Woman in Science Part 22

Similarly, family honor made it inc.u.mbent on f.a.n.n.y Mendelssohn to refrain from publis.h.i.+ng her musical compositions under her own name.

Accordingly, they appeared along with those of her brother Felix, and so similar are they in color and sentiment to his own productions that they are indistinguishable from them, unless the author's signature be attached. To satisfy an inane public opinion, they long contributed "to swell the volume of her brother's fame," and there is reason to believe that some of them still appear under his name at the present day.

Yes, truly, when one recalls these and similar facts, one cannot help exclaiming: "What a marvelous change in the att.i.tude of the world toward women within the memories of those still living!" Women like Miss Ormerod, Miss Kingsley and Mme. Coudreau would have been ostracized if they had dared to attempt, in the days of Lady Nairne, the Bronte sisters and f.a.n.n.y Mendelssohn, what they may now do not only without censure but without exciting more than pa.s.sing comment. The ban has been lifted from what was for ages tabu for women, and the sphere of their intellectual activities is now almost coextensive with that of the sterner s.e.x. Not only does society no longer point the finger of scorn at the woman naturalist or the woman explorer, but it showers honors on her while living and erects monuments to her memory when dead. A great change, indeed, and one long and ardently desired. Verily, _tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis_.

FOOTNOTES:

[164] In his erudite work, _Geschichte der Botanik_, Vol. III, p. 517, Koenigsberg, 1856, Ernest H. F. Meyer gives in a few words his estimate of the excellence of Hildegard's _Physica_: "Aber als ehrwurdiges Denkmal des Alterthums und einer zu jener Zeit nicht gemeinen Naturkentniss empfehlen sich zumal deutschen Naturforschern ihre vier Bucher der _Physica_.... Denn nicht nur der deutsche Botaniker und Zoologe finden in ihrer Physik fast die ersten rohen Anfange vaterlandische Naturforshung, auch dem Artzt bietet sic fur jene Zeit uberraschende Erscheinung dar, eine nicht von Dioskorides abgeleitete, sondern unverkennbar aus der Volksuberlieferung geschopfte Heilmittellehre; und der Sprachforscher stosst im lateinischen Text beinahe Zeile um Zeile auf deutsche Ausdrucke seltener Sprachformen."

[165] Hildegardis _Opera Omnia_, p. 1122, Migne's Edition, Paris, 1882.

[166] "Constat permulta S. Hildegardi nota jam fuisse, quae caeteri medii aevi scriptores nescierunt, quaeque sagaces demum recentiorum temporum indagatores reperierunt ac tamquam nova vent.i.tarunt." Ibid. Dr. Karl Jessen, in his thoughtful _Botanik der Gegenwart und Vorzeit in Culturhistorischer Entwickelung_, p. 123, Leipzig, 1864, expresses himself on the extraordinary medical knowledge of the abbess of Bingen as follows: "Wer deutsche Volkarznei studieren will, der studiere Hildegard und er wird Respect davor bekommen."

[167] _Compendio Storico della Scuola Anatomica di Bologna_, p. 358, by Michele Medici, Bologna, 1857, and _Notizie degli Scrittori Bolognesi_, Tom. VI, p. 113, by Giovanni Fantuzzi, Bologna, 1788.

Certain writers tell us of another woman who distinguished herself in anatomy in the early part of the fourteenth century. Her name was Alessandra Giliani, who is said to have been a pupil and an a.s.sistant of the celebrated Mondino, father of modern anatomy. In addition to possessing great skill in dissection, she is reputed to have devised a means of drawing the blood from the veins and arteries--even the most minute--and then filling them with variously colored liquids which quickly solidified. By this means, we are told, she was able to exhibit the circulatory system in all its details and complexity, and to have always on hand, for purposes of instruction, a model that was absolutely true to nature.

How much truth there may be in these statements regarding a young girl, who was only nineteen when she died, is difficult to determine. Medici, in concluding his account of her and referring to the inscription on her tomb, which seems to authenticate all the claims made for her, expresses himself as follows: "In quoting this doc.u.ment, I do not intend that my readers shall accord to it a credence that I myself abstain from giving it, but only that they may know of it, if for no other reason than to satisfy their curiosity." Op. cit., pp. 30 and 362, note I. Should the traditions regarding this precocious girl be verified, it would be most gratifying to the people of Bologna, for it would add one more to the long list of her ill.u.s.trious women.

[168] The t.i.tles of the two works of this remarkable woman are of sufficient interest to be given in full. They are as follows:

1. _Veritable Declaration de la Decouverte des Mines et Minieres par le Moyen desquelles Sa Majeste et Sujets se peuvent pa.s.ser des Pays Etrangers_, Paris, 1632.

2. _La Rest.i.tution de Pluton a Mgr. l'Eminent Card. de Richelieu, des Mines et Minieres de France, cachees jusqu'a present au Ventre de la Terre, par la Moyen desquelles les Finances de sa Majeste seront beaucoup plus Grandes que celles de tous les Princes Chrestiens et ses Sujets plus Heureux de tous les Peuples._ Paris, 1640.

[169] _Die Verdienste der Frauen um Naturwissenschaft and Heilkunde_, p.

169, von Dr. C. F. Harless, Gottingen, 1830.

[170] The Latin t.i.tle of this interesting work is _De Generatione et Metamorphose Insectorum Surinamensium_, Amsterdam, 1705.

[171] The Latin edition of this work is ent.i.tled _Erucarum Ortus, Alimenta et Paradoxa Metamorphosis_, Amsterdam, 1718. It was afterwards translated into French and published under the t.i.tle _Histoire des Insectes de l'Europe_.

[172] _Die Leistungen der deutschen Frau in den letzen vierhundert Jahren auf wissenschaftlichem Gebiebte_, p. 85, von Elise Oelsner, Guhrau, 1894.

[173] In his preface to _Les Maladies des Vers a Soie_.

[174] It is estimated that the loss to the United States from cattle ticks alone is $100,000,000 a year. According to the year-book of the Agricultural Department for 1904, the annual losses to agriculture from destructive insects reach the enormous sum of $420,000,000.

[175] The dean of the law faculty in presenting Miss Ormerod to the vice-chancellor on this occasion and speaking before an audience of three thousand people said, among other things: "The preeminent position which Miss Ormerod holds in the world of science is the reward of patient study and unwearying observation. Her investigations have been chiefly directed towards the discovery of methods for the prevention of the ravages of those insects which are injurious to orchard, field and forest. Her labors have been crowned with such success, that she is ent.i.tled to be hailed as the protectress of agriculture and the fruits of the earth--a beneficent Demeter of the nineteenth century." _Eleanor Ormerod, Economic Entomologist, Autobiography and Correspondence_, Edited by Robert Wallace, p. 96, London, 1904.

[176] _The Canadian Entomologist_, September, 1901, in an obituary notice of Miss Ormerod, well voiced the high appreciation in which she was held throughout the civilized world in the following paragraph: "Miss Ormerod was one of the most remarkable women of the latter half of the nineteenth century and did more than any one else in the British Isles to further the interests of farmers, fruit-growers and gardeners by making known to them methods for controlling and subduing their multiform insect pests. Her labors were unwearied and unselfish; she received no remuneration for her services, but cheerfully expended her private means in carrying out her investigations and publis.h.i.+ng their results. We know not now by whom in England this work can be continued; it is not likely that anyone can follow in the unique path laid out by Miss Ormerod; we may, therefore, cherish the hope that the Government of the day will hold out a helping hand and establish an entomological bureau for the lasting benefit of the great agricultural interests of the country." Professor J. Ritzema Bos, the distinguished entomologist of Holland, had no hesitation in proclaiming Miss Ormerod the first economic entomologist in England and one of the most famous economic entomologists in the world.

[177] The following dialogue between Mme. Coudreau and one of her boatmen, Joas-Felix, who was the spokesman of his companions, ill.u.s.trates not only the bravery of the daring explorer, but also the pusillanimity of her half-breed personnel when in the depths of the forest at night:

"'Madam has no fear?'

"'Fear of what?'

"'Of tigers.'

"'No, it is not of tigers that I have fear.'

"'Of Indians?'

"'Neither have I fear of Indians.'

"'Then, madam, it is something which is in the woods, which we do not know, that can harm us.'

"'You know very well what frightens me. I am afraid that the bats will attack my chickens during the night. If you hear them making a noise you must get up.'

"I laugh heartily in observing their astonished look and ask myself how men whose consciences are stained with many b.l.o.o.d.y crimes can have fear here. Joas-Felix gives me the explanation:

"'Madam makes game of us. None the less, madam, I am a man in the city and in the savanna. With my poignard and machete I fear nothing, neither man nor beast. But here, madam, where everything is dark, even in the daytime; where an enemy may be lying in wait for us behind every tree; it is not the same thing. It would be impossible for me to live in the forest. One cannot see far enough in it.'

"Now I understand better their terror. The mysterious depth of the virgin forest impresses them. The opaque obscurity of the night in the underwood contrasts too strongly with the moonlit savanna where they have been reared. The low and sombre vault of the woods oppresses them and they imagine they are going to be crushed. They lose their heads and see in every tree a phantom enemy. To reason with them is useless, for when fear takes possession of them, there is nothing to be done."

_Voyage au Maycuru_, p. 127.

[178] _Voyage au Maycuru_, p. 1, Paris, 1903.

[179] _Voyage au Rio Curua_, p. 85, Paris, 1903.

[180] Ibid., p. 1.

[181] In order that the reader may realize the immense extent of territory that was covered by this strenuous woman's explorations, during the twelve years she spent in Amazonia, it suffices to give the t.i.tles of her books, all of which are profusely ill.u.s.trated by photographs taken by herself and by accurate charts of rivers, whose courses were previously almost unknown.

The books written in collaboration with her husband are _Voyage au Tapajos_, _Voyage au Xingu_, _Voyage au Tocantins-Araguaya_, _Voyage au Itaboca et a l'Etacayuna_, _Voyage entre Tocantins et Xingu_, _et Voyage au Yamunda_.

The books written by Mme. Coudreau after her husband's death are _Voyage au Trombetas_, _Voyage au c.u.mina_, _Voyage au Rio Curua_, _Voyage a la Mapuera_ and _Voyage au Maycuru_.

When one remembers that many of the watercourses here named would be considered large rivers outside of South America; that, notwithstanding their countless rapids and waterfalls, necessitating numberless portages, Mme. Coudreau explored all these rivers from their embouchures to as near their sources as the water would carry her rude dugouts, we can form some idea of the miles she traveled and of the stupendous labor that was involved in making these long journeys in the sweltering and debilitating and insect-laden atmosphere of the Amazon basin.

CHAPTER VIII

WOMEN IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY

As woman was the first nurse, so was she also the first pract.i.tioner of the healing art. Among savages the world over it is the women, in the great majority of cases, who have the care of the sick and wounded, and who, by reason of their superior knowledge of simples for the cure of diseases, occupy the position of doctors. In certain parts of the uncivilized world there are, it is true, shamans or medicine men; but these are conjurers or exorcists, who profess to expel disease, or rather the evil spirits causing the disease, by sorcery or incantation, rather than physicians who essay to cure ailments or relieve suffering by the use of substances which experience has showed to possess remedial properties. In a word, the shaman is a kind of a religious functionary who imposes on the ignorance of his tribe and who holds his position by the fear he excites, and not by any knowledge he possesses of the healing art. It was the same, we may believe, in the early history of our race--women, and not men, were the first physicians; and they were also most probably the first surgeons.

According to Greek mythology, the G.o.d of the medical art was aesculapius, a male; but his six daughters, as antiquity beautifully expressed it, were not only G.o.ddesses but were also medical mistresses--_artifices medici_--of suffering humanity. Of these Hygiea was specially distinguished as the G.o.ddess of health, or, rather, as the conserver of good health, while Panacea was invoked as the restorer of health after it had been impaired or lost.

One of the most beautiful pictures in the Iliad is that representing the daughter of Augea, King of the Epei, caring for the wounded and suffering Greeks on the plain before Troy. She was:

"His eldest born, hight Agamede, with golden hair, A leech was she, and well she knew all herbs on ground that grew."

Nothing deterred by the din of battle around her, she provided cordial potions for the disabled warrior and prepared

"The gentle bath and washed their gory wounds."