326 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



first order. Her salon, unlike those of the frivolous lead- 

 ers of high life, has for many years been the favorite 

 rendezvous in Rome of learned men and women from every 

 clime. Here were seen the noted historians Gregorovius, 

 Theodore Mommsen, and Giovanni Battista de Rossi, the 

 illustrious founder of Christian archaeology. Here the rep- 

 resentatives of the French, German and American schools 

 of archaeology meet to exchange views on their favorite 

 science and to find inspiration in the knowledge and enthu- 

 siasm of their gifted hostess, who always takes an active 

 part in their recondite discussions, and never fails to con- 

 tribute her share to these meetings, which have contributed 

 so much toward the advancement of science and the history 

 of antiquity. Whether the discussion turn on the decipher- 

 ing of an ancient text, the inscription of a monument or a 

 recently excavated sarcophagus, Donna Ersilia's opinion 

 is eagerly sought, and her judgment is generally unerring. 



This cultured and erudite daughter of sunny Italy has 

 been a prolific writer on her favorite branch of research. 

 Besides contributing to such publications as the Nuova 

 Antologia and the bulletins of the archaeological commis- 

 sions in Rome, she has found time to prepare for the press 

 a number of volumes of the highest value on divers ques- 

 tions of Roman and Greek archaeology. 



It is interesting, in this connection, to note the fact that, 

 after Mme. Curie had been refused admittance into the 

 French Academy, one of the members of this institution, 

 who had voted against her on the ground that she was a 

 woman, had occasion to attend a meeting of the Academy 

 of the Lincei in Rome, an association which plays the same 

 role in Italy as does the French Academy in France, and 

 found, to his astonishment, that the dean of the depart- 

 ment of archaeology, as well as the presiding officer of some 

 of the most important meetings of the academy, was a 

 woman. She was no other than Donna Ersilia Caetani- 

 Bovatelli, the learned and gracious scion of an honored 



