6o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



There is considerable variation in the average age at which women 

 of ability have married in different nations. Considering only those 

 countries for which we have record of nine or more cases, it has been 

 found that the average age at which American women of ability marry 

 is 27.7 years, which is 9.3 years later than the average age at which 

 Russian women of eminence marry. Distinguished women of English 

 birth marry three years younger than American women, but 1.8 years 

 later than German, and 3.5 years later than French women of ability. 

 The average age at marriage of Italian and French eminent women is 

 practically the same (21.3 and 21.2 years, respectively). 



The average age at which eminent women engaged in thirteen dif- 

 ferent activities married is shown in the following table. Though we 

 have record of only five reformers we feel fairly confident that the 

 group is justly placed. Only a few American women of the nineteenth 

 century have achieved eminence as social reformers; but American 

 women of ability marry later than those of any other nation, and the 

 average age at marriage in the nineteenth century is later than in any 

 other period of history. The fact that musicians marry 3.1 years later 

 than actresses, and 4.4 years later than artists, seems to indicate that, 

 in many instances, marriage was postponed until a musical reputation 

 had been won. The women who inherited or wedded their right to 

 eminence, that is, the members of the groups " Marriage," " Sovereign " 

 and " Birth " married earlier ; where the cases are sufficiently numerous 

 to justify a conclusion it seems that the women who have won by per- . 

 sonal effort their right to distinction — the actresses, writers, musicians 

 and reformers — married several years later. 



Age at Marriage by Occupation 



Average Age No. Cases on which 



at Marriage Average is Based 



Keformer 27.4 5 



Music 26.7 35 



Mistress 26.4 7 



Literature 25.7 180 



Actress 23.6 32 



Eeligion 22.4 14 



Artist 22.3 6 



Scholar 21.3 8 



Political influence 19.5 14 



Mother 19.3 6 



Birth 19.3 24 



Sovereign 18.9 40 



Marriage 18.8 62 



Of the eminent women, 520 are known to have married once, 89 

 married twice, 21 married three times, and Catherine Parr, Joan I. of 

 Naples, Jacqueline of Holland, Lola Montez and Zoe II. were each 



