396 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



thousand silly things which he said during his lifetime. 

 The very contrary is the truth. Women have produced no 

 chef d'ceuvre of any kind whatsoever. They have been the 

 authors neither of the Iliad, nor the &neid, nor the 

 Jerusalem Delivered, nor Phedre, nor Athalie nor Rodo- 

 gune, nor The Misanthrope, nor Tartufe, nor The Joueur, 

 nor The Pantheon, nor The Church of St. Peter's, nor the 

 Venus de' Medici, nor the Apollo Belvidere, nor the Prin- 

 cipia, nor the Discourse on Universal History, nor Tele- 

 machus. They have invented neither algebra nor the tele- 

 scope, nor achromatic glasses nor the fire engine, nor hose- 

 machines, etc. ' ' 1 



All this is true, but what does it prove? It does not 

 prove, as is so frequently assumed, woman's lesser brain 



iLettres et Opuscules Inedits du Comte Joseph de Maistre, Tom. 

 I, p. 194, Paris, 1851. 



It was this same brusque and original writer who asserted that 

 "science was a most dangerous thing for women; that no woman 

 should study science under penalty of becoming ridiculous and un- 

 happy; that a coquette can more readily get married than a sa- 

 vante." And he it was who declared that women who attempted 

 to emulate men in the pursuit of science are monkeys and donne 

 barbute bearded women and who designated Mme. de Stael as 

 * ' la science en jupons, une impertinente femelette ' ' science in petti- 

 coats, a silly, impertinent female. 



He, however, met an opponent worthy of his steel in the person 

 of the eloquent bishop of Orleans, Mgr. Dupanloup. In a lengthy 

 and brilliant critique of De Maistre 's views he shows them to be 

 untenable, if not ridiculous. "I by no means/ ' he writes, "agree 

 with M. de Maistre that 'la science en jupons,' as he calls it, or tal- 

 ents of any kind whatsoever, militates in the slightest against a 

 woman being a good wife or a good mother. Quite the contrary." 

 And considering woman as the companion and aid of man soda et 

 adjutorium he expresses a view which is quite the opposite of that 

 championed by his distinguished adversary for, in words precise and 

 pregnant, he asserts that the education of women cannot be too con- 

 sistent, too serious, and too solid ' ' L 'education des femmes ne 

 saurait etre trop suivie, trop serieuse et trop forte." La Femme 

 Studieuse, p. 160, Paris, 1895. 



