170 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



"it is cold in the winter time on the part of the earth which 

 we inhabit, the other part must be warm, in order that the 

 temperature of the earth may always be in equilibrium/' 

 That she should have arrived at this conclusion before nav- 

 igators had visited the southern hemisphere is truly aston- 

 ishing. 1 



"The stars," she continues, "have neither the same 

 brightness nor the same size. They are kept in their course 

 by a superior body. ' ' Here again is her idea of universal 

 gravitation. 



These stars, she further declares, are not immovable, but 

 they traverse the firmament in its entirety. And to make 

 clearer her conception of the motion of the stars, she com- 

 pares this motion to that of the blood in the veins. To 

 hear one of this early period speaking of blood coursing 

 through the veins and thus traversing the whole body of 

 man seems to presage, in a remarkable manner, the beauti- 

 ful discoveries of Cesalpino and Harvey regarding the cir- 

 culation of the blood. 



The most celebrated astronomer of the early Renaissance 

 was John Miiller, of Konigsburg, better known as Kegio- 

 montanus. In his observatory in Nuremberg he was ably 

 assisted by his wife who exhibited a special interest in as- 

 tronomy. At the end of the sixteenth century, Sophia 

 Brahe, the youngest sister of Tycho Brahe, following in the 

 footsteps of her illustrious brother, attained great celebrity 

 as an astronomer. 



More distinguished for her astronomical work than either 

 of these two women was Maria Cunitz, a Silesian, who, from 

 her tenderest years, displayed extraordinary zeal for study 

 and who eventually became mistress of seven languages, 



i"Calor etiam soils in hieme maior est sub terra quam super 

 terram, quod si tune frigus tantum esset sub terra quam super ter- 

 rain, vel si in sestate calor tantus esset sub terra quantus est super 

 terram, de immoderatione ista terra tota scinderetur. ' ' Hildegardis 

 Causes et Cures, p. 7, Lipsiae, 1903. 



