. In all these branches of learning her progress was so rapid that it far exceeded the fondest expectations of her parents and teachers. Thanks to a wonderful memory and a highly developed reasoning faculty, she was able, while still a young maiden, to prove herself the possessor of knowledge that is ordinarily obtained only in the maturity of age and after long years of systematic study.

When she had attained the twenty-first year of her age she was induced by her family and friends—much against her own inclination, however—to take part in a public disputation on philosophy. Her entering the lists against some of the most distinguished scholars of the time was made the occasion for an unusual demonstration in her honor. The hall of the university in which such intellectual jousts were generally held was too small for the multitude that was eager to witness the young girl's formal appearance among the scholars and the notables of the old university city. It was, accordingly, arranged that the disputation should be held in the great hall of the public Palace of the Senators.

Among the vast assemblage present at the disputation were Cardinal Grimaldi, the papal legate; Cardinal Archbishop Lambertini, afterwards Pope Benedict XIV; the gonfalonier, senators, literati from far and near, leading members of the nobility and representatives of all the religious orders.

When the argumentation began the young girl found herself pitted against five of the most distinguished scholars of Bologna. But she was fully equal to the occasion andpassed the ordeal to which she was subjected in a manner that excited the admiration and won the plaudits of all present. Cardinal Lambertini was so impressed with the brilliant defence which she had made against the five trained dialecticians and the evidence she gave of varied and profound learning that he paid her a special visit the next day in her own home to renew his congratulations on her signal triumph and to encourage her to continue the prosecution of her studies.

In less than a month after this interesting event Laura Bassi, in response to the expressed desire of the whole of Bologna, presented herself as a candidate for the doctorate in philosophy. This was the occasion for a still more brilliant and imposing ceremony. It was held in the spacious Hall of Hercules in the Communal Palace, which was magnificently decorated for the splendid function. In addition to the distinguished personages who had been spectators of the fair student's triumph a few weeks before, there was present in the vast audience the noted French ecclesiastic, Cardinal Polignac, who was on his way from Rome to France.

The heroine of the hour, dressed in a black gown, was ushered into the great hall, preceded by two college beadles and accompanied by two of the most prominent ladies of the Bolognese nobility. She was given a seat between the chancellor and the prior of the university, who, in turn, were flanked by the professors and officials of the institution.

After the usual preliminaries of the function were over the prior of the university, Doctor Bazzani, rose and pronounced an eloquent discourse in Latin to which Laura made a suitable response in the same language. She was then crowned with a laurel wreath exquisitely wrought in silver, and had thrown round her thevajo, or university gown, both symbols of the doctorate. After this the young doctor proceeded to where the three cardinals were seated,and in delicately chosen words, also in Latin, expressed to them her thanks for the honor of their presence. All then withdrew to the apartments of the gonfalonier, where refreshments were served in sumptuous style, after which the youngLaureata, accompanied by a numerous cortege and applauded by the entire city, was escorted to her home.

So profound was the impression made on the university senate by the deep erudition of Laura Bassi that it was eager to secure her services in its teaching body. But, before she could be offered a chair in the institution, long-established custom required that she should pass a public examination on the subject matter which she was to teach. Five examiners were chosen by lot, and all of them proved to be men whose names, says Fantuzzi, "will always be held by our university in glorious remembrance." They had all to promise under oath that the candidate for the chair should have no knowledge before the examination of the questions which were to be asked, and that the test of the aspirant's qualifications to fill the position sought should be absolutely free from any suspicion of favoritism or partiality.

Notwithstanding the difficulties she had to confront, Laura acquitted herself with even greater credit than on former occasions of a similar character. There was no question in the mind of any one present at the examination of the candidate's ability to fill the chair of physics, and it was, accordingly, offered to her by acclamation.

The first public lecture of the gifted youngdottoressawas made the occasion of a demonstration such as the old walls of the university had rarely witnessed. Her lecture room was thronged by the élite of the city, as well as by a large class of enthusiastic students. All were charmed by her eloquence and amazed at the complete mastery she evinced of the subject she had selected for discussion. From that day forth her reputation as a scholar and a teacher was established, and her lectures were attended by appreciativestudents from all parts of Europe. She was especially popular with the students from Greece, Germany and Poland, and her popularity, far from waning, waxed greater with the passing years.

At the time of Laura's entering upon her professional career the senate of Bologna had a medal coined in her honor, on the obverse of which was her name and effigy, while on the reverse there was an image of Minerva, with the inscription,Soli cui fas vidisse Minervam.

Far from interrupting her studies, which had hitherto been the joy of her life, Laura's university work gave new zest to the literary and scientific pursuits which had always such a fascination for her. Among the subjects that specially engaged her attention were studies so diverse as Greek and the higher mathematics. She was particularly interested in the great physico-mathematical work of Newton, and did not rest until she had thoroughly mastered the contents of his epoch-makingPrincipia.

A few years after she had become a member of the university faculty Laura was a European celebrity, and no one eminent by learning or birth passed through Bologna without availing himself of the opportunity of making the acquaintance of so extraordinary a woman. Men of science and letters vied with princes and emperors in doing honor to one who was looked upon by many as being, like Arete of old, endowed with a soul and a genius far above that of ordinary mortals, and as being the possessor of a talent that indicated something superhuman.

Laura Bassi was in constant correspondence with the most celebrated scholars of Europe, and more especially with those who had attained eminence in her special line of work. Among the letters received from her illustrious correspondents were two from Voltaire. They were written shortly after the author had been refused admittance into the French academy. He then bethought himself of securing membership in the Academy of Sciences ofBologna. This, he reasoned, would be a splendid tribute to the versatility of his genius and would, at the same time, be a biting satire on the demigods of French literature who had dared to exclude him from their society.

That he might not meet the same refusal on the part of the Academy of Bologna as he had experienced in Paris, Voltaire determined not to rely entirely on the good will of the male members of the Bolognese academy. He accordingly resolved to enlist the services of Laura Bassi, who was one of the leading members of this distinguished body, and trust to her influence in his behalf on the hearts of her colleagues.

The first letter, written in Italian, is so characteristic of the writer that it will bear reproduction.

"Most Illustrious Lady," he writes from Paris, the 23d of November, 1744, "I have been wishing to journey to Bologna in order to be able one day to tell my countrymen I have seen Signora Bassi; but, being deprived of this honor, let it at least be permitted me to place at your feet this philosophic homage and to salute the honor of her age and of women. There is not a Bassi in London, and I should be more happy to be a member of the Academy of Bologna than of that of the English, although it has produced a Newton. If your protection should obtain for me this title, of which I am so ambitious, the gratitude of my heart will be equal to my admiration for yourself. I beg you to excuse the style of a foreigner who presumes to write you in Italian, but who is as great an admirer of yours as if he were born in Bologna."

The second letter of Voltaire is in response to one received from Laura Bassi announcing that he had been elected to membership in the Bologna Academy. The first sentence of it suffices to indicate its tenor. "Nothing," he writes, "was ever more grateful to me than to receive from your hand the first advice that I had the honor, by means of your favor, of being united by this new link toone who had already bound me to her car by all the chains of esteem and admiration."[154]

Like so many of her gifted sisters of sunny Italy, Laura was in every way "a perfect woman nobly planned." Of a deeply religious nature, she was as pious as she was intelligent, and was throughout her life the devoted friend of the poor and the afflicted. The mother of twelve children, she never permitted her scientific and literary work to conflict with her domestic duties or to detract in the least from the singular affection which so closely united her to her husband and children. She was as much at home with the needle and the spindle as she was with her books and the apparatus of her laboratory. And she was equally admirable whether superintending her household, looking after her children, entertaining the great and the learned of the world, or in holding the rapt attention of her students in the lecture room. She was, indeed, a living proof that higher education is not incompatible with woman's natural avocations; and that cerebral development does not lead to race suicide and all the other dire results attributed to it by a certain class of our modern sociologists and anti-feminists.

Considering her manifold duties as a professor in the university and the mother of a large family, it was scarcely to be expected that Laura Bassi would have much time for writing for the press. She was, however, able to devote some of her leisure moments to the cultivation of the Muses, of whom, Fantuzzi informs us, she was a favorite. Her verses, as well as her contributions to the science of physics, are scattered through various publications, but they suffice to show that the accounts of her transmitted to us by her contemporaries were not exaggerated.[155]

A learned French traveler who visited Laura in Bologna describes her as having a face that was sweet, serious and modest. Her eyes were dark and sparkling, and she was blessed with a powerful memory, a solid judgment, and a ready imagination. "She conversed fluently with me in Latin for an hour with grace and precision. She is very proficient in metaphysics; but she prefers modern physics, particularly that of Newton."

How many of our college women of to-day could readily carry on a conversation in Latin, if this were the sole medium of communication, or discuss the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle in the tongue of Cicero, or give public lectures on the physico-mathematical discoveries of Descartes and Newton in what was the universal language of the learned world, even less than a century ago?

It must not, however, be inferred from the foregoing statements regarding the great intellectual capacity of Laura Bassi or the enthusiastic demonstrations that were so frequently made in her honor that she was unique in this respect among her countrywomen. Special attention has been called to her as a type of the large number of her sex who, by their learning and culture, graced the courts and honored the universities of her country for full ten centuries. Scarcely had death removed Laura Bassi from a career in which for twenty-eight years she had won the plaudits of the whole of Europe, when the University of Bologna welcomed to its learned halls two other women who, in their respective lines of research, were fully as eminent as their departed countrywoman. These were Maria dalle Donne, for whom Napoleon established a chair of obstetrics, and Clotilda Tambroni, the famous professor of Greek, of whom a noted Hellenist declared, "Only threepersons in Europe are able to write Greek as well as she does, and not more than fifteen are able to understand her."

Burckhardt, in his thoughtful work on the culture of the Italian Renaissance, has a paragraph which expresses, in a few words, what was always the attitude of the Italian father toward the education of his daughter.

"The education of the woman of the upper class was absolutely the same as that of the man. The Italian of the Renaissance did not for a moment hesitate to give his son and daughter the same literary and philosophical training. He considered the knowledge of the works of antiquity life's greatest good, and he could not, therefore, deny to woman participation in such knowledge. Hence the perfection attained by the daughters of noble families in writing and speaking Latin."[156]

This attitude of the members of the nobility toward the education of their daughters was essentially the same as that of the universities of Italy toward women who had a thirst for knowledge. For from the dawn of learning in Salerno to the present there never was a time when women were not as cordially welcomed to the universities as students and professors as were the men; and never a time when the merit of intellectual work was not determined without regard to sex.

In Bologna, where were passed the sixty-seven years of her mortal life, the name of Laura Bassi, like that of her illustrious colleague, Luigi Galvani, is one to conjure with, and a name that is still pronounced with respect and reverence. Her last resting place is in the Church of Corpus Domini, the same sacred shrine in which were deposited all that was mortal of the renowned discoverer of galvanic electricity.[157]

Two years after Signora Bassi was gathered to her fathers there was born near Edinburgh to a Scotch admiral, Sir William George Fairfax, an infant daughter who was destined to shed as much luster on her sex in the British Isles as the incomparable Laura Bassi had diffused on womankind in Italy during her brilliant career in "Bologna, the learned." She is known in the annals of science as Mary Somerville, and was in every way a worthy successor of her famous sister in Italy, both as a woman and as a votary of science.

Although her chief title to fame is her notable work in mathematical astronomy, especially her translation of Laplace'sMéchanique Céleste, she is likewise to be accorded a prominent place among scientific investigators for her contributions to physics and cognate branches of knowledge. Chief among these are her works on theConnection of the Physical SciencesandPhysical Geography. As to the last production, no less an authority than Alexander von Humboldt pronounced it an exact and admirable treatise, and wrote of it as "that excellent work which has charmed and instructed me since its first appearance."

In a letter from the illustrious German savant to the gifted authoress of the two last-named volumes occurs the following paragraph: "To the great superiority you possess and which has so nobly illustrated your name on the high regions of mathematical analysis, you add, Madam, a variety of information in all parts of physics and descriptive natural history. After theMechanism of the Heavens, the philosophicalConnection of the Physical Scienceshas been the object of my profound admiration.... The author of the vastCosmosshould more than any one else salute thePhysical Geographyof Mary Somerville.... Iknow of no work on physical geography in any language that can compare with yours."

Among the other works by Mrs. Somerville, treating of physical subjects or of subjects intimately related to physics areThe Form and Rotation of the Earth,The Tides of the Ocean and Atmosphere, and an abstruse investigationOn Molecular and Microscopic Science. The last volume was published in 1869, when its author was near her ninetieth year, and bore as its motto St. Augustine's sublime words:Deus magnus in magnis, maximus in minimis—God is great in great things, greatest in the least.

After Mrs. Somerville's death, in 1872, at the advanced age of ninety-two, the number of women who devoted themselves to the study and teaching of physics was greatly augmented. The brilliant success of Laura Bassi and Mary Somerville had not been without results, and their notable achievements as authors and teachers had the effect of stimulating women everywhere to emulate their example, and encouraging them to devote more attention to a branch of science which, until then, had been regarded by the general public as beyond the sphere and capacity of what was assumed to be the intellectually weaker sex.

One of the most eminent scientific women of the present day in England is Mrs. Ayrton, the wife of the late Professor W. E. Ayrton, the well-known electrician. Her chosen field of research, like that of her husband, has been electricity, in which she has achieved marked distinction. Her investigations on the electric arc and on the sand ripples of the seashore won for her the first medal ever awarded to a woman by the Royal Society. When, however, in 1902, she was formally nominated for fellowship in this same society, she failed of election because the council of the society discovered that "it had no legal power to elect a married woman to this distinction."

How different it was in the case of Laura Bassi, who was an active member of all the leading scientific and literarysocieties of Italy, where from time immemorial women have been as cordially welcomed to membership in its learned societies as to the chairs of its great universities.

The list of the women who in Europe and America are now engaged in physical research and in teaching physics in schools and colleges is a long one, and the work accomplished by them is, in many cases, of a high order of merit. It is only, indeed, during the present generation that such work has been made generally accessible to them; and, considering the success which has already attended their efforts in this branch of science, we have every reason to believe that the future will bring forth many others of their sex who will take rank with such intellectual luminaries as Hypatia, Mme. du Châtelet, Laura Bassi and Mary Somerville.

FOOTNOTES:[151]"Publice philosophiam naturalem et moralem in scholis Academiisque Atticis docuit hæc fœmina annis XXXV, libros composuit XL, discipulos habuit philosophos CX, obiit anno ætatis LXXVII, cui tale Athenienses statuere epitaphium:Nobilis hic Arete dormit, lux Helladis, oreTyndaris at tibi par, Icarioti, fide.Patris Aristippi calamumque animamque dederunt,Socratis huic linguam Mæonidaeque Dii."—Boccaccio,De Laudibus Mulierum, Lib. II.Cf. Wolf'sMulierum Græcarum quæ Oratione Prosa Usæ Sunt Fragmenta et Elogia, pp. 283 et seq., London, 1739.[152]"Mulier quædam fuit Alexandriæ, nomine Hypatia, Theonis filia. Hæc ad tantam eruditionem pervenerat ut omnes sui temporis philosophos longo intervallo superaret, et in Platonicam scholam a Plotino deductam succederet, cunctasque philosophiæ disciplinas auditoribus exponeret. Quocirca omnes philosophiæ studiosi ad illam undique confluebant."Socrates, Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ, Lib. VII, Cap. 15.[153]For extracts from the ancient authors regarding Hypatia, as well as for the extant letters to her from her friend and pupil, Synesius, the reader is referred to Wolf's eruditeMulierum Græcarum quæ Oratione Prosa Usæ sunt Fragmenta et Elogia, pp. 72-91, ut sup.[154]Ernesto Masi,Studi e Ritratti, p. 166 et seq., Bologna, 1881.[155]Two of her Latin dissertations on certain physical problems were published in theCommentaries of the Bologna Institute. One of them is entitledDe Problemate quodam Mechanico; the otherDe Problemate quodam Hydrometrico. Many of her lectures on physics still exist in manuscript, and it is to be hoped that at least the titles of them may be given in a biography of the learned author which has been long desired and long promised.[156]Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien, Vol. I, p. 363, 1869.[157]As no satisfactory biography of Laura Bassi has yet been written, most of our knowledge respecting her is limited to that found in Fantuzzi'sNotizie degli Scrittori Bolognesi, Tom. I, pp. 384-391, and Mazzuchelli'sGli Scrittori d'Italia, Vol. II, Part I, pp. 527-529, Brescia, 1758.

[151]"Publice philosophiam naturalem et moralem in scholis Academiisque Atticis docuit hæc fœmina annis XXXV, libros composuit XL, discipulos habuit philosophos CX, obiit anno ætatis LXXVII, cui tale Athenienses statuere epitaphium:Nobilis hic Arete dormit, lux Helladis, oreTyndaris at tibi par, Icarioti, fide.Patris Aristippi calamumque animamque dederunt,Socratis huic linguam Mæonidaeque Dii."—Boccaccio,De Laudibus Mulierum, Lib. II.Cf. Wolf'sMulierum Græcarum quæ Oratione Prosa Usæ Sunt Fragmenta et Elogia, pp. 283 et seq., London, 1739.

Nobilis hic Arete dormit, lux Helladis, oreTyndaris at tibi par, Icarioti, fide.Patris Aristippi calamumque animamque dederunt,Socratis huic linguam Mæonidaeque Dii."—Boccaccio,De Laudibus Mulierum, Lib. II.

Cf. Wolf'sMulierum Græcarum quæ Oratione Prosa Usæ Sunt Fragmenta et Elogia, pp. 283 et seq., London, 1739.

[152]"Mulier quædam fuit Alexandriæ, nomine Hypatia, Theonis filia. Hæc ad tantam eruditionem pervenerat ut omnes sui temporis philosophos longo intervallo superaret, et in Platonicam scholam a Plotino deductam succederet, cunctasque philosophiæ disciplinas auditoribus exponeret. Quocirca omnes philosophiæ studiosi ad illam undique confluebant."Socrates, Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ, Lib. VII, Cap. 15.

[153]For extracts from the ancient authors regarding Hypatia, as well as for the extant letters to her from her friend and pupil, Synesius, the reader is referred to Wolf's eruditeMulierum Græcarum quæ Oratione Prosa Usæ sunt Fragmenta et Elogia, pp. 72-91, ut sup.

[154]Ernesto Masi,Studi e Ritratti, p. 166 et seq., Bologna, 1881.

[155]Two of her Latin dissertations on certain physical problems were published in theCommentaries of the Bologna Institute. One of them is entitledDe Problemate quodam Mechanico; the otherDe Problemate quodam Hydrometrico. Many of her lectures on physics still exist in manuscript, and it is to be hoped that at least the titles of them may be given in a biography of the learned author which has been long desired and long promised.

[156]Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien, Vol. I, p. 363, 1869.

[157]As no satisfactory biography of Laura Bassi has yet been written, most of our knowledge respecting her is limited to that found in Fantuzzi'sNotizie degli Scrittori Bolognesi, Tom. I, pp. 384-391, and Mazzuchelli'sGli Scrittori d'Italia, Vol. II, Part I, pp. 527-529, Brescia, 1758.

The first woman deserving special mention in the history of chemistry is the wife of the immortal Lavoisier, the most famous of the founders of modern chemical science. While yet in her teens, this remarkable woman gave evidence of exceptional intelligence and will power. She was thoroughly devoted to her husband, and had the greatest admiration for his genius. Her highest ambition was to prove herself worthy of him and to render herself competent to assist him in those investigations that have given him such imperishable renown. With this end in view, she learned Latin and English, and she thus became an accomplished translator from these languages of any chemical works which might aid her spouse in his epoch-making researches. It was she who translated for him the chemical memoirs of Cavendish, Henry, Kirwan, Priestly and other noted English scientific investigators.

Arthur Young, well known in his day as a traveler and author, who in 1787 made the acquaintance of Madame Lavoisier, describes her as a woman full of animation, good sense and knowledge. In referring to a breakfast she had given him, he declares that "unquestionably the best part of the repast was her conversation on Kirwan'sEssay on Phlogiston, which she was then translating, and on other subjects which a woman of sense, working in the laboratory of her husband, knows so well how to make interesting."

She was an ardent co-worker with her husband in hislaboratory and materially aided him in his labors. Under his direction she wrote the results of the experiments that were made, as is evidenced by the records of his work. As a pupil of the illustrious painter, David, she was naturally skillful in drawing. Besides this, she was a good engraver, and it is to her that are due the illustrations in Lavoisier's greatTraité de Chimie, which contributed so much toward revolutionizing the science of chemistry. It was, indeed, the first work that deserved to be regarded as a textbook of modern chemistry. Among her drawings are two of special interest. They represent her as seated at a table in the laboratory, taking notes, while her husband and his assistant, Seguin, are making an experiment on the phenomena of respiration.[158]

All Mme. Lavoisier's writings testify to her great admiration of the genius of her husband. Intimately associated with him in his work, she combatted for the triumph of his ideas and sought to make converts to them. One of her most notable converts was the Swiss chemist, de Saussure. "You have, Madame," he writes her, "triumphed over my doubts, at least in the matter of phlogiston, which is the principal object of the interesting work of which you have done me the honor of sending me a copy."

After Lavoisier's tragic death on the guillotine, it was his devoted wife who edited hisMemoirs on Chemistry, of which Lavoisier had himself projected the publication. The two volumes constituting this work were not for sale, but were gratuitously distributed by the bereaved widow among the most eminent scientific men of the epoch. Cuvier, in acknowledging the receipt of these precious memoirs, declares: "All the friends of science are under obligations to you for your sorrowful determination to publish this collection of papers and to publish them as they were written—amelancholy monument of your loss and theirs—a loss which humanity will feel for centuries."

To realize the importance of the work in which Mme. Lavoisier participated, it suffices to recall the fact that her husband, as one of the creators of modern chemistry, was the first to demonstrate the existence of the law of the conservation of matter, which declares that in all chemical changes nothing is lost and nothing is created. The co-discoverer with Scheele and Priestly of oxygen, he was the first one to exhibit the rôle of this important element in the phenomena of combustion and respiration and the first, also, to lay the foundations of a chemical nomenclature. We are not, then, surprised to learn that Mme. Lavoisier's salon, even long after her lamented husband's death, was frequented by the most eminent savants of the time. For here were gathered such scientific luminaries as Cuvier, Laplace, Arago, Lagrange, Prony, Berthollet, Delambre, Biot, Humboldt, and others scarcely less brilliant.

After the conclusion of Mme. Lavoisier's work in the laboratory of her husband, little was accomplished by women in chemistry for more than half a century. The reason was simple. Chemistry was not a part of the curriculum of studies for girls either in Europe or America. Even "during the sixties," writes a teacher of one of the prominent female seminaries of the United States, "the study of chemistry was mostly confined to the textbook, supplemented once a year by a course of lectures from an itinerant expert, who with his tanks of various gases produced highly spectacular effects."

When one recollects that the first institution in America—Vassar—for the higher education of women was not opened until 1865, one will understand that there were previously to this date few opportunities for women to study either chemistry or any of the other sciences.

The first scientific institution to open its doors to womenwas the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This was on May 11, 1876, when the governing board of the institute decided that "hereafter special students in chemistry shall be admitted without regard to sex." In less than a year after this event every department of this institution was open to women, and any one who could pass the requisite examination was admitted as a student.

Five years, however, before women were formally admitted to the courses of chemistry an energetic young graduate from Vassar, eager to devote her life to the pursuit of science, had, as an exceptional favor, been allowed to enter the Institute as a special student in chemistry. As she was the first woman in the United States to enter a strictly professional scientific school, her entrance marks the beginning of a new epoch in the history of female education. The name of this ardent votary of science was Miss Ellen Swallow, better known to the world as Mrs. Ellen H. Richards.

Mrs. Richards had not devoted herself long to the study of her favorite science before she resolved to apply the knowledge thus gained to the problems of daily life. She saw, among other things, the necessity of a complete reform in domestic economy, and resolutely set to work to have her views adopted and put in practice. She was, in consequence, one of the first leaders of the crusade in behalf of pure food, and her lectures and books on this all-important subject contributed greatly toward the diffusion of exact knowledge respecting the dangers lurking in unwholesome food.

She was likewise one of the first to apply the science of chemistry to an exhaustive study of the science of nutrition—to the study of food and the proper preparation of food materials. In this she was eminently successful, and was able to achieve for home economics what the illustrious Liebig had many years before accomplished for agricultural chemistry—put it on a firm and lasting basis. Toher the kitchen was the center and source of political economy.

The facts of science, indeed, were to Mrs. Richards more than mere uncorrelated facts. They are potential agencies of service, and their chief value consists in their enabling us to control our environment in such wise as to secure the maximum of physical well being. Hence her constant insistence on personal cleanliness, on the cleanliness of food, of the house we live in, and, above all, of the kitchen. Hence, also, her preaching, in season and out of season, on the necessity of pure air, pure water and abundance of vitalizing sunshine.

We cannot, then, wonder that sanitary chemistry eventually became the life work of Mrs. Richards, and that, when the course of sanitary engineering was inaugurated in the Institute of Technology—the first course of its kind in the world—she became an important agent in its development and contributed immensely to its popularity and prestige.

She held the position of instructor of sanitary chemistry in the institute for twenty-seven years. During this time she trained a large number of young men in her chosen specialty, and these, after graduating, engaged in similar work in various parts of the New and the Old World.

The branch of sanitary chemistry to which Mrs. Richards devoted most attention was air, water and sewage analysis. In this she was a recognized expert, and her advice and services were sought in all parts of the country. During the last three years of her life she acted, according to her own testimony, as general sanitary adviser to no fewer than two score corporations and schools. In addition to this she was also during this brief period consulted on the subject of foods by nearly two hundred educational and other institutions.

What, however, constituted the greatest contribution of Mrs. Richards to the public health was the part she took in the great sanitary survey of the waters of the State ofMassachusetts. During this long and laborious investigation she analyzed more than forty thousand samples of water. These analyses exhibited the condition of the water from all parts of the state during all seasons of the year and were of the greatest value in solving a number of important problems in state sanitation.

But notwithstanding the drafts made on her time and energy by her classwork in the laboratory and her occupation as sanitary engineer for scores of public and private institutions, she still found leisure to engage in many important movements which had in view the public health and the betterment of sanitary conditions in city and country. It is safe to say that no one ever put her knowledge of chemical science to more practical use or made it more perfectly subserve the public weal than did Mrs. Richards. To spread among the masses a knowledge of the principles of sanitation, to make them realize how indispensable to health are pure food, pure water, pure air and life-giving sunshine was her great mission in life, and in this she displayed an energy and a tireless zeal which were an inspiration to all with whom she came into contact.

This indefatigable woman, it is proper to record here, might have distinguished herself as a discoverer in chemical science had she elected to devote her life to original research rather than to utilizing the knowledge already available for the welfare of her fellows. Thus, after a careful analysis of the rare mineral samarskite, she found an insoluble residue which led her to believe might contain unknown elements. This view she repeatedly expressed to her co-workers in the laboratory. But she was unwilling to take from what she regarded more important work the time necessary for making investigations which might have given her undying fame as a discoverer. For not long afterward this insoluble residue, in the hands of two French chemists, yielded the exceedingly rare elements, samarium and gadolinium.

Another chemist of a less altruistic nature than Mrs. Richards would not have resisted the temptation to achieve distinction in the domain of original research. But where there was so much suffering to be relieved and so much ignorance to be removed regarding the most fundamental principles of sanitation, this philanthropic woman preferred to put to practical use what she called "the considerable body of useful knowledge now lying on our shelves."

Her duty, as she conceived it, is well indicated in the following paragraph, taken from a thoughtful discussion by her of the subject of home economics a short time before her death in 1911. "The sanitary research worker in laboratory and field," she declares, "has gone nearly to the limit of his value. He will soon be smothered in his own work, if no one takes it. Meanwhile children die by the thousands; contagious diseases take toll of hundreds; back alleys remain foul and the streets are unswept; school-houses are unwashed and danger lurks in the drinking cups and about the towels. Dust is stirred up each morning with the feather duster to greet the warm, moist noses and throats of the children. To the watchful expert it seems like the old cities dancing and making merry on the eve of a volcanic outbreak."[159]

From the day in 1873 when Mrs. Richards received from the Institute of Technology the degree of Bachelor of Science—a degree which made her not only the first woman graduate of this institution, but also the first graduate in the United States of a strictly scientific seat of learning—the number of women who have devoted themselves to chemical pursuits is legion. They are now found in every civilized country in both hemispheres and their number is daily increasing. They are everywhere doing excellent work as teachers in classrooms and laboratories and holdingtheir own with men as chemical experts in manufacturing establishments and government institutions. Many of them have done original work of a high order, and distinguished themselves by their valuable contributions to contemporary chemical literature. Space, however, precludes more than a general reference to their achievements, for the names only of those who have done meritorious work in chemistry would make a very long list.

Passing over, then, all the lesser feminine lights in chemistry who, in various fields of activity, have rendered such distinct service during the past generation, we come to one who for nearly two decades has stood in the forefront of the great chemists of the world. This is that renowned daughter of Poland, Mme. Marie Klodowska Curie, whose name will always be identified with some of the most remarkable discoveries which have ever been made in the long-continued study of the material universe.

Marie Klodowska was born in Warsaw, in 1868. Her father was a professor of chemistry in the university of the former Polish capital; and it is undoubtedly from him that his brilliantly dowered daughter has inherited her love of chemistry and her extraordinary genius for scientific research. Owing to the paltry salary he received, Professor Klodowska was obliged to make little Marie his laboratory assistant while she was quite a young girl. Instead, then, of playing with tops and dolls, her time was occupied in cleaning evaporating dishes and test tubes and in assisting her father to prepare for his lectures and experiments. And it was thus that, at an early age, she acquired a taste for that science in which she was subsequently to achieve such world-wide fame.

While still a young woman, her love of science drew her to Paris, where she arrived with only fifty francs in her purse. But, possessed of dauntless courage and unfaltering perseverance, she was prepared to make any sacrifice in the pursuit of knowledge.

Her first home in the gay French metropolis was a poorly furnished garret in an obscure part of the city, and her diet was for so long a time restricted to black bread and skimmed milk that she afterward avowed that she had to cultivate a taste for wine and meat. And so intensely cold was her cheerless room in winter that the little bottle of milk which was daily left at her door was speedily congealed. At this time the poor girl was living on less than ten cents a day, but still cherishing all the while the fond hope that she might eventually secure a position as a student assistant in some good chemical laboratory.

After a long struggle with poverty and after countless disappointments in quest of a position where she could gratify her ambition as a student of chemistry, she finally found occupation as a poorly paid assistant in the laboratory conducted by Professor Lipmann. She was not, however, at work a week before this distinguished investigator recognized in the young woman one whose knowledge of chemistry and faculty for original research were far above the average. She was accordingly transferred without delay from the menial employment in which she had been engaged and given every possible facility for prosecuting work as an original investigator.

It was shortly after this event that Marie Klodowska met the noted savant, Pierre Curie. He was not long in discovering in her a kindred spirit—one who, besides having exceptional talent in experimental chemistry, was actuated by an ardent love of science. It was then that he determined to make her his wife. A single sentence in a letter he wrote at this time to the object of his admiration and affection reveals, better than anything else, the devotion of this matchless pair in the cause of science. "What a great thing it would be," he exclaims, "to unite our lives and work together for the sake of science and humanity." These simple words were the keynote to the ideal life led by this incomparable couple during the eleven years theyworked together in perfect unity of thought and aspiration before the sudden and premature extinction of the husband's life gave such a shock to the entire scientific world.

After her marriage the gifted young Polish woman had reached the goal of her ambition. She was able to devote herself exclusively to what was henceforth to constitute her life work in one of the best laboratories of Paris, that of the École de Physique et de Chimie, and that, too, in collaboration with her husband, from whom she was never separated during the entire period of their married life for even a single day.

It was about this time that Mme. Curie had her interest aroused by the brilliant discoveries of Röntgen and Becquerel regarding radiant matter. After a long series of carefully conducted experiments on the compounds of uranium and thorium, she, with the intuition of genius, opened up to the world of science an entirely new field of research. But she soon realized that the labor involved in the investigations which she had planned was entirely beyond the capacity of any one person. It was then that she succeeded in enlisting her husband's interest in the undertaking which was to lead to such marvelous results.

Confining their work to a careful analytical study of the residue of the famous Bohemian pitchblend—an extremely complex mineral, largely composed of oxide of uranium—they soon found themselves confronted by most extraordinary radio-active phenomena. Continuing their researches, their labor was rewarded by the discovery of a new element which Mme. Curie, in her enthusiasm, named in honor of the land of her birth, polonium.

As their investigations progressed, they became correspondingly difficult. They were dealing with substances which exist in pitchblend residue only in infinitesimal quantities—not more than three troy grams to the ton. The difficulties they had to contend with were enough to discouragethe stoutest heart. Few believed in their theories, while the majority of those who had some intimation of the character of their work were persuaded that they were pursuing a phantom. But the indefatigable pair toiled on day and night and continued their experiments through long years of poverty and deferred hopes.

Considering the herculean task in which they were engaged for so many years, we scarcely know which to admire most, their clearness of vision, which made them divine success; their profound knowledge, which guided them in the choice of reagents; or the indomitable perseverance which characterized them in their laborious task and in the countless sacrifices which they were obliged to make before their efforts were crowned with success.

During this long search into the inner heart of nature, Pierre Curie was often so discouraged and depressed that, had he not been sustained by his more sanguine wife, he would time and again have given up his investigations in despair. But Marie Curie never faltered. She never lost faith in their theories or confidence in the outcome of their great undertaking. Before her deft hands and fertile brain difficulties vanished as if under the magic wand of Prospero.

At length, after countless experiments of the most delicate character, after bringing to bear on the solution of the problem before them the most refined methods of chemical analysis, they were rewarded by one of the most extraordinary discoveries recorded in the annals of science. With the announcement of the discovery of radium, the Curies sprang into world-wide fame, and the name of the wonderful woman who had been the prime mover in the supreme achievement was on every lip. Pierre Curie himself declared that more than half of the epochal discovery belonged to his wife. It was she who began the work. It was she who, after her marriage, enlisted in it the coöperation of her husband. It was she whose invincible patience andpersistence—typical of the noblest representatives of her race—supported him during periods of doubt and despondency and fanned his flagging spirits to new endeavor. It can indeed be truthfully asserted that had it not been for her penetrating intelligence, her tenacity of purpose and her keenness of vision, which were never at fault, the great victory which crowned their efforts would never have been achieved.[160]

Compare their work with that which was accomplished by their illustrious predecessors, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, and his wife, a century earlier. The latter, by their discovery of and experiments with oxygen, were able to explain the until then mysterious phenomena of combustion and respiration and to coördinate numberless facts which had before stood isolated and enigmatic. But the reverse was the case in the discovery of that extraordinary and uncanny element, radium. It completely subverted many long-established theories and necessitated an entirely new view of the nature of energy and of the constitution of matter. A substance that seemed capable of emitting light and heat indefinitely, with little or no appreciable change or transformation, appeared to sap the very foundations of the fundamental principle of the conservation of energy.

Subsequent investigations seemed only to render "confusion worse confounded." They appeared to justify the dreams of the alchemists of old, not only regarding the transmutation of metals but also respecting the elixir of life. For was not this apparently absurd idea vindicated by the observed curative properties—bordering almost on the miraculous—this marvelous element was reputed to possess! Its virtues, it was averred, transcended the fabled properties of the famous red tincture and the philosopher's stone combined, and many were prepared to find in it a panacea for the most distressing of human ailments, from lupus and rodent ulcer to cancer and other frightful forms of morbid degeneration.[161]

And the end is not yet. Continued investigations, made in all parts of the world since the discovery of radium by the Curies, have but emphasized its mysterious properties, and compelled a revision of many of our most cherished theories in chemistry, physics and astronomy. No one single discovery, not even Pasteur's far-reaching discovery of microbic life, it may safely be asserted, has ever been more subversive of long-accepted views in certain domains of science, or given rise to more perplexing problems regarding matters which were previously thought to be thoroughly understood.

Never in the entire history of science have the results of a woman's scientific researches been so stupendous or so revolutionary. And never has any one achievement in science reflected more glory on womankind than that which is so largely due to the genius and the perseverance of Mme. Curie.

After their startling discovery, honors and tributes to their genius came in rapid succession to the gifted couple. On the recommendation of the venerable British savant,Lord Kelvin, they were awarded the Davy gold medal by the Royal Society. Shortly after this they shared with M. H. Becquerel in the Nobel prize for physics bestowed on them by Sweden. Then came laggard France with its decoration of the Legion of Honor. But it was offered only to the man. There was nothing for the woman. Pierre Curie showed his spirit and chivalry by declining to accept the proffered honor unless his wife could share it with him. His answer was simple, but its meaning could not be mistaken. "This decoration," he said, "has no bearing on my work."[162]

Shortly after her husband's death Mme. Curie was appointed as his successor as special lecturer in the Sorbonne. This was the first time that this conservative old university ever invited a woman to a full professorship. But she soon showed that she was thoroughly competent to fill the position with honor and éclat. She has the élite of society and the world's most noted men of science among her auditors. The crowned heads of the Old World eagerly seek an opportunity to witness her experiments and hear her discourse on what is by all odds the most marvelous element in nature.

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