536 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mentary which follows the translation is in large part the work of this 

 lady, although it was composed under the dii'ection of Clairaut and 

 revised by him. *' We have witnessed two prodigies," said Voltaire 

 in his historical introduction to the " Principia " — " one that Newton 

 should have composed this work, and the other that a woman should 

 have translated and elucidated it." Leaving out the exaggeration 

 natural in such a statement, there is still a great deal of truth in it. 

 More than ordinary mathematical knowledge was necessary even to 

 make known a work like Newton's immortal treatise, and still more to 

 add explanatory comments to it. This, however, was not Madame du 

 Chatelet's first scientific work, for she had previously written for her 

 son "The Institutions of Physics," a book imbued with the Leibnit- 

 zian philosophy. 



As may readily be imagined, Madame du Chatelet was likely to find 

 more enemies than aids among the women of the light and frivolous 

 society of her day. Fortunately, she was indifferent to criticism, else 

 she would have suffered the pain of a hundred deaths. 



The most distinguished of all woman-astronomers was Caroline 

 Herschel, the story of whose life, already fully told in this journal (see 

 "Popular Science Monthly," April and May, 18TG), is familiar to our 

 readers, and needs not to be repeated. 



Madame Riimker, wife of the former director of the observatory of 

 Hamburg, and his constant aid, discovered a comet on the 11th of Oc- 

 tober, 1847 — the first comet discovered by a woman since Caroline 

 Herschel had announced the last of her eight, fifty-two years before. 

 [M. Lagrange has curiously omitted to mention the American woman- 

 astronomer, Maria Mitchell, who is entitled to the place among dis- 

 covers of comets which he here gives to Madame Riimker. She dis- 

 covered a telescopic comet on the 1st day of October, 1847 — ten days 

 before Madame Riimker's discovery — in recognition of which she was 

 given a gold medal by the King of Denmark. She has also devoted 

 much attention to the examination of nebulas, and has been employed 

 in observations connected with the Coast Survey and in compiling the 

 " Nautical Almanac." Her work has hardly been inferior to that of 

 any of the women mentioned by M. Lagrange. — Ed. Popular Science 

 Monthly.] 



Another lady, who left very distinct traces of her work in astro- 

 nomical science, was Madame Scarpellini, whom Italy claims as one of 

 the children that have done her the most honor, and to whose memory 

 a statue has recently been erected, 



Catherine Scarpellini was born at Foligno on the 29th of October, 

 1808, and was a niece of the astronomer Feliciano Scarpellini, founder 

 of the Capitoline Observatory, restorer of the Academia dei Lynceii, 

 and professor in the two universities of Rome. Her attention was 

 directed to scientific studies by her early training, with which her 

 tastes fully agreed. Among her titles to fame we may recount that 



