198 THE POPULAR SCIJENCE MONTHLY. 



integral calculus, in which she displayed wonderful judgment and eru- 

 dition. This work (" Instituzioni Analitichi ") was afterward translated 

 by Colson, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, and 

 was used by the students of that university. In 1750 her father, who 

 was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Bologna, fell sick, 

 and she obtained permission of the good Pope Benedictus XIV to oc- 

 cupy her father's chair. In person Agnesi is said to have been beau- 

 tiful, modest, and of pleasing manners. Her severe studies overtaxed 

 her delicate frame, and shortly after she renounced the world and took 

 refuge among the Blue Nuns at Bologna. In this nunnery she lived 

 several years a devotee and an invalid ; she died in 1799. 



While Laura Bassi taught physics, Anna Morandi-Manzolini anat- 

 omy, and Maria Agnesi mathematics, in the Bolognese University, 

 we might naturally expect the gentler sex to avail themselves of the 

 opportunity of studying under their sisters' instructions. And such, in 

 fact, was the case : the names of some of these students are recorded 

 by the historian, many of whom received the degrees of Doctor of 

 Philosophy and Doctor of Medicine. In 1799 Doctor Maria delle 

 Donne appears as Professor of Medicine and Obstetrics ; Clotilda 

 Tambroni was Professor of the Greek Language and Literature, from 

 1793 to 1808. To these names should be added those of Novella Cal- 

 derini, Maddalena Buonsignori, Dorotea Bocchi (who was both doctor 

 and professor), Christina Roccati, Ph. D., Zaffira Ferretti, M. D., Maria 

 Sega, M. D., and numei-ous graduates of Padua, Pavia, Ferrara, and 

 other Italian universities. 



Leaving the Italian Peninsula, which was so productive of re- 

 markable personages, we will briefly examine the position of women 

 pi'actitioners of medicine in other parts of Europe. 



Beaugrand states that the most ancient document extant relative to 

 the organization of surgery in France forbids the practice of surgeons 

 and oi female sui'geons who have failed to pass a satisfactory examina- 

 tion before the proper authorities. This paper bears the date 1311. 

 References to female surgeons appear again in an edict of King John 

 in 1352 ; from these documents it appears that women exercised the 

 function of surgeon under legal authority. At a somewhat later period 

 we find the calling of physician followed by women in Spain, Germany, 

 and England. 



In Spain, the Universities of Cordova, Salamanca, and Alcala 

 honored many women with doctors' degrees. We note also the ap- 

 pearance at Madrid in 1587 of a learned medical work entitled " Nueva 

 filosofia de la naturaleza del hombre," and published over the name 

 Olivia del Sabuco. Of this person, however, nothing whatever is cer- 

 tainly known, and it has been conjectured that the name Olivia was a 

 pseudonym assumed by some eminent physician. 



In Germany many women cultivated medical science : Barbara 

 Weintrauben was an author of no great merit ; the Duchess Eleanor of 



