STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT WOMEN 595 



times as eminent as Constance Bonaparte with 3.23 lines. There are 

 forty-nine women who are given one hundred or more lines in the en- 

 cyclopedias, and there are twenty-seven that are given less than ten 

 lines. The average amount of space accorded is 43.2 lines. 



This group of eminent women is spread over a long period of time. 

 From the seventh century before Christ to the nineteenth century after 

 Christ, inclusive, the light of feminine genius has never been extin- 

 guished, though sometimes it has burned but dimly. Beginning with 

 three cases in the seventh century before Christ, we observe that the 

 Golden Age of Greece records a rise in the curve. Who knows but that 

 her women were potentially as great as her men, and if Plato's theory 

 regarding the education of women had been universally applied, the 

 curve might not have risen higher? In the second century before 

 Christ, Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, is the sole representative. 

 The period of Roman supremacy is clearly depicted, as is also that of 

 the religious persecutions in the third century, eleven of the fourteen 

 representatives of that century being martyrs. Through the Dark 

 Ages, the level of the curve remains almost stationary. There is a little 

 rise in the twelfth century, but a subsequent fall in the thirteenth. 

 This, however, is insignificant because of the few cases. The curve 

 rises considerably in the fourteenth century, almost doubles its height 

 in the fifteenth, and does not drop again. The eighteenth century pro- 

 duces 213 cases, or 24.5 per cent., of the eminent women of history. 

 We must bear in mind the fact that the records for the nineteenth cen- 

 tury are neither complete nor accurate. The youngest woman on my 

 list was born in 1880, therefore one fifth of the century is not repre- 

 sented, and one half of it but partially. Ability in woman is more 

 readily and willingly recognized at the present time than formerly, so 

 names of women whose reputation for eminence may not prove endur- 

 ing may be included in the nineteenth-century group. On the other 

 hand, the eminence of a large group of women is now in the process of 

 making, and subsequent biographers may accord them a more important 

 place than their contemporaries. While the figures for this last cen- 

 tury are in no respect accurate, they are in many respects interesting. 

 The century furnished 335 cases, or 38.5 per cent., of the total number 

 of eminent women. Sixty-three per cent, of the eminent women of his- 

 tory were born in the last two centuries. If we were able to compare 

 the number of cases in each century with the population of that period, 

 as Professor Cattell pointed out in his study, the curve would, in some 

 respects, be different from this one. For a partial comparison we have 

 used a modified form of the table of growth of population given by 

 Mulhall 4 and have found that while the number of eminent women 

 produced by England, France, Russia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Germany 



4 "Dictionary of Statistics," 4th edition, 1898, p. 441. 



