STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT WOMEN 609 



ages have no special relation to eminent women, but they seem to show 

 that the advancement of civilization with the increased knowledge of 

 hygiene and the art of living, together with the modern development of 

 medicine and surgery, have cooperated to make it more probable that 

 the days of woman will be prolonged to three score years and ten. 



It is of interest to note that the women who have been engaged in 

 social service, the reformers and philanthropists, were the longest lived. 

 The average age of the artists is 66.7 years, and of the actresses 64.5 

 years. In addition to these, the writers, scholars, politicians and 

 mothers all lived to an average age exceeding that for the entire group. 

 The musicians average 58.4 years; those famous by birth, as sovereigns, 

 mistresses, in religion and by marriage all average less than the group 

 average. 



American women of ability are noticeably longer lived than those 

 of any other nation. While this average results in part from the fact 

 that we are a young nation and hence our figures are not affected by 

 early deaths in remoter centuries, it also speaks well for the physical 

 vigor of American women, for our respect for sanitation, and for the 

 skill of American physicians and surgeons. In addition to the Amer- 

 ican women of eminence, those of Scotland, Germany, Austria and Eng- 

 land have lived to more than 60.8 years, the average for the entire 

 group. The women of the Byzantine Empire, of France, Sweden, Hol- 

 land, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Eussia and Borne have failed to attain this 

 average. 



Sixty-two, or 7 per cent., of the eminent women of history are 

 known to have suffered violent or unnatural deaths. This bloody 

 chapter began with the tragic death of the Eoman girl, Lucrctia, in the 

 sixth century before Christ and nineteen centuries are represented in 

 the record. Nineteen of these sixty-two women were Romans; France 

 contributed eight, leading the modern nations in this respect. Sover- 

 eigns, or the wives of sovereigns, have been the most frequent victims. 



Seventy-two, or 33.1 per cent., of the 217 fathers of the eminent 

 women regarding whom we have been able to collect information, 

 belonged to the so-called learned professions — medicine, teaching, law 

 and the ministry. Our figures tend to show that an eminent daughter 

 has been more apt than not to become distinguished in a line of work 

 similar to that of her father. For example, in the case of sixteen 

 fathers who were musicians, nine of their daughters who achieved fame 

 were also musicians, and two were in the closely related field of acting. 

 Of fifteen fathers who were literary men, fourteen of their eminent 

 daughters were also writers. In considering the similarity of occupa- 

 tion between eminent daughter and father, women of aristocratic 

 extraction have been excluded. 



"Regarding the cases of relationship that were found to exist be- 



