THE RADCLIFFE TRADITION 361 



have marked this century, the progress in the edu- 

 cation of women has been singularly striking and 

 novel. For one whose life has kept pace with that of 

 the century, beginning with its earlier years and 

 sharing now in its decline, the retrospect as regards 

 women is simply amazing. I do not forget in saying 

 this that at all times and in almost all countries some 

 one woman has made her mark intellectually here 

 and there, has been know^n and acknowledged as an 

 exceptional power in her day and generation. I speak 

 now not of such rare instances, but of women in 

 general and their opportunities. . . . Even now, 

 after twenty years of experience and observation at 

 Radcliffe, I still find myself surprised at the possibili- 

 ties opened to women by their admission into the 

 range of academic instruction. I was vividly reminded 

 of this the other day. Having gone to the Harvard 

 Observatory on a chance errand, I happened upon a 

 class of our own students who have been working 

 there this year under Mr. Edmands. He was absent 

 on that day, and Mrs. Fleming, whose work in the 

 photographic department of the Observatory has 

 made her name known to astronomers everywhere, 

 had taken his class for him. I joined them, and for 

 one pleasant hour was a student with them. Mrs. 

 Fleming was just showing them what I had especially 

 wished to see, the image of a star which, until re- 

 cently revealed by the photographic telescope, had 

 never been seen by human eye, although, since its 

 discovery, its position and magnitude have been com- 

 puted by astronomers. Something of the method, by 



