STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT WOMEN 60 1 



the use of the pen. It is probable that woman has had more oppor- 

 tunity in literature than in any other line of work. Her actions have 

 been restricted in various degrees at different times, and in different 

 localities, and, to a certain extent, her thought has been regulated. It 

 is, undoubtedly, her innate right to reign supreme over her feelings. 

 An analysis of the group of 337 writers shows a large per cent, of 

 feminine literature to be of an emotional or imaginative nature. If, to 

 the group of writers we add the women classed under " Religion," the 

 actresses and the musicians, we note that we have 506, or 58.2 per cent., 

 of the entire group of eminent women before we reach the small group of 

 scholars who have exercised the power of reason. Add to this the artists 

 and dancers as further illustrations of emotional activity, and we still 

 see that the common concept of a woman as a creature of feeling rather 

 than a creature of reason may not be without foundation. If this con- 

 ception is just, our classification tends to show that when woman has 

 attained eminence, it has not been in spite of her femininity, but rather 

 because of it. 



As remote as the seventh century before Christ women became emi- 

 nent in literature. This early work is poetry and undoubtedly repre- 

 sents the outburst of genius rather than the result of training. In the 

 early centuries, a woman might be born to eminence, and in a few in- 

 stances she was allowed to govern, but a large percentage of the names 

 that have come down to us as late as the sixteenth century are those of 

 women who were wives of men more distinguished than themselves. 

 The Christian religion made a strong appeal to womanhood, and no 

 century has been without its representative in this field. In the group 

 of 64 eminent women classed under " Religion " in our study, five were 

 founders of sects known respectively as Christian Science, the Bnchan- 

 ites, the Southcottians, the Countess of Huntingdon's Connection, 

 and the Shakers. In addition, Saint Clara founded the Franciscan 

 Order of Nuns; Saint Theresa, the Barefooted Carmelites; Angela 

 Merici, the Hrsuline Order; and Jeanne Chantal, the Order of Visita- 

 tion. Sixteen, or one fourth of the group, suffered martyrdom. 

 Motherhood, heroism and beauty occur- occasionally without reference 

 to time or nationality. Actresses date only from the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, and musicians from the eighteenth. The reformers, dancers, edu- 

 cators, revolutionists, travelers and physicians are products of the last 

 two centuries. For those who are interested in the problem of the 

 modern woman the record for the nineteenth century ought to be of 

 interest. Of the 335 women of the century, 184 are writers. The 

 stage has been the stepping stone to eminence for more than eight 

 times as many women as became noted because of their religion. If, 

 however, we allow a broad interpretation of religion to include social 

 service, and thus combine the groups " Reformers " and " Philanthro- 



VOL. LXXXLI. — 41. 



