As for her scientific pursuits, she was belittled by the Royal Society, which excluded women from its ranks; Margaret Cavendish was the first female to be invited, and not until 1945 was she inducted as its first female member. One member, John Evelyn, saw in Cavendish "a mighty pretender to learning, poetry, and philosophy". Another, Robert Boyle, took many of the experiments shown by Cavendish to be trifles, disparaging her tendency to measure things by "strangeness" and "prettiness," as opposed to "use". Yet her knowledge was recognised by some, such as the protofeminist Bathsua Makin: "The present Dutchess of New-Castle, by her own Genius, rather than any timely Instruction, over-tops many grave Gown-Men." She saw her as an example of what women could become through education. New manuscript evidence also suggests she was read and taken seriously by at least some early Royal Society members, such as its Secretary, Nehemiah Grew.