594 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



history has recorded as worth while. One can not evade the question, 

 is woman innately so inferior to man, or has the attitude of civilization 

 been to close the avenues of eminence against her? 



When the list of names was completed, the amount of space ac- 

 corded the women by the different encyclopedias was reduced to a com- 

 mon standard, and the names arranged in order of merit. 



According to our standard of measurement Mary Stuart is the 

 most eminent woman of history. She has no close competitor. Queen 

 Victoria is the most recent of the preeminently gifted women, and 

 therefore has a large probable error of position. George Sand is the 

 most distinguished literary woman, and we may say that the chances 

 are even that her position as fifth in the order of merit is correctly 

 determined. The most eminent woman of American birth is Mrs. 

 Stowe, who ranks twentieth. Had additional or different encyclo- 

 pedias been used in compiling the list, the chances are one to one that 

 her position would be between 17 and 21. 



It must be borne in mind that had other sources been used in 

 selecting the eminent women, the position of certain ones might have 

 shifted more or less. However, we must concede that the women who 

 are ranked in this list as the most eminent are the ones most familiar 

 to us in literature and history, and they unquestionably deserve their 

 position. The twenty preeminently gifted women of history are Mary 

 Stuart, Jeanne d'Arc, Victoria of England, Elizabeth of England, 

 George Sand, Madame de Stael, Catherine II. of Russia, Maria Theresa, 

 Marie Antoinette, Anne of England, Madame de Sevigne, Mary I. of 

 England, George Eliot, Christina of Sweden, Elizabeth Barrett Brown- 

 ing, Madame de Maintenon, Josephine of France, Catherine de Medici, 

 Cleopatra and Harriet Bcecher Stowe. 3 



A list of this sort makes possible comparisons which are not ordi- 

 narily evident and could not otherwise be made, and the known prob- 

 able error makes it possible to determine within what limits the com- 

 parisons are true. Charlotte Bronte and Charlotte Corday seemingly 

 have nothing in common, yet their respective numbers in order of 

 merit are 21 and 22. Marie Brinvilliers, whose mania for poisoning 

 makes it impossible to classify her as anything but a criminal, just pre- 

 cedes Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. Joanna Baillie, the poet; 

 Mrs. Siddons, the actress, and Beatrice Cenci, whose beauty and tragic 

 fate have been preserved for us in the colors of Guido Reni and in the 

 lines of Shelley, are numbered 89, 90 and 91, respectively. 



The range of eminence covered by these 868 women is wide. Mary 

 Stuart, with 607.67 lines, is more than one hundred and eighty-eight 



3 The complete list of the 868 eminent women together with detailed and 

 technical discussion of the data will be found in a thesis accepted for the degree 

 of doctor of philosophy by the department of psychology, Columbia University, 

 to be published in Archives of Psychology (The Science Press, New York). 



