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NOTICES CXF BOOKS. 207
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
M^ In Emoir The Of University George Wil...
which , of the daughters has awakened in rue such admiration ? I lthe c Riht Noble the Science of Chemistry / who , in my
eyes rep , y is , by far the g most attractive and interesting of the family . In case a kindly feeling to the writer should incline you to know
more of this noble house , and its collateral branches , I would refer you to a work written by a lady deeply versed in this branch of
heraldry , Mrs . Somerville ' s ' Connexion of the Physical Sciences / " The following remarks on female education occur in his diary
in 183 7 , when he was nineteen years of age : — " Although . I do think that the forte of the female mind is moral
greatness and purity , in which , in spite of the silly , base , groundless hints of libertines , they very far excel the rougher sex , and
for the possession of which I venerate the sex in general and many individuals in particular , yet I meet with scarcely one lady in ten
or fifty who has sufficiently cultivated her natural intellectual . Excuses and explanations may be given which I most
powers willingly admit . Ladies moving in the highest and least embarrassed circles have so many domestic duties for papa , mamma ,
and old and young brothers and sisters , that they never can steal time h to study . Some good ladies admit the intellectuality
of their enoug own sweet selves , but waive apologies for its non-advancement as absurd because unnecessary ; while some of them , and these
often the most intellectual and clever , disbelieve the excuses , because they deny the intellectual power . I know many young ladies who
honestly and modestly shrink from the study of a science , which . yet they confess to be inviting and interesting , which I am sure
they could completely master . ... I do not wish to see young ladies pedantsor to see one grain of their high-toned morality and
purity lost to , give way to literature or science ; yet I believe they would add to their own happiness by affording the mind a more
extensive and interesting circle of subjects for thought , did they study with some little care our litterateurs and scientific men . But
mothers will keep their daughters scouring , and dusting , and sewing , andmen ding , and darning stocking-heels , to teach the ' five hundred
points' of housewifery ; and to that , every moment of time and study is given , because , forsooth , mamma read no books when a Miss
( except stolen hovels ) but on a Sunday , and cannot see why the daughters should need what the mothers had not ; and this absurd
stocking-darning principle is pursued by women of strong , active , intellectual minds , of which mismanagement I have seen too many
examples . But this winter shall see me do my utmost to suggest an improvement among my own circle . " Following out this idea
of amending the subjects of ladies' conversation and study , he assembled some of them at his father's house and delivered a course
of lectures to them on chemistry ; and later in life he " hopes not to lose the remem . bran ce of my first audience , which was more
kind , more generous , more forgiving towards me than any future
audience ever can _Tbe _, "
Notices Cxf Books. 207
NOTICES CXF BOOKS . 207
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1862, page 207, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111862/page/63/
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