July 19, 1894J 



NA 7 URE 



279 



to a colourless oil consisting of iodobenzene and ordinary 

 phenyl sulphide. 



[(CoH^jJJoS = 2C,H5l + {C,^\-X^. 



Reduction of the free base is brought about by the action of 

 sodium amalgam in the cold, a molecule of the base decom- 

 posing into benzene, water, and hydnodic acid, which latter 

 precipitates a second molecule of the base as the insoluble 

 iodide. 



2(C„H,;,I . OH + 4H = (C,jH5).,I . I + 2C5II,; + 2H„0. 



The solution of the free base precipitates solutions of the 

 salts of the heavy metals exactly like ammonia or the fixed 

 alkaline hydrate-. 



The physiological action of the chloride of the base has been 

 studied in detail by Dr. Gottlieb, of the Heidelberg Pharma- 

 kologisches Institut. The salt has been found to be very 

 poisonous, and its mode of action upon the animal muscles, 

 membranes and nerves, combines the characteristics of the 

 action of lead and thallium salts with those of ammonia and 

 the ammonium bases. A. E. TUTTON. 



WOMEN AND SCIENCE.^ 



"TPHIS little volume is to all intents and purposes a charming 

 and eloquent appeal in support of the claims ot women to 

 effectual recognition in the scientific world. In reality it pur- 

 poses only to give in brief outline the lives of half a dozen 

 women who have rendered important service to mathematical 

 science. But although brief the sketches are so clever that the 

 various characters depicted could scarcely appear more living 

 or real, whilst there is not a single dull sentence to be found in 

 the book. 



One of the most interesting of the short studies, because so 

 closely connected with the present, is that of the gifted and fasci- 

 nating Sophie Kowalevski, who only died three years ago, and 

 who commenced her study of mathematics at the age of fourteen, 

 and at eighteen married Kowalevski, " parce qu'il n'etait 

 permis qu'aux dames de suivre les Cours des Universites ! " 

 On the presentation of three original theses, the University of 

 ■Gottingen hastened without further examination to confer the 

 degree of Doctor of Philosophy upon her, and later in life she 

 was appointed to a chair of mathematics in Stockholm. But 

 Sophie Kowalevski was not only a gifted mathematician of 

 whom Kronecker declared " I'histoire des mathema"iques par- 

 lera comme d'une des plus rares investigatrices," but an accom- 

 plished litterateurs, and the author of numerous books, one of 

 which is entitled " Souvenirs sur George Eliot," whilst "Les 

 Souvenirs d'enfance" is described as a fine bit of psycho- 

 logical study worthy of Tolstoi, or of the new " Immortal " 

 Bourget. 



The place of imagination in science, so forcibly insisted upon 

 by Mr. Goschen some years ago in his rectorial address at 

 Edinburgh, is beautifully put in a letter to a novelist friend 

 .astonished at her pursuing science and letters simultaneously. 

 " People frequently regard mathematics as a dry and barren 

 science. In reality the pursuit of mathematics demands a 

 great deal of imagination, and one of the greatest mathema 

 ticians of our century said, with justice, that it is impossible to 

 be a good mathematician without' at the same time having a 

 touch of the poet." 



Some sixty or seventy years earlier we read of another 

 highly gifted mathematician, Sophie Germain, who at the same 

 time distinguished herself by her contributions to philosophy. 

 M. Rebiere tersely summarises her claims to distinction by thus 

 ■closing his memoir ; " Pour construire la tour Eiffel, les in- 

 genieurs ont utilise rulasticitc des mctaux. On a inscrit sur la 

 tour les noms de 72 savants ; on a oublie celui d'une fille de 

 genie, la thcoricienne de I'ulasticite ! " 



England is represented by Mrs. Somerville in a very bright 

 and sympathetic little notice, whilst Italy sends her contribu- 

 tion in the shape of "la nobile fanciulla " Marie Agnesi, who 

 Pope Benedict XIV. nominated Professor of Mathematics in 

 the University of Bologna, writing — **It is not you who should 

 thank us ; on the contrary, it is we who owe all our thanks to 

 you. From the most remote times Bologna has heard of people 



} *' Les Females dans la Science." Conftirence faile au cercle Saint- 

 Simon le 24 FJvricr 1894, par A. Rebiiire. (Paris : Librairie Nony et Cie, 



.3.;.,.) 



NO. 1290, VOL. 50] 



of your sex occupying its public chairs. It belongs to you to 



worthily perpetuate the tradition." In commenting upon this 

 distinction M. Rebiere cannot resist telling us of some of the 

 numerous women who have at various time? held professorial 

 appointments at Bologna. The list is instructive, and we 

 quote it in full, for we cannot afford to admit women as fellows 

 of any of our learned societies even ! — " In languages, philo- 

 sophy, and theology : Priscopia Cornaro, ' maitresse des arts 

 liberaux'; Clotilde Tambroni, hellenist, who had Mezoffanti 

 as a pupil. In law : Dotta, daughter of Accurse ; Biltizia 

 Gozzadini, in connection with whom a pamphlet was published, 

 De muliertim doctoratu ; the two sisters, Beltina and Novella 

 Calendrini. It appears that Novella was so beautiful, that it 

 was necessary, in order to avoid distracting the students, to 

 draw a slight curtain between her and the audience. In natural 

 science and medicine : Alexandra Gigliani, Maria Petraccini, 

 .A.nna Manzolini, and Sybille Merian. The latter, who was a 

 German, went to study insects at Surinam ; she published an 

 important work, and left her collections to the School of 

 Bologna. In physics and mathematics : Lauie Bassi, who 

 married Dr. Verati, and who whilst leaching physics during 

 forty years was a model wife and mother ; the two astronomers, 

 Therese et Madeleine Manfredi, sisters of the Director 

 of the Observatory, who published a volume entitled ' As- 

 tronomy for Women.'" 



The bust of Marie Agnesi was subsequently placed by 

 Cardinal Dumini in his gallery of distinguished Lombards, and 

 on her tomb these words were inscribed : " Fille remarquable 

 par sa piete, sa science et sa bienfaisance." 



We are introduced to a very different woman and mathe- 

 matician in the person of Madame la Marquise du Chatelet, the 

 friend of Voltaire, and whom the Prince R>yal of Prussia 

 familiarly addressed as Venus Newton ! 



M. Rebiere tells us that she had preserved, in spite of her 

 studies, " une cerlaine frivolite. Son gout pour la parure et 

 les diamants ctait tres vif. Et puiselle riait de si bon coeuraux 

 marionnettes ! " But whilst indulging in diamonds and puppet- 

 shows, the Marchioness found time to translate Newton's 

 "Principia" from Latin into French, and produced besides 

 numerous learned memoirs, one of which, "Institutions de 

 Physique," was dedicated to her sons in words which, although 

 written more than a century and a half ago, might have been 

 uttered yesterday — " J'ai toujours pensc que le devoir le plus 

 sacre des hommes etait«de donner a ieurs enfants une education 

 qui les empochat dans un age plus avanci- de regretter leur 

 jeunesse, qui est le seul temps oil Ton puisse veiitablement 

 s'inslruire. " We find her returning to the same theme in a little 

 essay, " Traite du bonheur," a curious mixture of feelings re- 

 flecting very vividly the varying moods of this remarkable 

 woman : — " Nous n'avons rien a faire en ce monde qu'a nous 

 procurer des sensations agreahles," she writes; whilst on another 

 page we read, in an eulogistic commentary on the benefits of 

 study more especially to women — " IJuand. par hasard, il s'en 

 trouve quelqu une nee avec une .ime assez elevce, il ne lui reste 

 quel'etude pour la consoler de toutesles exclusions et de toutes 

 les dcpendances auxquelles elle se trouve condamnee par etat," 

 M. Rebiere does not omit to include amongst his memorable 

 women Ilypatia, with whose memoir the volume in fact opens. 



In conclusion, M. Rebiere devotes a couple of pages to sug- 

 gestions for the making of a book which we fancy would be 

 with ditficulty kept within the modest limit of eighty pages, 

 which the little pamphlet before us embraces. " Un livre a 

 faire " remains, says M. Rebiere, in which the influence direct 

 and indirect exerted by women on the progress of science might 

 be recorded, a book catholic enough not only to include the 

 uivaiites profession nellcs, but the simples cnricusis or amateurs 

 in science, amongst which George Sand finds a place, the 

 collaboratrices, and finally those whose munificence and public 

 spirit have earned for them the well-deserved title of les 

 protectrices, instances of which we in this country have 

 fortunately little difficulty in recalling. But possibly the most 

 eloquent tribute which has ever been paid to any woman, and 

 which might appropriately have found mention in M. Rebicre's 

 little volume, is that which was so pathetically inscribed by 

 John Stuart -Mill on the first page of his essay on " Liberty." 



We are glad to learn that meanwhile M. Rebiere is compiling 

 a second and more elaborate volume in which women's relation 

 to science will be discussed, upon which subject M. Rebiere 

 asks us to mention that he will gratefully receive any notes and 

 suggestions. G. C. Frankl.\nd. 



