WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY 171 



among which were Latin, Greek and Hebrew. She also 

 cultivated poetry, music and painting; but her favorite 

 studies were mathematics and astronomy. At the solicita- 

 tion of her husband, she undertook the preparation of an 

 abridgment of the Eudolphine Tables. Her work, under 

 the name of Urania Propitia, was published after her death 

 by her husband, and gained for the talented authoress the 

 name of ' ' The second Hypatia. ' ' 1 



Shortly after the completion of Urania Propitid, a 

 French woman, Jeanne Dumee, distinguished herself by 

 writing a work on the theory of Copernicus entitled Entre- 

 tiens sur I' Opinion de Copernic Touchant la Mobilite de la 

 Terre. So far as known, this work was never published, 

 but the original manuscript is still preserved in the Na- 

 tional Library of Paris. The authoress deems it necessary 

 it apologize for. writing on a subject that is usually consid- 

 ered foreign to her sex and to explain why she was ambi- 

 tious to discuss questions to which the women of her time 

 never gave any thought. It was that she might "prove to 

 them that they are not incapable of study, if they wish to 

 make the effort, because between the brain of a woman and 

 that of a man there is no difference. ' ' 2 



How often before had not women endeavored to prove the 

 equality of brain power of the two sexes, and how often since 

 have they bent their efforts in this direction ! And yet the 

 majority of men still remain skeptical about such equality. 



Among the contemporaries of Jeanne Dumee were two 

 other women who gained more than ordinary distinction by 

 their attainments in astronomy. These were Mme. de la 

 Sabliere,in France, and Maria Margaret Kirch, of Germany. 



1 Commentaire de TJieon d'Alexandrie, p. X, translated by the 

 Abbe" Halma, Paris, 1882. 



2 f ( Enfin de leur f aire connoistre qu 'elles ne sont pas incapable 

 de Pestude, si elles s'en vouloient donner la peine puisqu 'entre le 

 cerveau d'une femme et celui d'un homme il n'y a aucune differ- 

 ence." Of. Journal de Savans, Tom. Ill, p. 304, & Amsterdam, 1687. 



