STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT WOMEN 603 



the social customs of their times, they found in this relation an oppor- 

 tunity to meet and associate with men of their own intellectual power. 

 Were it not so, it scarcely seems probable that mere beauty or pleasing 

 personality which, fascinated some weak-minded king could have been 

 sufficient reason for the high degree of merit which history has ac- 

 corded them. 



The artists rank comparatively low in merit. However, if we con- 

 sider the groups of activity in which women have actually done things 

 — attained their eminence by genuine labor — of the groups sufficiently 

 large in size to expect accuracy in results, we note that the artists rank 

 higher than the actresses, writers or musicians. A possible explanation 

 of the very low degree of merit accorded the musicians is the fact that 

 43 of the 49 belong to the nineteenth century, and of these 43, 20 are 

 living at the present time, so their merit is not yet accurately de- 

 termined. 



The merit of George Sand, Madame de Stael, Madame de Sevigne, 

 George Eliot, Mrs. Browning, Mrs. Stowe and Charlotte Bronte is not 

 sufficient, when grouped with so many writers of less abilit} r , to bring 

 the average for the group "Literature" to more than 29.74. 



Index of Merit for Occupations 



Average No. No. Cases on which 

 of Lines Average is Based 



Sovereign 112.10 59 



Political influence 62.13 19 



Motherhood 46.14 10 



Mistress 46.09 29 



Beauty 44.62 6 



Religion 43.58 64 



Tragic fate 42.83 11 



Marriage 38.09 87 



Patron of learning 37.60 6 



Heroine 35.46 10 



Scholar 35.35 20 



Artist 34.54 17 



Reformer 32.29 9 



Actress 32.02 56 



Literature 29.74 337 



Immortalized in literature 29.30 6 



Music 27.46 49 



. Birth 27.45 39 



Considerable interest always attaches to the wives of eminent men, 

 and to the husbands of eminent women. Personally, we do not be- 

 lieve that, with rational people, love is blind, hence it seems that a 

 study of the marriage relations of this group of eminent women ought 

 to reveal information, not only interesting, but valuable in throwing 

 light on certain social and psychological problems. "We must remember 



