400 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



incapacity for science and for intellectual achievements 

 of the highest order on what she has not accomplished in 

 the past, or on the comparatively limited number of her 

 contributions to the advancement of knowledge ; for up till 

 the present she has, for the most part, been but a dwarf 

 of the gynaeceum, 



"Cramp'd under worse than South-sea isle taboo." 



Had men been compelled to labor under similar condi- 

 tions, it is doubtful if they would have accomplished any 

 more than women have now to their credit. 



Considering woman's past achievements in science, as 

 well as in other departments of knowledge ; considering her 

 present opportunities for developing her long-hampered 

 faculties, and considering, especially, the many new social 

 and economic adjustments which have been made within 

 the last half century, in consequence of the greatly changed 

 conditions of modern life, it requires no prophetic vision 

 to forecast what share the gentler sex will have in the 

 future advancement of science. That it will be far greater 

 than it has been hitherto there can be no reasonable doubt. 

 That the number of savantes of the type of Maria Gaetana 

 Agnesi, Sonya Kovalevsky and Mme. Curie will be greatly 

 enlarged there is every reason to believe. That among 

 these coming votaries of science there will be more than 

 one woman who, even in the most abstruse sciences, will 

 stand 



"Upon an even pedestal with man," 



seems to be assured by the achievements of many who are 

 now so materially adding to the sum of human knowledge. 

 Is it probable that the future will bring forth women 

 whose achievements in science will rank with those of 

 Euler, Faraday, Liebig, Leverrier, Champollion and Geof- 

 fry Saint-Hillaire ? It would be a rash man who would 

 answer in the negative. We cannot, as De Maistre seems 





