6o 4 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



in this connection, however, that one current definition of genius docs 

 not always grant the rationality of the individual. Only lawful mar- 

 riages are considered in this study; liaisons are not recognized. Four 

 morganatic unions are included. Owing to lack of information, ninety- 

 three eminent women are unclassified as either married or unmarried. 



One hundred and forty-two, or 16.3 per cent., of the entire number 

 of women of ability, have not married. Of this group, 72.5 per cent, 

 were born in the last two centuries, and 49.2 per cent, of the unmarried 

 eminent women of history belong to the nineteenth century. There is, 

 of course, the possibility that some of our contemporary women of dis- 

 tinction may yet marry, and thus reduce this ratio. England and 

 America have produced 59.8 per cent, of the unmarried women of abil- 

 ity. The former country has twenty-one more unmarried eminent 

 women than the latter, but the figures for America are the more signifi- 

 cant, since in terms of per cent, they mean, that of the total number of 

 distinguished women produced by England, 29.7 per cent, of them have 

 not married ; whereas, in America, the ratio is 42.6 per cent. It is a 

 pertinent question whether our women realize that in attaining emi- 

 nence nearly one half the number sacrifice their own homes and fam- 

 ilies. Our figures do not show that any one line of activity has ap- 

 pealed particularly to the unmarried group. Neither were they, in 

 their freedom from the duties and responsibilities of wifehood and 

 motherhood, able to attain a higher degree of eminence than the mar- 

 ried women ; nor was their average length of life found to be longer. 



Two hundred and fifty-nine of the distinguished women married 

 men sufficiently eminent to be recorded in three or more of the six 

 encyclopedias used in collecting the list of women. The number of 

 lines accorded these husbands was counted and submitted to the same 

 system of standardization as that used for the women. Napoleon I., 

 Peter the Great, Henry IA r . of France, Philip II. of Spain, Mark 

 Antony, Nero, Philip II. of France, Claudius, Louis XII. of France, 

 Ptolemy I. and Chilperic I. were each married to two of the eminent 

 women. Five of the wives of Henry VIII. of England are included in 

 our list of distinguished women. On the other hand, twenty-two of the 

 women married more than one husband sufficiently eminent to fall 

 within our classification. 



Our knowledge of the relative eminence of the husbands and wives 

 makes possible some interesting comparisons. Eight of the husbands, 

 namely, Napoleon I., Mohammed, Julius Cassar, Martin Luther, Alex- 

 ander the Great, Frederick the Great, Socrates and Napoleon III. are 

 more eminent than Mary Stuart, the most eminent woman of history. 

 Jeanne d'Arc and Queen Victoria*are less eminent than the poet Shelley, 

 but more eminent than the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar. 

 Mary 1. of England is of equal eminence with Philip IV. of France. 



