5o8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a curtain, in order to prevent the students, one and all, falling vic- 

 tims to her charms. 



Among the ancients, mention is made of Athjrta, sister of 

 Sesostris, who is said to have been an astronomer; Berenice, wife 

 of Ptolemy III, King of ^gypt, whose hair has given name to one 

 of the constellations; Agnodice, the first female medical practitioner, 

 who lived three hundred years before Christ; and the great Cleo- 

 patra, who is credited with possessing medical and chemical knowl- 

 edge, besides occult powers. 



At a later period we read of Hypatia, the romance of whose short 

 and brilliant life is well known through the pen of one of England's 

 most popular writers. She has obtained a place in the history of 

 science by her extraordinary knowledge of mathematics; she taught 

 geometry, algebra, and astronomy, and is said to have invented 

 astronomical and chemical instruments. It is a remarkable fact that 

 the story of the pagan maiden, murdered by Christian hatred, should 

 have become transposed into the world-wide legend of St. Katherine 

 of Alexandria, the beautiful, young, and learned martyr-queen. 



Among the learned women we find St. Hildegarde, foundress of 

 the Monastery of St. Ruppert on the banks of the Ehine, whose great 

 work De Physica contains many personal observations of ISTature. 

 It treats of the rivers of Germany, of the nature and properties of 

 metals, of vegetables, fruit and flowers, fish, birds, and quadrupeds. 

 She seems to have been acquainted with the circulation of the blood, 

 the physical phenomena of the tides, and with many other wonders 

 of N'ature. " The naturalist," says a recent writer, " finds in Hilde- 

 garde the germs of many modern discoveries." St. Hildegarde, who 

 died at a great age in 1180, is a patron saint of physicians, and is 

 often represented in art with a book or a pen in her hand. 



The ancient universities of Italy early recognized the intellectual 

 abilities of women, giving them every opportunity of gaining and 

 imparting knowledge, and for several successive centuries numbered 

 women among their most honored professors. 



During the eighteenth century, three distinguished women were 

 at one time occupants of chairs in the University of Bologna, one of 

 the oldest and most important seats of learning in Italy: Maria 

 Agnesi, Laura Bassi, and Anna Manzolini. Of the three, Laura 

 Bassi was a few years the senior, having been born in 1711; she 

 was a precocious child, and was early considered a prodigy of 

 learning, being proficient in mathematics, Greek, and philosophy. 

 While still quite young, she attracted the notice of Cardinal Lam- 

 bertini, afterward Pope Benedict IV, and when only twenty-one 

 was given the chair of philosophy in the university, a position which 

 she held for twenty-eight years. In 1738 she married a physician, 



