Someone You Should Know:
Meet pioneering 17th-century lepidopterist Eleanor Glanville
Oh, if only I had been able to learn about such women when I was young and still in school. Nevertheless, I enjoy making up for lost time.
Born just after the Civil War, she can be called the first lady of British natural history. This was a time when women were scorned for dabbling in science, when butterflies were regarded as sinister creatures that represented the spirits of the dead, and anyone with an interest in them was viewed with suspicion, liable to be accused of sorcery.
Amazingly, Glanville’s will was overturned by her children, in what became a cause célèbre, on the ground that only an insane person would go “in pursuit of butterflies”.
Another, modern butterfly woman is Camile Parmesan. As I noted back in 2007
Her groundbreaking studies on butterflies and global climate change offer “the strongest statistical evidence that global warming—influenced by trapped greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide from cars and factories—is having an impact on a wide scope of species and regions.”
Dear parents, please tell your sons and daughters about such inspiring people as often as you can. You'll be glad you did.
Want more butterflies in your garden? Then check out the gardening pages at the Butterfly website.
Images of Butterfly Women
Here are some famous art images of women as butterflies. These ladies are not fragile.
The Secret World of Butterflies
Butterfly and Moth Symbolism
Art: Butterfly Woman found here.
Does anyone know who this artist is? I would like to give him/her credit.