WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY 



barred, and are, in most countries, admitted to colleges 

 and universities whose portals were closed to them until 

 only a few years ago ; but until they shall be welcomed to 

 all universities and all societies whose objects are the ad- 



itself on record in favor of the "immutable tradition against the 

 election of women, which it seemed eminently wise to respect. " 



Commenting on this decision of The Immortals, a writer in the 

 well-known English magazine, Nature, under date of January 12, 

 1911, penned the following pertinent paragraph: 



"It remains to be seen what the Academy of Sciences will do 

 in the face of such an expression of opinion. Mme. Curie is de- 

 servedly popular in French scientific circles. It is everywhere rec- 

 ognized that her work is of transcendent merit, and that it has 

 contributed enormously to the prestige of France as a home of ex- 

 perimental inquiry. Indeed, it is not too much to say that the dis- 

 covery and isolation of the radio-active elements are among the 

 most striking and fruitful results of a field of investigation pre- 

 eminently French. If any prophet is to have honour in his own 

 country even if the country be only the land of his adoption 

 surely, that honour ought to belong to Mme. Curie. At this moment, 

 Mme. Curie is without doubt, in the eyes of the world, the dominant 

 figure in French chemistry. There is no question that any man 

 who had contributed to the sum of human knowledge what she has 

 made known, would years ago have gained that recognition at the 

 hands of his colleagues, which Mme. Curie's friends are now de- 

 sirous of securing for her. It is incomprehensible, therefore, on any 

 ethical principles of right and justice that, because she happens to be 

 a woman, she should be denied the laurels which her pre-eminent 

 scientific achievement has earned for her." 



Compare this frank and honest statement with that of a con- 

 tributor, about the same date, to La Eevue du Monde, of Paris. 

 Guided by his myopic vision and diseased imagination, this writer 

 discerns in the admittance of women into the grand old institution 

 of Eichelieu and Napoleon the imminent triumph of what Prudhon 

 called pornocracy and the eventual opening of the portals of the 

 Palais Mazarin to representatives of the type of Lais and Phryne, 

 on the Hellenic pretext that "Beauty is the supreme merit." 



It is gratifying, however, to the friends of woman's cause to 

 learn that Mme. Curie's candidacy was defeated by only two votes. 

 Her competitor, M. Branly, received thirty votes against the Polish 

 woman's twenty-eight. She thus fared far better than did Mme. 

 Pauline Savari, who aspired to the fauteuil made vacant by the 



