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British Women, Chemistry, and Poetry: Some Contextual Examples from the 1870s to the 1940s Marelene F. Rayner-Canham† and Geoff W. Rayner-Canham*,‡ Departments of †Physics and ‡Chemistry, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, Newfoundland A2H 6P9, Canada ABSTRACT: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, British women chemists used poetry as a way of describing their work and as a means of social commentary. As far as we are aware, the chemistry poetry interface has not previously been explored in the context of women’s experience. KEYWORDS: General Public, History/Philosophy, Communication/Writing, Enrichment/Review Materials, Women in Chemistry uring our research on pioneering British women chemists,1 we found examples of poems related to women’s experiences in the field of chemistry. We are unaware of any previous mention of this interdisciplinary intellectual activity. Here we provide examples, with their context, for poems covering the range from high school through college and university to the workplace.
Ah! the ‘Modern Athens’ surely must have grown a scurvy place, And the ‘Varsity degraded to incur such dire disgrace.
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This was not the end of problems for Pechey.1 On 18th November 1870, the class of medical students, which included Pechey and the other women, was due to sit their anatomy examination. On a previous day, an antiwomen pamphlet had been circulated by the “Chemistry Class of the University” with the encouragement of Crum Brown. When the women approached the Surgeon’s Hall where the exam was to be written, they were faced by a large drunken mob. Fortunately, a group of sympathetic Irish male students provided an escort and enabled the women to enter the examination hall and depart from it safely afterward. The event became known as the “Surgeon’s Hall Riot”. But for the Irish escort, which had been organized in part by Robert Wilson of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, the outcome could have been far more serious. Pechey spent much of her working life as Senior Medical Officer at the Cana Hospital for Women and Children, Bombay (Mumbai), India.
’ A PRECURSOR Before discussing chemistry poems actually written by women, we commence with an early poem that highlighted a specific injustice of the time to a woman chemistry student. In 1869, Mary Edith Pechey was one of the first five women students admitted to the Medical School at the University of Edinburgh.2 The professor of chemistry, Alexander Crum Brown, gave separate lectures to these women students, insisting that the lectures were identical to those that he was concurrently giving to the men. Pechey attained third place in the gender-common chemistry examinations. A Hope Scholarship was presented to the top student in first-year chemistry examinations and as the two (male) students above Pechey in the list were repeating the course, they were therefore ineligible. As a result, Pechey was considered as the top candidate for the scholarship. Crum Brown then proclaimed that Pechey was not entitled to the scholarship as she had been taught in a separate class, contradicting his earlier statements. The issue of Pechey’s disqualification rapidly escalated, gaining national attention and even a mention in the American magazine, Punchinello.3 Finally, by a one-vote margin, the University of Edinburgh Senate denied Pechey the Hope Scholarship. It was the outcry against this injustice that resulted in the following poem being published in the women-supportive London review magazine, The Period. Verses 1 and 8 are provided here:4
’ A HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY POEM In Britain, toward the end of the 19th century, several girls’ schools were founded with the aim of offering an academic education equal to that offered to boys. Such education often included an emphasis on science, particularly chemistry.1 One of these schools was Cheltenham Ladies’ College (C.L.C.). In a 1940 issue of Cheltenham Ladies’ College Magazine, we discovered a poem, “Ode to a Bottle of Phosphorus”. As with all these poems, there is a story to be told, and this one originated decades earlier. The Principal of C.L.C. in the late 1890s, Dorothea Beale, had made an inspired choice of hiring Millicent Taylor (1871 1960) to strengthen the science teaching at the College, particularly that of chemistry. Taylor designed a science wing for the school, completed in 1904, a major innovation for British girls’ schools in that period.5 Taylor “reigned supreme” over her science empire from 1894 until 1921 when she accepted an appointment at the
Shame upon thee, great Edina! shame upon thee, thou hast done Deed unjust, that makes our blushes flame as flames the setting sun. You have wrong’d an earnest maiden, though you gave her honours crown, And eternal shame must linger round your name, Professor Brown. And I blush to-day on hearing how they’ve treated you, Miss P., How that wretched old Senatus has back’d up Professor B. Copyright r 2011 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
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Though individual women chemists made their mark at Imperial College,1 it was largely a male preserve into the 1970s. In fact, as late as 1958, a woman student lamented: “From the staff, the attitude [toward women students] is gentle contempt or amusement. From the [male] students, we are an object of amazement, except when they are in difficulty (such as ironing shirts)”.9 Not all of the women’s poetry was so reflective. In the latter half of the 19th century, one of the burning questions in organic chemistry was the structure of benzene.10 In 1858, August Kekule proposed a ring structure for this molecule, but as the poem below illustrates, even in 1885, there were many doubters, including Thomas Turner, laboratory demonstrator of Mason College (later the University of Birmingham), as the following poem attests. It was a poem written by Constance Caroline Woodhill Naden that brought the debate to light. Naden, who entered Mason College in 1882, led a colorful but short life11 and was a prolific poet of the period.12 Her poem on the benzene controversy was published in the Mason College Magazine. Titled “Free Thought in the Laboratory (Dedicated to the Demonstrator of Chemistry)”, the rhyme began:13
University of Bristol, where she taught and undertook research until her death at the age of 89. Taylor’s name and influence must have been passed to subsequent generations of students, for this poem was not written until 20 years after Taylor’s departure, though she is clearly the “mistress” of the poem and the bottle of phosphorus a relic of her era. Four verses are included here:6 Long ago in C.L.C. A mistress skilled in Chemistry, Convinced that useful it would be, Bought a bottle of phosphorus. Now it seems we’re not so keen, For see, this phosphorus has been Stored here since grandma was sixteen— This ancient bottle of phosphorus. I ask with what experiment This mistress did herself content; On Chemistry she was so bent She bought this bottle of phosphorus. .......................................................................... Though gone this phosphorus will not be Till after many a century, It will not outlive C.L.C.— Not e’en this bottle of phosphorus.
My mind was calm, my heart was light, My doubts were few and fleeting, Till I attended yesternight An M.C. Chem. Soc. Meeting. Small was the party, and select, That shared our mild potation; The Editor (whom Heaven protect!) Made his “communication” The good old views he can’t retain, Of nitrites and sulphites; He fought the battles o’er again, And who shall call them? Strange hieroglyphs from far Japan He traced—my awe grew greater, Till up there rose a learned man, A solemn Demonstrator. As one who stands, at night, alone, Beside some dread abysm, He broached, in sad sepulchral tone, A blank Agnosticism. ................................
’ CHEMISTRY POEMS AT UNIVERSITY There was much debate in Britain in the latter half of the 19th century whether a university education was appropriate for women. There were concerns that university studies would overtax a woman’s brain and cause illness and even death; and that educated women would not produce offspring, resulting in a decline of civilization. As a counter argument, it was felt by many that intelligent women needed to have intellectual challenges; and that scientifically educated women would make better homemakers.1 The earliest university student poem that we discovered originated at the Royal College of Science (later part of Imperial College, London). The following three verses from “A Scientific Maiden’s Lament”, published in the Royal College of Science Magazine in 1898, reflects an era when there was doubt as to the usefulness of a scientific education for women.7 At the time (and into the latter-half of the 20th century) a blowpipe was an essential part of qualitative analysis for metals. The blowpipe was used to direct a flame onto an oxide sample placed in a hollow in a block of charcoal. By color change during the reduction, the metal could often be identified.8
Naden continued in verse to describe how her Demonstrator, Thomas Turner, disputed the speaker’s view of molecules, particularly, the cyclic structure of benzene. She concluded: Ah, Demonstrator good! Et tu, My chemic faith to shatter! “There’s nothing new, there’s nothing true,” I hope it “doesn’t matter!”
Oh, yes, I know I’m clever, and I’m pretty too, as well; And of course I’ve lots of passes, and I’m reckoned quite a swell; And my head is full of science, and through text-books, too, I wade But what’s the good of it to me—a chic and pretty maid. ..................................................................................... I once a blowpipe had to use; the thing I couldn’t blow, But puffed away with all my might to make some charcoal glow. The students—well, they smiled at me, but, oh! I did rejoice When I burned my finger, for they fetched me in some ice. ........................................................................................ Yes, I know I’m very clever, and I’m pretty too, they say, And of all the stars I know a deal, e’en to the Milky Way; And students like me in the Coll.; but, see, I am afraid That Science is no use to me, for, see, I’m but a maid.
Turner replied in verse:14 A solemn man with tomb-like voice Would send Miss Naden greeting, And thank her for her pleasant rhyme On M.C. Chem. Soc. meeting. He’s no regrets of causing doubts of truth of benzene rings, for doubts should only lead to faith, in nobler, truer things. 727
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Journal of Chemical Education A less profound topic, a shortage of stools in chemical laboratories, became a gender issue at two northern English Colleges. At Yorkshire College (later the University of Leeds) it was clearly the women who dominated in the laboratory as the following male student complained in prose in The Gryphon: Journal of the Yorkshire College in 1902:15 [W]ell might the new Hiawatha lament the depredations of the stool-snatcher, for the worst offenders are—tell it not to an Amazon—snatcheresses. And there is no redress—man must submit and stand. Look where you will, woman is in possession; aye, even of the very stink-cupboard. However, across the Pennines at Owens College, Manchester (later the University of Manchester), it was the males who controlled the stools in the chemistry laboratory, as the poem “A Lady’s Lament” in the Owens College Union Magazine expressed:16 Oh, to have lived ere man forgot his place! When chivalry inspired his every thought Then, for a smile from his fair lady’s face A thousand dangers he had gladly sought. Instead of that, in these degenerate days, Bare courtesy no longer sets the rule; And we, in weak appeal, our voices raise, If we want merely to retain a stool. The only way that we can hope to keep That “more primeval” beast our seats from filling, Is to inflict (small wonder that I weep!) A fine on each offender of a shilling.
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In 1985, Bedford College was merged with Royal Holloway College (RHC), and the Bedford College campus closed. The combined institution is now coeducational.
’ A DOMESTIC CHEMISTRY POEM AT A POLYTECHNIC In the first two decades of the 20th century, there was a debate in Britain as to the more appropriate chemistry education for women. Should chemistry at high school be aimed at the few planning to enter university or to the many who were going to be wives and mothers? For the latter, it was contended that domestic science, including a strong component of relevant chemistry, was more appropriate. The debate spread over into higher education, where domestic science diploma and degree programs became available, mainly at polytechnic institutions.21 Some of the domestic science programs offered more domestic studies and little science. However, Battersea Polytechnic, London, introduced and maintained a domestic science program with a high scientific content, particularly in applied chemistry.21 The following poem in the Battersea Polytechnic Magazine described the student’s work in the chemistry and biochemistry laboratory in 1917. The verses have a poignant ending, commenting on how, though they felt so “scientific”, that in 100 years time their science would in turn be looked upon as primitive.22 Oh, Chemy Lab. of strange renown! compound of bliss and woe! Where the soporific student spends her day ‘Mid retorts that are not verbal (though we oft could wish them so), And experiments that lead the mind astray Yet often, ‘mid the harassments of those who rashly try To train the idea to shoot with skill, We call to mind your labours, with a half-regretful sigh, And wish we were experimenting still. For we proved the utter hollowness of all that men aver, And we faced malicious milkmen with their sin; And we traced their interference with the sly lactometer, And then we grubbed about for formalin. We heated up the butter, and we noted with a smile Its behaviour much resembled margerine’s; And we hunted for our protein in a scientific style, And tracked it to its lair in our beans. We analysed the powders that have made themselves a name As equal to the treasure of the hen; And we proved they all were liars, and we left them to their shame As mere starches and bicarbonates; and then We rushed on meaty extracts, and we stripped them of their pride, And we laid the boast of beef-tea in the dust; And the glory of the rice-grain found we chiefly in the hide, While the staple of the loaf was in the crust. And we made our soap and measured it and analysed it out, And we filled the Lab. with devastating whiffs, And we choked us with formaldehyde, and placed beyond a doubt The identity of chlorine by our sniffs. And we followed up the starch through a wilderness of ways, And puzzled out its destiny and change To dextrin and to maltose and to glucose, through a maze Of phenomena both strenuous and strange. ................................................................... Well, our little heads grew swollen with the wisdom of the spheres, And we mused a secret grievance (known to none) ‘Gainst the people who had flourished in the unhygienic years,
Though many young women attended coeducational institutions, there were some women-only colleges. Oxford University and Cambridge University both had women-only colleges, though Oxford did not permit the formal graduation of women until 1920 and Cambridge until 1947. However, the two University of London women’s colleges, Royal Holloway College and Bedford College, both offered formal degrees to women from their beginnings in the 19th century. In fact, we have shown elsewhere that Bedford College produced the largest number of women chemistry graduates of any institution in Britain between 1880 and 1940.17 It was in 1917 that women chemistry students at Bedford College wrote a Christmas song on the joys of chemistry in the Bedford College London Magazine.18 The “Kipps” mentioned in line 3 refers to a glass apparatus used for the generation of gases, especially carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.19 In this poem, the apparatus was used to generate hydrogen sulfide for the qualitative analysis procedure involving the precipitation of insoluble colored metal sulfides.20 We Chemists are met with our overalls on For the Work that is before us— With acids and alkalis, Kipps and corks, And a dreadful odor around us! You ask, why we favor H2S? Whatever in “Stinks” entrances? We’re making every possible thing Of interest and Importance (chorus) Chemistry! O Chemistry Hark to the sounds of explosions! Electric shocks to the Physicists leave But give to the Chemists their odors! 728
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Journal of Chemical Education Ere the soaring flights of science had begun; When they didn’t work out diets, and their minds were fancy free Of the prevalence of protein in their ‘prog’; And they lived in unsuspiciousness of tannin in the tea, And furfural in hiding in their grog; When they thought the air an element, and didn’t know a jot Of the mechanism of their own inside— And in spite of all this ignorance, they lived (as they ought not, For if they’d done their duty they’d have died). Well, a century from hence, no doubt, posterity will speak Of “those grandmas who existed in the dark, Whose experiments were faulty and whose theory was weak, And who thought they knew some science—what a lark!”
The continued strength of the chemistry content at Battersea from 1919 until 1948 seems to have been the exception among domestic science programs. It is of note that all the chemistry staff members at Battersea throughout the program’s history were women. In addition, from 1926 until 1948, the Head of the Department of Domestic Science was a woman chemist and it seems quite probable that the survival of the strong component of domestic chemistry until that year was the result of the women chemists’ influence. In 1948, the Department of Domestic Science became a separate entity: the Battersea College of Domestic Science. From that time on, the syllabus no longer included any specific mention of chemistry.
’ CHEMISTRY-RELATED POEMS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR During the First World War, millions of British women were recruited for the war effort, particularly by the munitions industry.23 In addition to packing shell casings, women were involved in the production of explosives, the largest plant being at Gretna in southwest Scotland, out of range of contemporary German bombers and airships.24 Approximately 19 km (12 miles) long, the plant was divided into two halves: Dornock and Mossband. At peak production, over 11,000 women workers were employed. Culleton has shown that each women’s munitions and explosives factory had its own newspaper and that poetry was a common way of describing the hazardous life in the workplace.25 The style of wellknown nursery rhymes or poems was often adopted. Among the nursery rhymes, “Ten Little Indians” seems to have been particularly popular and one version was composed at Gretna-Dornock to recount the chemical-related deaths of 10 of the women workers, two of the verses being given here.26 In the poem, N/G refers to nitroglycerine, while the acid fumes were from the concentrated nitric/sulfuric acid mixture used in cordite manufacture.
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while “Spee Gee” refers to measurement of specific gravity, the term for density measurements by comparison to that of water, and therefore unitless. And if when Solvent figures turn out ‘wonky,’ And ‘C-in-C’s’ most violent rage display, If you can simply hustle out your hankie, And wipe the glistening tear away; If you can fill each tiny minute With MILLIONS of titrations and ‘Spee Gee’s’ Then you will truly be the limit and we will give you CROWDS of laurel trees.
’ COMMENTARY From our research, it seemed to be specifically women chemists who use poetry as a means of documenting their scientific lives. In some examples, they were simply describing their workplace experience while in others they used poetry as a medium for criticism. In fact, it is probable that women felt that poetic verse was the only acceptable means of expressing opinion, such as women students protesting male occupancy of stools at Owens College, Manchester, and Constance Naden contesting her demonstrator’s objection to the ring structure for benzene. As far as we are aware, this historical linkage of women chemists and poetry has not previously been identified.
’ AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
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’ REFERENCES (1) Rayner-Canham, M. F.; Rayner-Canham, G. W. Chemistry Was Their Life: British Women Chemists, 1880 1949; Imperial College Press: London, 2008. (2) Lutzker, E. Edith Pechey-Phipson, M.D.: The Story of England’s Foremost Pioneering Woman Doctor; Exposition Press: New York, 1973. (3) Anon. Punchinello 1870, 1 (13), June 25. See: http://www. gutenberg.org/files/9658/9658-h/9658-h.htm (accessed Feb 2011). (4) Anon. The Period 1870, 14 May. (5) Taylor, M. School World 1905, 7, 222. (6) Moore, M. Cheltenham Ladies’ College Mag. 1940, 12. (7) “Dorothy” Royal College Sci. Mag. 1898, 16. (8) Edelstein, S. M. J. Chem. Educ. 1949, 26, 126. (9) Lemon, J. Phoenix (new ser.) 1958, 73, 10–11. (10) Benfey, O. T. J. Chem. Educ. 1958, 35, 21–23. (11) Hughes, W. R. Constance Naden: A Memoir; Bickers and Sons: London, 1890. (12) Naden, C. C. W. Complete Poetical Works; Bickers and Sons: London, 1894. (13) “C. C. W. N.” [Naden, C.] Mason College Mag. 1885, 3 (4), 83 84. (14) “T. T.” [Turner, T.] Mason College Mag. 1885, 3 (4), 84. (15) “Mel da Kahnt.” Gryphon: J. Yorkshire Coll. 1902, 5 (5), 86. (16) “Mis Pickel.” Owens Coll. Union Mag. 1902, 10 (81), 52. (17) Rayner-Canham, M. F.; Rayner-Canham, G. W. Educ. Chem. 2006, 43 (3), 77–79. (18) Anon. Bedford Coll. London Mag. 1917, (90), 17. (19) Sella, A. Chem. World 2007, 4, 81. (20) Welcher, F. J. J. Chem. Educ. 1957, 34, 389–390. (21) Rayner-Canham, M. F.; Rayner-Canham, G. W. Bull. Hist. Chem., in press. (22) “L. P.” Battersea Polytechnic Mag. 1917, 9 (July), 111 112. (23) Woolacott, A. On Her Their Lives Depend: Munition Workers in the Great War; University of California Press: Berkeley, CA, 1994.
Seven little Dornock girls did some N/G mix; One was overcome by fumes, then there were six. .............................. Three little Dornock girls went to work quite new; The acid fumes did smother one, And then there were two.
There was also a poem written by the women who worked in the chemical analysis laboratories at Gretna-Mossband. This poem followed the style of Kipling’s poem “If” that Culleton has documented as being another favorite format for women workers.27 “C-in-C” was the abbreviation for chemist-in-charge 729
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(24) Rayner-Canham, M. F.; Rayner-Canham, G. W. Chem. Br. 1996, 32 (March), 37–41. (25) Culleton, C. A. Imperial War Museum Rev. 1995, 4–12. (26) “A. C.” Dornock Souvenir Mag. 1916 19, 1919, 18. (27) “D. M. E.” Mossband Farewell Mag. 1916 19, 1919, 43.
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