WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY 169 



heavens between the time of Hypatia and the Arab prince 

 and astronomer, Albategni, who flourished during the lat- 

 ter part of the ninth century and the early part of the 

 tenth, that only eight observations, it is asserted, were re- 

 corded during this long period. The works and observa- 

 tions of Albategni, it may be remarked, have a particular 

 interest from the fact that they form a connecting link 

 between those of the Alexandrine astronomers and those 

 of modern Europe. 



Antoine Hamilton, in his Gaufrey* a parody on The 

 Thousand and One Nights tells of a Saracen princess, 

 Fleur d'fipine, who, before she was fifteen years of age, 

 was able not only to speak Latin and Romance, but who 

 was also "better acquainted than any woman in the world 

 with the movements of the stars and the moon." 



"Et du cours des etoiles et de la lune luisant 

 Savoit moult plus que fame de chest siecle vivant." 



If any woman between the time of Hypatia and Galileo 

 deserved such high praise for her astronomical knowledge 

 it was certainly Saint Hildegard, the famous Benedictine 

 abbess of Bingen on the Rhine. She has well been called 

 "the marvel of the twelfth century/' not only on account 

 of her sanctity, but also on account of her extraordinary 

 attainments in every branch of knowledge then cultivated. 



When treating of the sun, Hildegard tells us that it is in 

 the center of the firmament and holds in place the stars that 

 gravitate around it, as the earth attracts the creatures 

 which inhabit it. This view of a twelfth century nun is 

 indeed remarkable. For, in her time, the earth was by 

 everyone considered as the center of the firmament, while 

 universal gravitation the sublime discovery of Newton 

 had not as yet entered into the scientific theories of that 

 epoch. 



Hildegard likewise anticipates subsequent discoveries re- 

 garding the alternation of the seasons. "If," she writes, 



