WOMAN'S LONG STRUGGLE 95 



sors of the Dutch, universities as a marvelous achievement. 

 Her best known volume is designated Opuscula. It was 

 brought out by the Elzevirs in Leyden and went through 

 several editions. It is composed of letters and short 

 treatises in French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew in verse as 

 well as prose. 



Of more value, if less striking, than the productions 

 named were the ' ' Learned Maid 's ' ' writings in favor of the 

 intellectual enfranchisement of her own sex. In a letter to 

 Dr. Rivet, Professor of Theology in Leyden, she declares: 



"My deep regard for learning, my conviction that equal 

 justice is the right of all, impel me to protest against the 

 theory which would allow only a minority of my sex to 

 attain to what is in the opinion of all men most worth 

 having. For, since wisdom is admitted to be the crown of 

 human achievement, and is within every man's right to 

 aim at in proportion to his opportunities, I cannot see why 

 a young girl, in whom we admit a desire of self-improve- 

 ment, should not be encouraged to acquire the best that 

 life affords." 



To those who objected that the distaff and the needle 

 were sufficient to occupy women 's minds, Anna Maria made 

 answer that the words of Plutarch "It becomes a perfect 

 man to know what is to be known and to do what is to be 

 done" applied with equal truth to a perfect woman. 1 



In England, until the latter part of the nineteenth cen- 



iln her Problema Practicum, addressed to Dr. Eivet, Anna van 

 Schurman states and develops in true syllogistic form a series of 

 propositions in defense of her thesis in favor of the higher educa- 

 tion of women. Two of these propositions are here given as illustra- 

 tive of her points of view: 



I. Cui natura inest scientiarum artiumque desiderium, ei con- 

 veniunt scientiae et artes. Atque feminsB natura inest scientiarum 

 artiumque desiderium. Ergo. 



II. Quidquid intellectum hominis perficit et exornat, id femmse 

 Christianas convenit. Atqui seientise et artes intellectum hominis 

 perficiunt et exornant. Ergo. See Nobiliss. Virginis Annce Schur- 



