NATURE 
THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1870 
THE SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION OF WOMEN 
Be feature which will probably most clearly mark the 
year 1869 in the view of the future historian of 
Education, will be the definite recognition of the rights of 
woman to all the advantages of education accorded to 
men. The advance of public opinion within the last few 
years on all subjects relating to the legal, social, and edu- 
cational position of woman, has indeed been so rapid, 
that the man whose words were only quite recently 
listened to by his friends with a condescending smile of 
pity, is now scarcely in advance of his times. As it 
is generally believed that the movement has yet far 
from reached its full development, and the course in 
which it has been so far directed having been in the main 
sound and excellent, we would still wish to suggest to its 
promoters whether the curriculum of subjects taught under 
the auspices of the various associations may not be some- 
what widened by a more liberal infusion of the scientific ele- 
ment. The ability of women to appreciate instruction by 
the highest teachers of Natural Science has as yet hardly 
been tested. The high position occupied by a few women 
like Miss Martineau and Mrs. Somerville as writers on 
Political and Natural Science cannot be taken to prove 
the capacity of the whole sex ; but we think that so far as 
opportunity has yet been offered, the evidence is entirely 
favourable. The programmes of the Lectures to Women 
on Physiography, Physics, and Botany, recently delivered 
at the South Kensington Museum by Professors Huxley, 
Guthrie, and Oliver, show at least no want of confidence 
in the capacity of their pupils. The first of these courses 
had already been given substantially to a mixed class of 
boys aff@ girls at the London Institution, and in the re- 
sults of the examination of that class, the girls had 
decidedly the advantage over the boys. In most of the 
large towns of Great Britain courses of lectures to ladies 
have now been delivered during the last two or three years 
by eminent professors of the various branches of litera- 
ture ; in many of these rigorous examinations have been 
held at the close of the courses ; and where this has been 
done, there is but one expression of opinion as to the 
quality of the work executed. At London, Edinburgh, 
Manchester, Liverpool; in English literature, mathe- 
matics, experimental physics, mental philosophy, the 
testimony is uniform, that not only can women compete 
with men in the qualities essential for severe and success- 
ful study, but that in many respects their average attain- 
ments are higher than among the working members of 
a University. A careful examination of the reports of 
the various educational associations convinces us that 
this statement is decidedly within the mark. Among so 
many testimonies to the same effect, it seems almost 
invidious to pick out one; but we cannot forbear quoting 
from Professor Fraser’s report of his class of logic and 
mental philosophy at Edinburgh :—“ Sixty-five students 
enrolled. Forty-eight of these shared more or less in the 
examinations and essays of the class. I found, as the 
session advanced, that I had at the outset underrated the 
mental power and persistency of as able and zealous a set 
of students as I have ever had the good fortune to con- 
duct. . . In the examination the average of marks 
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117 
gained was about 55 per cent.; one-twelfth of the class 
gained more than 8o per cent. of the marks, and only one 
had less than 25 per cent.” 
The Edinburgh Association stands out from most of 
its kindred societies in being formed on a decidedly more 
academical basis. The courses are longer, averaging 
about forty lectures cach, and, consequently, deeper and 
more thorough: the teachers are all university professors, 
and the aim of the Association is, as it were, to form a 
distinct Faculty of the University. So far as we can 
judge, the success of the Association has justified the 
views of its founders. Many advantages no doubt result 
from immediate connection with a great centre of learning 
like the University of Edinburgh, a connection which has 
hitherto been denied to female education. We are 
inclined to think that the “ College for Women” may 
have made a mistake in establishing itself in a locality 
“midway between London and Cambridge.” The College 
will not share in the life of the University ; the Cam- 
bridge professors will not feel the Hitchin College a 
portion of their own system, unless the College is locally 
associated with the University. 
We have already alluded to the comparative absence 
of Natural Science from the programmes of the Ladies’ 
Educational Associations; this is not so strikingly the case 
as it was last year. The London Association is making 
arrangements for some scientific classes next session ; at 
Edinburgh Professor Balfour is trying the experiment of a 
class of botany ; classes for zoology and geology areincluded 
in the Manchester curriculum for 1870-71 ; as well as one 
on logic by Professor Jevons; Natural Science has a place 
both in the entrance examination for the Hitchin College 
and in the College course, though it has not yet been 
taught ; while chemical classes have already been con- 
ducted in several localities by Professors Williamson, 
Roscoe, and others, with marked success. We notice with 
great pleasure the movement at Cambridge for the instruc- 
tion of women to which we have referred elsewhere. Here 
a wide field is opening for the future, and one which it will 
surprise us if women do not make especially their own. In 
the training of boys we have recently awoke to the dis- 
covery that a complete education implies something more 
than an intimate acquaintance with two dead languages. 
There is no danger that we shall ever underrate the value 
of a critical acquaintance with Latin and Greek, as re- 
quiring a mental training which no other studies can 
give; but while a classical education imparts the highest 
culture possible to the intuitive faculties, it scarcely brings 
into play the powers of observation. Now, it is in these 
very powers of perception, as distinct from conception, 
which the Natural Sciences cultivate, that woman has 
naturally the advantage over man ; and we may therefore 
a priori conclude that their study will be specially within 
the range of her powers. Another consideration is also 
worthy of notice by those who are looking for “new 
careers for women.” Atatime when we are beginning 
to recognise the importance of a scientific training as an 
essential portion of a liberal education, we find that our 
teaching powers fail us. The number of really compe- 
tent teachers of science has by no means kept pace with 
the extension of a desire for instruction ; the leading men 
in every branch are overwhelmed with work; and the 
younger men to whom they can with confidence entrust 
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