Marie Le Masson Le Golft
Marie Le Masson Le Golft (25 October 1750 – 3 January 1826) was a French naturalist. Life. Marie Le Masson Le Golft was a student of naturalist Jacques-François Dicquemare, a friend of her father, in his scientific work. She tried to publish the great work he had undertaken on molluscs, but the cost of publishing thwarted her every attempt. These numerous attempts put her in touch with such late 18th century scientists as Bernard Germain de Lacépède, Nicolas de Condorcet or Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton. She was a teacher, and in 1788 published "Letters on  Education", as well as writing further, unpublished works. Two of her books are still cited: the "Balance of Nature" (1784), where she assigned grades to hundreds of animals, plants and minerals, and "A General Sketch of Mankind" (1787), a world map on which all peoples then known and their characteristics are represented by symbols. Masson spent the last years of her life poor and almost forgotten in Rouen, where she was a professor of geography and drawing. At her death, she bequeathed to the city of Rouen her personal library, which included the collection of drawings, engravings and copper plates  that were to be used in the publication of Dicquemare's book. She was a member of several provincial academies, as well as the Madrid Royal Academy of Education, Cercle des Philadelphes du Cap-Français, and the Royal Society of Bilbao.