THE RADCLIFFE TRADITION 361 
have marked this century, the progress in the edu- 
cation of women has been singularly striking and 
novel. For one whose life has kept pace with that of 
the century, beginning with its earlier years and 
sharing now in its decline, the retrospect as regards 
women is simply amazing. I do not forget in saying 
this that at all times and in almost all countries some 
one woman has made her mark intellectually here 
and there, has been known and acknowledged as an 
exceptional power in her day and generation. I speak 
now not of such rare instances, but of women in 
general and their opportunities. ... Even now, 
after twenty years of experience and observation at 
Radcliffe, I still find myself surprised at the possibili- 
ties opened to women by their admission into the 
range of academic instruction. I was vividly reminded 
of this the other day. Having gone to the Harvard 
Observatory on a chance errand, I happened upon a 
class of our own students who have been working 
there this year under Mr. Edmands. He was absent 
on that day, and Mrs. Fleming, whose work in the 
photographic department of the Observatory has 
made her name known to astronomers everywhere, 
had taken his class for him. I joined them, and for 
one pleasant hour was a student with them. Mrs. 
Fleming was just showing them what I had especially 
wished to see, the image of a star which, until re- 
cently revealed by the photographic telescope, had 
never been seen by human eye, although, since its 
discovery, its position and magnitude have been com- 
puted by astronomers. Something of the method, by 
