180 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



that Lalande frankly confesses that he would not have 

 dared to undertake its solution without Mme. Lepaute's 

 assistance. For it necessitated calculating for every de- 

 gree, and for one hundred and fifty years the distances and 

 forces of each of the planets with reference to the comet. 

 "It would be difficult, " declares Lalande, "to realize the 

 courage which this enterprise required, if one did not know 

 that for more than six months we calculated from morning 

 until night, sometimes even at meals, and that at the end 

 of this enforced labor I was stricken by a malady which 

 affected me during the rest of my life." Clairaut was so 

 impressed by Mme. Lepaute's energy and skill during this 

 time that he declared "her ardor was surprising," and he 

 did not hesitate to call her La savante calculatrice the 

 learned computer. 1 



The eclipse of 1762 also engaged Mme. Lepaute's atten- 

 tion, as did also the annular eclipse of 1764. The latter 

 was a curious phenomenon for France, as it had never be- 

 fore been observed. Mme. Lepaute calculated it for the 

 whole of Europe and published a chart showing its path 

 for every quarter of an hour. She also published another 

 chart for Paris, in which were exhibited the different 

 phases of the eclipse. 



On the occasion of the different eclipses which she had 

 calculated, Mme. Lepaute recognized the advantage of 

 having a table of parallactic angles. She accordingly pre- 



i In his work on Comets, Clairaut at first gave Mme. Lepaute 

 full credit for her work which had been of such inestimable service 

 to himself ; but, in order to gratify a woman who, having preten- 

 sions without knowledge, was very jealous of the superior attain- 

 ments of Mme. Lepaute, he had the weakness subsequently to sup- 

 press his generous tribute to merit. Commenting on this strange 

 conduct of his assistant, Lalande expresses himself as follows: 

 "We know that it is not rare to see ordinary women depreciate 

 those who have knowledge, tax them with pedantry and contest their 

 merit in order to avenge themselves upon them for their superiority. 

 The latter are so few in number that the others have almost suc- 

 ceeded in making them conceal their acquirements. ; ; 



