But who was the originator of the idea of utilizing the atmosphere for the production of nitrates? Who took out the first patent for a process for making nitrates by using the nitrogen of the air? It was a Frenchwoman--Mme. Lefebre, of Paris--long since forgotten. As early as 1859 she obtained a patent in England for her invention, but, as the need of fertilizers was not so urgent then as it is now, it was allowed to drop into oblivion, and the matter was not again taken up until a half-century later, when others secured the credit for an idea which was first conceived by a woman who happened to have the misfortune to live fifty years in advance of her time. It were easy to extend the list of important inventions due to women and of patents which were issued in the name of their husbands or other men; to tell of inventions, too, of whose fruits, because they happened to be helpless or inexperienced women, the real patentees were often robbed; but the foregoing instances are quite sufficient to show what woman's keen inventive genius is capable of achieving in spite of all the restrictions put on her sex, and in spite of her lack of training in the mechanic arts. Had women, since the organization of our Patent Office, enjoyed all the educational opportunities possessed by men; had they received the same encouragement as the lordly sex to develop their inventive faculties; had the laws of the country accorded them the rewards to which their labor and genius entitled them, they would now have far more inventions to their credit than those indicated in our government reports; and they would, furthermore, be able to point to far more brilliant achievements than have heretofore, under the unfavorable conditions under which they were obliged to work, been possible. But when we recall all the obstacles they have had to overcome and remember also the fact that most of the patents referred to in the preceding pages have been secured by women living in the United States--little being said of the modern inventions of women in foreign countries--we can see that their record is indeed a splendid one, that their achievements are not only worthy of all praise, but also a happy augury for the future. When they shall have the same freedom of action as men in all departments of activity in which they exhibit special aptitude, when they shall have the same advantages of training and equipment and the prospect of the same emoluments as the sterner sex for the products of their brainwork and craftsmanship, then may we expect them to achieve the same distinction in the mechanic arts as has rewarded their efforts in science and literature; and then, too, may we hope to see them once more regain something of that supremacy in invention which was theirs in the early history of our race. FOOTNOTES: