176 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



means of explaining the seemingly complex motions of the 

 heavenly bodies, resolved to make his countrymen acquaint- 

 ed with the teachings of the great English geometer and, 

 at the same time, dethrone Descartes in the French Acad- 

 emy. It was, indeed, a huge undertaking; but, thanks to 

 the ability which Mme. du Chatelet displayed in translating 

 and elucidating Newton's immortal masterpiece, he lived 

 to see his dream realized. 



How proud Mme. du Chatelet 's countrywomen must 

 have been of her! How they must have rejoiced in her 

 success and acclaimed her as the intellectual glory of her 

 sex! How they must have pointed to her work as a tri- 

 umphant refutation of the age-old belief in woman's inca- 

 pacity for mathematics and all abstract science ! How they 

 must have been elated to find one of their number success- 

 fully executing a task which would have taxed the powers 

 of the most eminent mathematicians of France ! How they 

 must have associated her truly notable performance with 

 similar achievements of Hypatia and Maria Gaetana Ag- 

 nesi and discerned in it concrete evidence of the falsity of 

 all those imputations of mental inferiority which had been 

 fostered by "man's huge egotism and woman's carefully 

 coddled superstition." How they must have been encour- 

 aged by her achievement and spurred on to emulate her by 

 similar contributions to the advancement of science ! 



That is what we think now; but the light and frivolous 

 women who constituted the leaders of society in Mme. du 

 Chatelet 's day, and who were devoured by envy and jeal- 

 ousy of one who was so much their superior in intellect 

 were not so minded. Far from sympathizing with her 

 work, they proved to be her most virulent critics and most 

 pronounced enemies. Neither Moliere nor Boileau could 

 have heaped more ridicule on the pedantic women of their 

 time than was meted out to the translator of the Principia 

 by certain noble dames of provincial chateaux or by dis- 

 tinguished habituees of prominent Parisian salons. 



