186 
NATORE 
[DECEMBER 24, 1903 
Antoniadi directs attention to some experiments made by 
him which showed that when single, elliptical, dark spots 
were examined for a long unbroken period they appeared 
to develop a duplication similar to that observed in Martian 
phenomena. He also states that Schiaparelli repeatedly 
saw the well-defined dark seas with lighter interiors, 
and when the narrower seas, such as the Mare 
Cimmerium, Lacus Niliacus, and Sinus Sabzus were 
observed steadily for a long time, they manifested a 
tendency to beget islands which exactly resembled in shape 
the areas in which they appeared. M. Antoniadi directs 
attention to the fact that these islands always appeared to 
be surrounded by ‘‘ dark canals,’’ and he has therefore 
arrived at the conclusion that their appearance, and the 
apparent ‘‘ gemination’’ of the canals, are simply results 
of the physiological effects of ‘‘ contrast ’’ (Astronomische 
Nachrichten, No, 3916). 
OBSERVATIONS OF LEONIDS AND BIELIDS AT ATHENS.—In 
a communication to the Paris Academy of Sciences, M. 
Eginitis, director of the Athens Observatory, records the 
following observations of the Leonid and Bielid showers 
made at Athens during November :— 
Leonids.—November 14, 11h. 50m. to 18h. (Athens M.T.), 
twelve meteors, appearing to emanate from radiants situ- 
ated at a=152°, 6=+25°, and a=156°, 5=+20°, were 
seen. 
November 15, gh. 50m. to 17h. 50m., 187 meteors were 
observed from the following radiants :—a=150°, 5=+22°; 
@=153°, 0=-+21°; a=152°, 5=+24°. 
November 16, thirty-three meteors observed, chiefly from 
a radiant situated at a=150°, 5=+17°. 
This shower appeared to attain its maximum between 
15h. and 16h. on November 15. The general colour of the 
meteors was red, their velocities moderately swift, and their 
mean brightness equivalent to the fourth magnitude. 
Bielids.—A watch was kept for this shower on the even- 
ings of November 22, 23 and 24, but no metecrs were seen 
on November 22, possibly because the sky was very hazy. 
From 7h. 46m. to 16h. on November 23, fourteen meteors 
were seen, chiefly emanating from a radiant situated at 
a@=23°, 5=+43°. On November 24 eleven meteors were 
observed, and these indicated the existence of two radiants, 
one at a=26°, 5=+46°, and the other at a=26°, 5=+43°. 
In general the Bielids were red in colour and equivalent 
in brightness to the fifth magnitude stars; they moved so 
swiftly that their very short paths were hardly visible 
(Comptes rendus, December 7). : 
THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 
“THE adequate provision of secondary and higher educa- 
tion for English girls and women is to be regarded 
as one of the accomplishments of the latter half of the 
nineteenth century. In 1850, for instance, the popular idea 
here and elsewhere was that women were intellectually in- 
capable of benefiting by higher instruction. To quote Dr. 
Leslie Waggener, of the University of Texas, ‘‘it was 
seriously questioned whether the *‘ female’ mind could un- 
tangle the intricacies of pure mathematics, could appreciate 
the abstruse speculations of metaphysics, or could follow, 
step by step, the inductions of a scientific investigation.”’ 
Fifty years’ experience has, however, demonstrated the com- 
plete fallacy of this preconception. Speaking at the Cam- 
bridge University Extension summer meeting in 1900, Mrs. 
Henry Sidgwick, principal of Newnham College, said 
of higher education for women, ‘‘I do not think its desir- 
ability is any longer seriously doubted by anyone who has 
looked into the facts, and whose opinion on the question 
is worth considering.’’ Similarly, President Eliot, of 
Harvard College, in an address in 1896, referring to the 
university over which he presides, remarked, ‘‘it is a 
quarter of a century since the college doors were opened to 
women. Since that time, where girls and boys have been 
educated together, it has become an historical fact that 
women have made rapid strides, and captured a greater 
number of honours in proportion to their number than men.”’ 
So complete a change of opinion on a subject of such 
importance as the suitable education of the larger half of 
the human race deserves attention, and the steps in the 
NO. 1782, VOL. 69| 
movement which has resulted in the recognition of the 
claims of women at most universities throughout the world, 
supply a profitable study for all students of educational 
problems. A comparison, too, of the present provision of 
university courses for women with their complete non- 
existence in 1850 should serve to cheer those men of science 
and others who are endeavouring to improve our national 
education in other directions. It is gratifying, in beginning 
a brief historical summary of the growth of the movement 
to provide secondary and higher education for women, to 
be able to state that among the first efforts in this direction 
were those made in England. The absence of public secon- 
dary schools for girls in this country, and the impossibility 
of obtaining really educated governesses, were the causes 
which led the late F. D. Maurice and others to work with 
the Governesses’ Benevolent Institution to improve matters, 
and the labours of these pioneers led to the establishment, 
in 1848, of Queen’s College, London, the original object of 
which institution was to train women teachers. In the 
following year Bedford College, London, was founded, and 
so successful has it been that it is now one of two colleges 
for women which are constituent colleges of the recon- 
structed University of London. A good start having been 
made, the movement grew and ere long flourished greatly 
in several localities. The North London Collegiate School 
for Girls was established by Miss Frances Buss in 1850, and 
the Ladies’ College at Cheltenham in 1853. The thorough 
education of the daughters of middle-class families had be- 
come sufficiently general in 1863 to convince the University 
of Cambridge of the advisability of at least trying the 
experiment of admitting girls to the lvcal examinations 
conducted by them in various centres throughout the 
country, and in 1865 girls were formally admitted. Then 
came the Schools Inquiry Commission of 1864, which, after 
sitting for three years, reported at the end of 1867. Ladies 
were called upon by the Commission to give evidence as to 
the provision for the secondary education of girls, and, to 
quote Mrs. Henry Sidgwick again, “‘ The assistant com- 
missioners, who had examined and reported on the condition 
of secondary education in various districts, gave a deplor- 
able account of the insufficiency of the girls’ schools, and 
of the immense difficulty of finding any adequately-educated 
female teachers for them.’’ In 1872, the National Union, 
under the presidency of Princess Louise, was started to 
reform girls’ education. This association soon established 
the Girls’ Public Day Schools Company, and at present, 
this company alone, has 34 schools, about 7ooo pupils, and 
about 600 teachers of different grades. 
This cursory glance at the history of the attempts made 
to supply English girls with secondary education is 
necessary, because the need created by the establishmént of 
these schools for highly qualified women teachers directed 
attention to the necessity for the provision of higher educa- 
tion at English colleges and universities, a need which had 
hitherto been completely ignored. The recognition of the 
claims of women to as much education as they desire has 
in England been brought about gradually, and it will be 
convenient to indicate the more important steps taken since 
the foundation of Queen’s College, London, in 1848, and 
then to outline, as exactly as possible, the present state of 
things in other countries. It will simplify matters, too, to 
deal with different countries separately, and to take the 
universities of Great Britain and Ireland first, and in most 
detail. 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
Special lectures for women were started in connection 
with the University of Cambridge in 1870. Girton College 
was incorporated at Cambridge in 1873, though it had beem 
in existence at Hitchin since 1869, and from its inaugur- 
ation had prepared its students for the examinations of 
Cambridge, where women were first informally examined 
for the previous examination in 1870, and for the tripos ex- 
amination in 1872. Girton was ‘‘ designed to hold in re- 
lation to girls’ schools and home training a position 
analogous to that occupied by the universities towards the 
public schools for boys.’’ In 1871, a house of residence for 
women attending university lectures was opened in Cam- 
bridge, and this institution became known, in 1875, as Newn- 
ham Hall, and was constituted a coliege in 1880. In the 
same year as Newnham College was incorporated, the uni- 
