Atmosphere is a most important element at all periods of education, and in the education of girls all-important, and an atmosphere for the higher education of girls has not yet been created in the universities.  The girl students are few, their position is not unassailable, their aims not very well defined, and the thing which is above all required for the intellectual development of girls—­quiet of mind—­is not assured.  It is obvious that there can never be great tradition and a past to look back to, unless there is a present, and a beginning, and a long period of growth.  But everything for the future consists in having a noble beginning, however lowly, true foundations and clear aims, and this we have not yet secured.  It seems almost as if we had begun at the wrong end, that the foundations of character were not made strong enough, before the intellectual superstructure began to be raised—­and that this gives the sense of insecurity.  An unusual strength of character would be required to lead the way in living worthily under such difficult circumstances as have been created, a great self-restraint to walk without swerving or losing the track, without the controlling machinery of university rules and traditions, without experience, at the most adventurous age of life, and except in preparation for professional work without the steadying power of definite duties and obligations.  A few could do it, but not many, and those chosen few would have found their way in any case.  The past bears witness to this.

But the past as a whole bears other testimony which is worth considering here.  Through every vicissitude of women’s education there have always been the few who were exceptional in mental and moral strength, and they have held on their way, and achieved a great deal, and left behind them names deserving of honour.  Such were Maria Gaetana Agnesi, who was invited by the Pope and the university to lecture in mathematics at Bologna (and declined the invitation to give herself to the service of the poor), and Lucretia Helena Gomaro Piscopia, who taught philosophy and theology! and Laura Bassi who lectured in physics, and Clara von Schur-man who became proficient in Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, and Chaldaic in order to study Scripture “with greater independence and judgment,” and the Pirk-heimer family of Nuremberg, Caritas and Clara and others, whose attainments were conspicuous in their day.  But there is something unfamiliar about all these names; they do not belong so much to the history of the world as to the curiosities of literature and learning.  The world has not felt their touch upon it; we should scarcely miss them in the galleries of history if their portraits were taken down.