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 ehrwürdiges Denkmal des Alterthums und einer zu jener Zeit nicht gemeinen Naturkentniss empfehlen sich zumal deutschen Naturforschern ihre vier Bücher der Physica.... Denn nicht nur der deutsche Botaniker und Zoologe finden in ihrer Physik fast die ersten rohen Anfänge vaterländische Naturforshung, auch dem Artzt bietet sic für jene Zeit überraschende Erscheinung dar, eine nicht von Dioskorides abgeleitete, sondern unverkennbar aus der Volksüberlieferung geschöpfte Heilmittellehre; und der Sprachforscher stösst im lateinischen Text beinahe Zeile um Zeile auf deutsche Ausdrücke seltener Sprachformen."
[165] Hildegardis Opera Omnia, p. 1122, Migne's Edition, Paris, 1882.
[166] "Constat permulta S. Hildegardi nota jam fuisse, quæ caeteri medii ævi scriptores nescierunt, quæque sagaces demum recentiorum temporum indagatores reperierunt ac tamquam nova ventitarunt." 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 assistant 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 document, 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 illustrious women.
[168] The titles of the two works of this remarkable woman are of sufficient interest to be given in full. They are as follows:
1. Véritable Déclaration de la Découverte des Mines et Minières par le Moyen desquelles Sa Majesté et Sujets se peuvent passer des Pays Etrangers, Paris, 1632.
2. La Restitution de Pluton à Mgr. l'Eminent Card. de Richelieu, des Mines et Minières de France, cachées jusqu'à present au Ventre de la Terre, par la Moyen desquelles les Finances de sa Majesté 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, Göttingen, 1830.
[170] The Latin title of this interesting work is De Generatione et Metamorphose Insectorum Surinamensium, Amsterdam, 1705.
[171] The Latin edition of this work is entitled Erucarum Ortus, Alimenta et Paradoxa Metamorphosis, Amsterdam, 1718. It was afterwards translated into French and published under the title 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 à 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 preëminent 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 entitled 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 publishing 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, illustrates 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 bloody 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 Maycurú, p. 127.
[178] Voyage au Maycurú, p. 1, Paris, 1903.
[179] Voyage au Rio Curuá, 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 titles of her books, all of which are profusely illustrated 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 à 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 Cuminá, Voyage au Rio Curuá, Voyage a la Mapuerá and Voyage au Maycurú.
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.