THE STUDY 
AND 
Practice of Medicine 
WOMEN. 
JAMES R. Chadwick, M. D. 
\Reprintedfrom the “International’Review," October, 1879.] 
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H. ScHiiTZ Wilson, 
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Prof. E. H. Palmer, 
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Dr. J, H. Rigg, 
Charles Tennyson, 
Richard H. Proctor, 
Walter Besant, 
R. Payne Smith, (Dean of 
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Thomas Hughes, 
Thomas Brassey, M.P., 
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August Vogel, 
Dr. J. P. Thompson, 
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Madame Villari, 
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A. S. BARNES & CO., Publishers, New York. THE STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 
WOMEN. 
THE struggle of women to free themselves from the social fetters 
which have for centuries proved an obstacle in most cases an 
insuperable one to their pursuit of knowledge, has of late been 
chiefly centred on the profession of medicine. The reason for this is 
not to be sought in any peculiar fitness of women to practise medi- 
cine, but must be attributed to the fact that in this direction their 
cause has found support in certain sentiments common to all civilized 
communities. The delicacy which led Queen Charlotte to employ a 
midwife while Dr. Hunter waited in the adjoining room among the 
ladies of the bed-chamber, and induced the Duchess of Kent to be 
delivered of Queen Victoria by the hands of Madam Siebold, has been 
steadily gaining in strength everywhere. There is, however, nothing 
very novel in the idea of woman’s fitness to practise medicine, in some 
of its branches at least. 
The earliest records of the world’s history bear testimony to occa- 
sional instances of the successful practice of medicine by women. 
Mythology corroborates the current belief in woman’s capacity for 
this career by ascribing to the Egyptian Isis the duty of watching 
over the health of the human species, and the discovery of several 
drugs. Among the Romans, Juno Lucina presided over childbirth and 
hastened delivery. Hygieia, the daughter of Esculapius, and Ocyroe, 
the daughter of Chiron, were learned in medicine. Esculapius is por- 
trayed as followed by a multitude of both sexes who dispensed his 
benefits. As early as the eleventh century before Christ there existed 
in Egypt a college of physicians, who seem to have been of the sacer- 
dotal caste, and were certainly of both sexes. The Iliad and Odyssey 
both refer to women skilled in the science of medicine ; among the 
Greeks, Olympias of Thebes, Aspasia, and Agnodice were pre-eminent 
for their ability and medical writings. The skill of Agnodice is said 
to have been such as to have brought about the legal opening of the 
medical profession to all free-born women of the State. Phaenarete, 
the mother of Socrates, was a midwife. STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
445 
Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries several women ac- 
quired wide-spread renown as teachers in the great school of Salerno. 
In the succeeding centuries many female physicians held professional 
chairs in the Universities of Italy, especially that of Bologna. In this 
University, about the middle of the eighteenth century, 
“there was an Anna Morandi Mazzolini, whose husband held the chair of 
Anatomy. It happened that he fell ill, and she, being a loving wife, sought 
to supply to him the place of his enfeebled powers. So she became an anato- 
mist, and presently delivered his lectures for him from behind a curtain. She 
became famous, and was offered a chair at Milan, which, however, she refused, 
and remained at Bologna till her death, in 1774. Her anatomical models in 
wax are the pride of the Anatomical Museum at Bologna.” 
During the next half-century several other women followed in her 
footsteps, of whom the most distinguished was Maria della Donne, 
who received her degree at Bologna in 1806, and was afterwards 
appointed by Napoleon Bonaparte to the chair of midwifery in that 
University. 
In the other Continental countries of Europe a like success in med- 
icine has been from time to time achieved by women. We are told of 
Frau Dorothea Christiania Erxleben, who, after receiving the medical 
degree on June 12, 1754, upon proper examination, subsequently 
practised in the small city of Quedlinburg, and was wife of the dea- 
con of the St. Nicholas Church. In the history of her life she wrote 
“ that marriage was no obstacle to a woman’s studies, but that their 
pursuit was far pleasanter in the companionship of an intelligent 
husband.” Early in this century, Frau von Siebold and her daugh- 
ter, Frau von Heidenreich, both obtained medical degrees at Giessen 
and rose to great distinction. The latter died as late as 1859. 
In France the names of Mesdames veuves Lachapelle (1759-1821) 
and Boivin (1733-1841) stand pre-eminent in the annals of French 
medicine. Both held successively the position of “ sage-femme en 
chef de la Maternite de Paris,” and rivalled in repute the most re- 
nowned accoucheurs of their age. Madame Fachapelle left a complete 
Memoir de I'art de I'accouchement. Madame Boivin wrote many 
memoirs, and a Traite des maladies de Vuterus et de scs annexes, in 
1833. Neither of these women confined themselves to the practice 
of midwifery. 
In England, although a few raidwives have acquired transient rep- 
utations for proficiency in that branch of medicine, and two Mrs. 
Sarah Hastings and Mrs. French even secured mention in the 446 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
Philosophical Transactions for 1694, none have made any notable 
contribution to the science of medicine. “ Wise women ” have been 
numerous, and are still to be found in the rural districts and in certain 
parts of London. The most famous of these was Joanna Stephens, 
who, about the middle of the last century, was so successful in adver- 
tising a certain nostrum as to secure a purchase of the secret by Par- 
liament for the preposterous sum of ,£5,000. 
In America, although a few women in former generations earned 
and deserved reputations as successful midwives, none have made any 
lasting impressions upon the science or practice of medicine. 
These few instances drawn from history are not mentioned as adding 
great weight to the present claim of women to be admitted to the 
medical profession. They do, however, testify to the fact that in all 
ages there have been women who possessed qualities so pre-eminently 
fitted to render them successful practitioners of the art, and even pro- 
moters of the science of medicine, that they have risen to be the peers 
of the most distinguished men of the time, in spite of their lack of 
early mental training and special medical education. 
One of the arguments against the admission of women to the medical 
profession, upon which great stress is laid, may be properly considered 
here. It has been pointed out that little, if any, advance was made in 
the science and practice of midwifery during the many centuries in 
which that branch of medicine was almost exclusively in the hands of 
women. The fact cannot be denied, but the inference that women 
have thereby demonstrated their unfitness to cultivate a branch of 
science so inexact and so progressive as medicine, does not neces- 
sarily follow. Felix qui potuit cognoscere causas. Two circumstan- 
ces have probably combined to effect this result: first, the fact that 
none of the women who followed this calling ever had their reasoning 
powers properly trained in preliminary schools, or had the benefit of a 
thorough education in all the branches of medicine, and but few of 
them had instruction in midwifery other than that derived from their 
own experience or from other equally ignorant practitioners; secondly, 
the circumstance that obstetrics is the one branch of all others in 
which women, owing to their physical and mental characteristics, are 
least likely to succeed. Physical strength, calm judgment, and steady 
nerves are the qualities most needed in one who would succeed in 
the practice of midwifery; with regard to these characteristics no one 
can question the superiority of man over woman. Education and 
training may, in a measure, modify the amount of this natural ad- 
vantage, but it cannot be supposed that they will eradicate it. STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
447 
We may now take up the present agitation in favor of a “fair field 
and no favor” for women in the profession of medicine. It is quite 
natural that such a movement as this should first come to the surface 
in a country like America, where a general education is provided for 
all classes of society, regardless of sex, color, or caste. We therefore 
find that in this country the first effort was made by a woman to obtain 
a full medical diploma. It will be well, however, to consider first the 
efforts which have been made in England and on the Continent to 
secure a medical education for women. 
As the University of Zurich has attracted much attention by the 
large concourse of women who have sought to avail themselves of 
the opportunity which it has offered for the study of medicine, it 
may be of interest to give a detailed history of events there. 
Previous to the year 1864, the Zurich University had, with two 
exceptions, been opened only to male students. Two ladies of Zurich 
had received, by special act of Government, the privilege of attending 
the lectures of the philosophical Faculty; they were admitted, how- 
ever, only as listeners (.Auditoren), and were not matriculated. 
In the autumn of 1864, Miss K., of Russia, made application at the 
rectorate for permission to attend the lectures, not only upon scientific 
subjects, but also those upon anatomy and microscopy; this was 
granted on condition that the instructors raised no objections. It 
transpired, after a while, that this young lady intended to pursue 
the whole regular course of medical studies. 
About Easter, another Russian, Miss S., who had already made 
some progress in the study of medicine, arrived, and attended the 
lectures on the same footing as her fellow-countrywoman. As the 
presence of two ladies pursuing the regular course of studies some- 
what altered the aspect of affairs, the question whether they should 
be matriculated or altogether excluded was brought before the aca- 
demic senate. After a long session, in which the matter was fully 
discussed in all its bearings, it was voted to lay the subject on the 
table for the time being, with the sole requirement that any woman 
who wished to attend more than two courses of lectures must obtain 
special permission. 
The first Russian, who proved less capable than the second, van- 
ished in 1867, but the latter prosecuted her studies with such energy 
and persistence that she soon won the respect of both professors and 
students. She fulfilled all the requirements of the regular course 
without having gone through the form of taking her matriculation. 448 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
In February, 1867, she demanded to be admitted to the examination 
for degree, but was directed first to obtain her matriculation papers. 
The Rector, after consultation with the Swiss Minister of Education, 
interpreted the law in which the matriculation of female students 
was neither allowed nor forbidden in favor of the applicant in ques- 
tion. As the young lady had now been matriculated, admission to 
the examination for degree could not be refused her ; so that after her 
acquirements had been subjected to a rigorous test in every branch of 
medicine, she received the medical diploma. 
This success was not, as had been anticipated, the signal for an 
influx of female students. In the following two years only three 
Englishwomen, one Russian, and one American studied medicine in 
Zurich and came up for degree, while one Englishwoman and three 
Russians were matriculated, but left soon after. In the summer term 
of 1868, the first female student, an Englishwoman, was matriculated 
by the philosophical Faculty, but left at the end of the term. In the 
winter term of 1869-70, six Russians appeared, of whom three departed 
without examination. In the summer term of 1870, three Russians 
arrived, who also left without degrees. In the winter term of 1870-71, 
the number of those newly matriculated rose to eleven, of whom five 
left without degree. In the summer term of 1871, a single female 
student was matriculated, whereas two left without, and one with, the 
diploma. 
Thus far the study of medicine by women had developed but slowly 
in Zurich. Of the twenty-five female students who had attended the 
medical lectures for irregular periods since 1864, three left with, and 
seven without, their degrees; of the seven matriculated in the philo- 
sophical department, three had departed without the diploma. In 
the summer term of 1870, but fifteen women studying medicine, and 
four philosophy, remained. 
In the next term, 1871-72, the number rose from nineteen to 
thirty-one, and in the summer term, 1872, from thirty-one to sixty- 
three. With the increase in quantity a decrease in quality was 
perceptible; this was due chiefly to the fact that quite a number of 
them had not the requisite age, training, and devotion to their studies. 
Among the sixty-three there were fifty-four Russians, in whose coun- 
try, though no university was open to women, yet so-called public 
lectures for women were delivered in two years’ courses. The first 
Russians stated that in the interior of that great country there were 
long stretches where no physician could be found, and where they STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
449 
intended to practise; this induced many lecturers to favor their 
admission to the courses on the score of humanity. 
That the prosperity of that institution was not impaired was evident 
from the number of students then frequenting it; this had increased 
from 232 in 1864 to 354 in 1872. The gain was especially marked in 
the medical department, which was attended by 107 male students and 
one female in 1864, whereas in the summer of 1872 there were 208 
students, of whom 51 were women. The greater throng of these last 
then stimulated the Faculty to appeal again to the Government for a 
special examination for women. 
In this connection, one fact is deserving of mention. In July, 1871, 
the principal medical bodies in most of the Swiss Cantons explicitly 
voted by a large majority in favor of the admission of female candi- 
dates to the so-called medical “Concordats” examination ; the action 
was induced by the announcement that the first Swiss girl, who had 
been studying in Zurich, had applied for the State examination. As 
a consequence of this, the young lady referred to honorably passed 
the first State examination. It was admitted by all the professors that 
the experiment of women’s study of medicine in Zurich was perfectly 
successful in the first four or five years, when only six or eight 
women were there enrolled. No irrelevant conduct on the part of 
the students was noticed ; in fact, the modest and sensible demeanor 
of the young women exerted rather a favorable influence upon the 
behavior, habits, and earnestness of the men. 
The first female students in Zurich were however so convinced of 
the importance of a more strict discrimination in the admission of 
women to the courses, that they took the initiative in demanding that 
certificates or tests of proficiency should be required, to which a part 
of them begged to be subjected. They foresaw that the whole ex- 
periment would fail if too young or immature girls should attend 
the lectures without sufficient preliminary training or devotion to the 
work. 
In 1873 the number of female students rose to 88 of medicine, 25 
of philosophy, and one of social science, making a total of 114, of whom 
100 were Russians. The immature and plastic minds of the young 
Russians, however, fell a ready prey to the wiles and machinations of 
political adventurers, so that the steady and praiseworthy devotion to 
study which characterized the pioneers in that field was supplanted 
by political agitation, and what is worse in some instances by an 
indulgence in the delusive fascinations of free love. In consequence 450 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
of these events the Russian government felt called upon to interfere, 
and announced to “all the Russian women who attend the lectures at 
the University and Polytechnic School of Zurich, that such of them 
as shall continue to attend the above lectures after the first of January, 
1874, will not be admitted, on their return to Russia, to any exam- 
ination, educational establishment, or appointment of any kind under 
the control of the Government.” This action was attributed by the 
official organs to the “ unfavorable reports that have reached the 
Government relative to the conduct of these young women. , . . ‘ A 
Slavonic Democrat-Socialist Society,’ a ‘ Slavonic Central Revolu- 
tionary Committee,’ and a Slavonic and Russian Section of the Inter- 
national Society have been formed at Zurich, and they number several 
of the young Russians of both sexes among their numbers. In the 
Russian library, to which certain editors send their periodicals and 
newspapers gratis, lectures of a very revolutionary character are 
delivered. It has become a daily occupation of young Russian girls 
to attend the meetings of workingmen ; political agitation absorbs 
their youthful and inexperienced minds, and leads them into wrong 
courses. The young women who have thus been dragged into poli- 
tics are entirely under the influence of the leaders of the emigration, 
and have become their obedient instruments. Some of them go two 
or three times a year to Russia and back again, taking with them 
incendiary letters and proclamations. . . . Others allow themselves to 
be deluded by the communistic theories of free love, and, under the 
protection of a fictitious marriage, act in utter forgetfulness of all 
the fundamental principles of morality and decorum.” These were the 
charges made against the Russian female students at Zurich by the 
Government of their country, and the threats which followed were 
undoubtedly elicited solely by the political agitation to which the 
women lent themselves, and by means of which their instigators 
were furthering their schemes. 
Previous to this time, six women had passed with honor the exami- 
nation for the medical degree. Four received “ good ”as a comment, 
and two “ very good.” Several of the professors, at their graduation, 
took the opportunity of expressing in public their perfect satisfaction 
at the progress made by the female students. 
All but twelve Russian studehts left Zurich in obedience to the 
order of their Government: twenty-one of these obtained admission 
to the University of Berne, where, in the session of 1874-75, there 
were thirty-two female students, twenty-eight of medicine, three of STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
451 
philosophy, and one of law; and where two women, an American and 
an Austrian, took their medical degrees in 1878. The number study- 
ing in Zurich was reduced to six in 1877. Between 1864 and 1878 only 
fourteen women had graduated in Zurich ; but, in considering these 
figures with the comparatively large number of matriculants, it must 
be borne in mind that very few of the Russians intended at the out- 
set to take their degrees. The University of Geneva has since been 
opened to women, in which there were recently two studying medicine. 
The Concordats examination of Switzerland has also been granted to 
women, which gives those who pass it successfully the right to prac- 
tise in the Republic, of which one Swiss lady at least has availed herself. 
The report that no more women would be admitted to the University 
of Zurich because their presence had led to evil moral results has 
proved to be unfounded. Not only is the Faculty well satisfied with 
the result of the experiment, but two young ladies have recently been 
appointed assistants, one to Dr. Hermann, Professor of Physiology 
and Rector of the University, and one, an American, to Dr, Rose, 
Professor of Surgery, 
In Russia we find that in 1862 Mademoiselle Souslowa began to 
study medicine at the Medico-Chirurgical Academy of St. Petersburg. 
After she had attended the lectures of natural philosophy, chemistry, 
and anatomy for two years, in company with several other women, the 
privilege was suddenly withdrawn by an edict of the Imperial Govern- 
ment, on the alleged ground that “ women did better as such when 
they knew nothing and understood nothing,” although no complaints 
had been made either by the professors or the male students. Women 
were thus debarred from studying medicine in St. Petersburg, with 
the exception of a few midwives educated by Government to send out 
to the wild tribes of Russian Asia, who had petitioned for them. One 
of these midwives was allowed to remain and complete a full medical 
education after the University had been closed to her companions. 
In iB6O a Russian officer was sent to inspect the Woman’s Medical 
College of the New York Infirmary, and report to the Imperial Gov- 
ernment upon the medical education of women in America, owing to 
the fresh application of a dozen or more respectable Russian women 
for admission to the Academy at St. Petersburg. This application 
seems to have been granted, for in 1869 Mademoiselle Kaschewarowa 
received the degree of M. D. from the Academy. In 1872 a lady 
interested in the higher education of women offered the sum of forty 
thousand dollars to the Minister of State for the establishment of 452 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
classes for women at the Imperial Academy of Medicine. In the 
same year the Medico-Chirurgical Academy formally admitted women 
to study under the same instructors as the men ; but the requirements 
for graduation were different, and the diploma applied only to practice 
in the diseases of women and children. The prescribed course was 
reduced from five years for men to four for women. The Medical 
Department of the University of Moscow opened its doors in 1871 
to women, exacting the same tests of capacity as for male students. 
In 1874-75 there were one hundred and seventy-one women study- 
ing at the Academy, of whom one hundred and two were of noble 
birth, seventeen belonged to the commercial class, fourteen to that of 
shop-keepers, and twelve were clergymen’s daughters: twenty-three 
were married. They were instructed in the same buildings and by 
the same teachers as the men, but at different hours. Three small 
wooden hospitals had also been built, in which seventy young women 
were being trained ; twenty of them as resident pupils. No men 
were admitted. The professors have expressed themselves as highly 
satisfied with the scholarship and demeanor of the women. 
In Finland the Emperor of Russia has ordered the University of 
Helsingfors, through the Senate of Finland, to admit women to its 
medical school. 
In France the medical schools have always been nominally open to 
women, yet none sought the privilege until a lady applied to the Fac- 
ulty of Montpellier in 1866 and was refused. She immediately applied 
to the Minister of the Interior for permission to study in Paris, which 
was granted on condition that she would practise in Algeria, whence she 
came. The first woman, however, to graduate in Paris, after passing 
the five requisite examinations, was a native of England, Miss Garrett 
(now Mrs. Garrett-Anderson), in June, 1870. The next was an Ameri- 
can, Miss Mary C. Putnam (now Mrs. Jacobi), of New York, who 
took her diploma with great honor in August, 1871. In 1874 there 
were twenty female students at the Ecole de Medecine, each having 
obtained the requisite special permission from the Minister of Instruc- 
tion. At the end of the session, 1876-77, there were twenty-two female 
students, five French, six English, eleven Russian, in the school. 
During that year five women had received the medical degree, two 
English, two Russians, and one German. In 1877-78 there were 
fourteen English alone studying medicine there. Between 1870 and 
1876, however, only ten women have graduated in France. Women 
are eligible to the post of Internat of the Plospitals. In July, 1870, at STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
453 
the moment France was entering upon the war with Prussia, a small 
commission under the presidency of M. Duruy, ex-Minister of Public 
Instruction, was elaborating a plan for the complete education of 
women under the patronage of the Empress. Its object was to edu- 
cate physicians for countries subject to Islamism. All was arranged 
to give the most thorough instruction, including clinical opportunities 
at the hospitals; but the scheme disappeared with the Empire. 
In Germany there has been but little demand for the medical edu- 
cation of women, yet whenever the privilege has been sought, it has 
generally been granted. According to the “ Pall-Mall Gazette,” there 
was one woman studying medicine at Munich in 1865, two in 1866, 
four in 1867, eight in 1868, and sixteen in 1869; in the last-named 
year the Dean of the Faculty reported that the innovation had greatly 
improved the discipline of the School. Women were admitted to the 
Medical School of Vienna in 1870; three years later there were four 
female students at the School. Since that time some opposition has 
been aroused, yet women are still admitted to certain courses by 
special permission, but are not allowed to matriculate. In 1874 
women were given permission to study at the University of Leipzig, 
although the privilege of graduating was not assured. A young lady 
was granted in 1872, by the Government, an examination for a dental 
degree at the University at Erlangen, on the ground that it was 
absurd to exclude a person desirous of submitting herself to author- 
ized professional tests of ability, by reason of her sex. 
In Holland in 1865 the daughter of a deceased pharmacien applied 
for authority to enter as a student of pharmacy in order to qualify 
herself to be of use in the pharmacy of her late father. The demand 
was refused on the ground that the law confined its provisions to 
pharmaciens, entitled to the pronoun il, and made no allusion to the 
die. In 1866 a new law allowed women to present themselves for 
examination as pharmaciens. In 1868 the woman in question ob- 
tained her regular diploma. In the succeeding eleven years one hun- 
dred women entered as students in pharmacy, and underwent the 
examination necessary to enable them to keep a shop. Among an 
equal number of applicants, twice as many women have succeeded as 
men. At Groningen the first medical student passed her examination 
in physics and mathematics in 1873 ! and in the same year the Univer- 
sity of Holland opened its doors to women. 
In Belgium women have been refused permission to study 
medicine. 454 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
In Italy, the Universities have never been closed to women, but 
in 1876 the fifteen Universities of the kingdom were formally thrown 
open to them by a State decree, and in the same year a woman took 
her degree of M. D. at Pisa. 
In Denmark, all departments of the University of Copenhagen, 
except the theological, were opened to women in 1875 ; but few have 
taken advantage of the opportunity. 
The Swedish University of Upsala was opened to women on the 
same terms as men in 1864, with the exception of the departments 
of Theology and Law. About 1870 the University of Stockholm 
admitted women ; and soon after three women passed the examina- 
tions as surgeons, and two as. dentists. A medical school exclu- 
sively for women was to have been established at Gothenburg in 
1870. 
In Great Britain, the Medical Act of 1858 only admitted to registra- 
tion and to the practice of medicine such persons as had passed the 
examination and obtained the license of one of the nineteen examin- 
ing bodies of the kingdom, whose representatives, together with the 
persons appointed by the crown, constituted the “ General Council 
of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom.” 
The only exception was in favor of those who at that time held 
degrees of M. D. from any foreign or colonial University, and were 
already practising before Oct. 1, 1858. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, hav- 
ing a degree from the Geneva Medical College of New York State, 
availed herself of this clause and obtained registration. In iB6O 
Miss Garrett, with a view to practising medicine in compliance with 
this act, was admitted as a student at Apothecaries’ Hall (one of 
the licensing bodies), where she attended some classes in common 
with male students ; in other branches she was obliged to pay heavy 
fees for private instruction by recognized teachers. After having 
overcome many difficulties in obtaining the requisite hospital instruc- 
tion she was registered as licentiate of Apothecaries’ Hall in 1865. 
Her title of M. D. was obtained several years later from the Univer- 
sity of Paris. Apothecaries’ Hall, after admitting Miss Garrett, took 
action effectually to prevent a recurrence of such an event by passing 
a vote forbidding students thereafter to receive any part of their edu- 
cation privately. 
In March, 1869, Miss Sophia Jex-Blake applied to the University of 
Edinburgh for permission to attend the lectures of the Medical Faculty 
for the purpose of ultimately obtaining the degree of Doctor of Medi- STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
455 
cine, which would entitle her to registration. As the application was 
from one woman only, a tentative attendance on the classes of botany 
and natural history was suggested by the Dean of the Medical Facul- 
ty, with the assent of the two professors, the question of matriculation 
being postponed for the time. This plan received the formal approval 
of the Medical Faculty and the Senators, but was vetoed by the Uni- 
versity Court on the appeal of several dissentient professors. A favor- 
able response was however given to Miss Jex-Blake and four other 
ladies who joined her, to be allowed to make arrangements for sepa- 
rate classes ; regulations were then officially issued admitting women 
to matriculation and to subsequent instruction for the profession of 
medicine. The five ladies were at once matriculated after having 
passed the examination in arts. After the first session opposition was 
raised among the professors and male students, but through no fault 
of the female students. The former refused to teach the women, 
the latter mobbed them. The women appealed to the courts, and 
obtained a verdict in their favor ; this was however reversed by the 
whole Court of Sessions in June, 1873, by a bare majority. Appeal 
was now made to the highest tribunal in the kingdom, the cause of 
the women being presented to Parliament in 1874, and again in 1875, 
when it was finally defeated by a vote of 196 to 153. 
In 1874 the idea was conceived of founding a medical school for 
women in London. Chiefly through the efforts of Dr. Sophia Jex- 
Blake, with the co-operation of the late Dr. Anstie, the London School 
of Medicine for Women was opened in the autumn of 1874 with a 
staff of teachers, who were, with one exception, recognized lecturers at 
other medical schools. The examination and license of the graduates 
of this school at the end of the three years’ course depended upon a 
removal of the disqualification resting upon the sex by a previous act 
of Parliament, and a subsequent recognition of the instruction there 
received as sufficient to entitle the students to examination. A still 
greater obstacle was the clause in the medical act requiring that every 
student coming up for examination should have had practical clinical 
instruction in a hospital of no less than 150 beds. 
In July, 1876, the Government accorded its support in Parliament 
to a bill “ enabling the British examining bodies to extend their exam- 
inations to women as well as to men,” with a single proviso that the 
qualification conferred by any examining body should not carry with 
it any right to take part in the government of that body. This bill 
was passed, received the royal assent, and became a law. The Uni- 456 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
versity of Edinburgh was thus enabled to do justice to its matricu- 
lated students, but refused. The Queen’s University, and the King’s 
and Queen’s College of Physicians, of Ireland, however, both granted 
the request for admission to examination preferred by Miss Edith 
Pechey. As the regulations of the former made obligatory the at- 
tendance upon four courses of lectures in one of the Queen’s Col- 
leges, the assent of four professors at Galway was obtained ; but the 
Council of the College vetoed the arrangement, and the immediate 
opening of the session made further action at that time impossible. 
The College of Physicians granted examinations to Dr. Elizabeth W. 
Dunbar, Dr. Frances Hoggan, and Dr. Louisa Atkins (M.D.’s of Zu- 
rich), and of Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake and Dr. Edith Pechey (M.D.’s of 
Berne) during the early months of 1877, thereby admitting them to 
registration as qualified practitioners. 
The Woman’s Medical School still needed hospital opportunities for 
its students. No hospital in London would grant admission to wo- 
men until the Royal Free Hospital in Gray’s Inn Road agreed to do 
so for five years in consideration of an annual subsidy of ,£715, it hav- 
ing no school for male students connected with it. Finally, in the 
autumn of 1876, the Senate of the University of London passed a 
resolution to admit women to medical examinations and degrees, on 
application of Miss Edith Shove. 
The London School of Medicine for Women opened in 1874 with 
twenty-three students, a strong staff of lecturers, and the special coun- 
tenance of such men as the late Dr. Anstie, Dr. Burdon-Sanderson, 
Dr. Chambers, Dr. Bastian, Mr. Ernst Hart, and Professor Huxley. 
During the second year six new students were admitted ; during the 
third, two new students; during the fourth (1877-78), nine. The 
small number entering in the second and third years is probably due 
to the fact that the arrangement with the Royal Free Hospital was 
not made until the spring of 1877, and consequently up to that time 
there was no guarantee that the graduates of the school could obtain 
certificates of attendance at a hospital large enough to be recognized 
as qualifying them for registration. In 1877 the school was placed 
on the official list of medical schools recognized by the Irish College 
of Physicians. The school requires the students to pass a prelimi- 
nary examination in arts, and to be at least eighteen years of age. 
The course is four years, three in the school and one in hospitals. 
The fees are for the three years’ instruction in the school, and 
£4.0 for the four years’ hospital instruction. STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
457 
This brief recital shows clearly the various obstacles successively 
overcome by the female students under the generalship of Dr. Sophia 
Jex-Blake, to whose enthusiasm and energy the ultimate achievement 
should be credited. The registered female practitioners are now kind- 
ly received at many of the hospitals of London, notably the Children’s 
Hospital in Great Ormond Street, the Cancer Hospital, the Moorfields 
Ophthalmic Hospital, and to some of the services of the Brompton 
Consumption Hospital. The Soho Square Hospital for Women has 
flatly declined to allow a female physician to enter its doors; on the 
other hand, Dr. Thomas Chambers at once granted them admission 
to his wards of the Chelsea Hospital for Women. 
While immense steps have been taken in securing for women the 
privilege of studying and practising medicine in England, the antag- 
onism is not by any means entirely allayed. In January, 1876, three 
women applied to the College of Surgeons to be examined for the 
license in midwifery, which is a registrable license. In the opinion 
of counsel the College was bound to admit them ; the Committee 
reported their certificates of four years’ study satisfactory, where- 
upon Dr. Robert Barnes, one of the examiners in midwifery, resigned. 
Soon after came an official letter to the women promising their ad- 
mission to the next examination, which was followed by the resig- 
nation of Drs. Farre and Priestley, that is, of the whole examining 
board. Since then there have been no examiners and no examinations. 
There was, however, immediately a meeting of the Obstetrical Soci- 
ety of London, at which a vote of thanks to these gentlemen was car- 
ried by ‘ “ universal acclamation.” At an extraordinary meeting of 
the Royal College of Physicians on March 18, 1878, the motion of 
Sir George Barrows, that the College should not grant licenses to 
women to practise medicine, was carried by an overwhelming major- 
ity. Near the end of the year 1877 Dr. Wilson Fox addressed to 
the Secretary of the British Medical Association a letter inquiring of 
the Council, “ whether women are to be permitted in the future to 
attend the meetings of the medical, surgical, and other sections of 
the association and to take part in the discussions?” To this he 
received the reply that “ the Council have no powers to prevent ladies 
who are members of the association from attending the meetings of 
the association.” As a result of this, Dr. Fox withdrew from the asso- 
ciation. At the annual meeting in 1878 the following article was 
carried after long discussion : “No female shall be eligible for elec- 
tion as a member of the association.” There is now but one lady 458 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
member of the association, Dr. Garrett-Anderson. Seven women are 
now on the Medical Register; six more have presented themselves to 
the Irish College of Physicians for the first examination, of whom 
four have passed. 
In Australia women were admitted to the University of Melbourne 
in 1872. 
It is estimated that of the one hundred million women in India at 
least two thirds are, by their social customs, debarred from receiving 
the visits of a male physician at their houses, and from attending for 
gratuitous advice at the hospitals and dispensaries. The lying-in 
hospitals of Madras, Manargoody, and Madura have for many years 
been educating midwives; but if a Mahometan or Hindu woman of 
the higher castes is attacked with any severe disease, or has any bones 
injured, she cannot receive the benefit of medical knowledge so long 
as it is exclusively in the possession of men who are not admissible 
to women’s presence. To meet this want, a medical school for 
women was founded at Bareilly in 1867, which has since been teach- 
ing native women, and giving them certificates as general practition- 
ers. In 1871, there were thirty girls between the ages of twelve and 
seventeen years in the school, of whom twenty-eight were native 
Christians and two Mahometans. The course of study was three 
years. 
The Madras Medical College, which supplies the military and civil 
establishments with physicians, admitted women in 1875, the lectures 
being in common with men except on certain special subjects. In 
1878 four women received their degree, after five years’ study, dur- 
ing which they had greatly distinguished themselves. At Benares, 
Brahmin widows were receiving a regular medical training in 1877. 
At Bombay a midwifery class of women is connected with the hos- 
pital. The midwives who have graduated from all these establish- 
ments have been generally successful in India, in spite of the custom 
which assigns a certain part of every city or village to each native 
midwife, in which she has the exclusive right to practise ; the mo- 
nopoly being transmitted from mother to daughter. 
Coming now at last to America, we find that, in 1848, Miss Eliza- 
beth Blackwell, an English woman, after having studied medicine for 
several years, applied for admission to many different medical colleges 
of the United States, all of which refused it except the Geneva Medi- 
cal College, then a flourishing school in Western New York. She at- 
tended two full courses at that institution, and graduated creditably in STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
459 
1849, being the first woman to receive the degree of M. D. in the 
United States. The discussion caused by this event led to the ex- 
clusion of woman students from all the colleges, in deference to the 
general sentiment of the medical profession. A few years later Miss 
Sarah R. Adamson (now Mrs. Dolly) found the doors of the Geneva 
Medical College closed against her, and no medical college of the 
country willing to admit her as a candidate for a diploma. She was 
consequently driven, against her wishes, to enter the Central Medical 
College at Syracuse, N.Y., an eclectic institution, where she graduated 
in 1851. The Rush Medical College of Chicago soon after admitted 
Miss Emily Blackwell to attend her first course of lectures, but with- 
held the permission the next year, owing to a vote of censure passed 
by the Illinois State Medical Society. After many fruitless applica- 
tions elsewhere, she was finally admitted to the Cleveland Medical 
College, where she took her degree in 1854, after one course of lect- 
ures. 
In 1853, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell sought the post of physician in 
the department for women of one of the dispensaries of New York. 
The refusal of this application led to the organization of the New 
York Infirmary for Women and Children, which was extended as a 
hospital of ten beds with a dispensary attached in 1857, with Dr. 
Elizabeth Blackwell, Dr. Mary E. Zakrzewska, now of Boston, and 
Dr. Emily Blackwell as attending physicians. At this time there was 
no hospital open to women in America. Meagre instruction was here 
given to small classes for several years. In 1865 a charter was ob- 
tained for the Woman’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary, 
a graded course of three years being adopted from the start. The 
first chair of Hygiene in the country was here instituted. The board 
of examiners, independent of the College Faculty, was composed of 
eminent physicians, professors in the different schools of the city. 
This board consisted, in 1878, of Drs. Willard Parker, Isaac E. Taylor, 
Austin Flint, Stephen Smith, B. W. McCready, A. L. Loomis, C. F. 
Chandler, and E. H. Janes. A preliminary examination in English 
branches is required, unless the students bring “ a diploma from some 
established literary school.” The sessions are of eight months’ dura- 
tion. The first class of five women graduated in 1870. In the nine 
years during which students have been graduating, the total number 
who have received degrees amounts to fifty-three. During the ses- 
sion 1877-78 forty-seven students were pursuing their studies. Nine 
of the graduates were married women, five being wives of physicians, 460 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
who are all now engaged in practice with their husbands. Three 
graduates are daughters of physicians who now practise with their 
fathers. Four have gone abroad as missionaries, one having estab- 
lished in China a hospital for women. Sixteen graduates occupy 
positions as resident physicians to hospitals, or as physicians to large 
women’s colleges, such as Vassar and Mt. Holyoke. Seven graduates 
have since pursued their studies in European universities. Two 
graduates have been applicants for hospital positions given by com- 
petitive examination, both being successful. One received a position 
at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. The other was refused the post 
of interne at the Charity Hospital in New York, although successful 
in examination, because, as was alleged, there were no arrangements 
for having these posts filled by women. The Hospitals and Dispen- 
saries of New York are now as much open to the mass of women 
students as to men. Women are admitted to the lectures in the 
Bellevue Amphitheatre by the physicians of the three colleges for 
men who lecture there, to private courses, and to the free city clinics 
at all the dispensaries. In 1871, Dr. Mary Green, the physician to 
the Woman’s Prison Association, was elected a member of the New 
York Medico-Legal Society. 
In the autumn of 1850 the Female Medical College of Philadelphia 
was opened with a class of forty women. In 1853 it adopted the 
longest course (five months) of any medical school then existing in 
the country. A dispensary was established in connection with it in 
1854, which was enlarged to a hospital in 1861. In 1868 it received 
a bequest of $60,000 from the estate of Mr. Isaac Barton. The option 
of a progressive course of three years was introduced in 1869. The 
female students were admitted to the Philadelphia Hospital (Blockley), 
and to the Wills Ophthalmic Hospital in 1869, and to the medical and 
surgical wards of the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1870. In addition to 
these clinical facilities the female students are admitted to the daily 
dispensary service, and the weekly medical, surgical, and gynaecologi- 
cal clinics of Dr. Anna E. Bloomall at the Woman’s Hospital, of 
which the capacity is now forty beds ; to the Orthopedic Hospital 
and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases ; the Eye and Ear Infirmary; and 
the Mission Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children, and 
to the Philadelphia Lying-in Charity. During the past years women 
have been admitted to the lectures of the auxiliary P'aculty of the 
University of Pennsylvania. An Alumni Association was formed in 
1875, which now numbers 263. Twenty students received their de- STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
461 
grees at the twenty-seventh annual commencement on March 13, 
1879. In 1853 the Penn Medical College of Philadelphia, an irregu- 
lar institution for the co-education of men and women, was instituted, 
but was discontinued in 1864. The Pennsylvania College of Dental 
Surgery having opened its doors to women in 1873, two were re- 
turned as graduated in 1874. 
It must not be assumed, however, that all these concessions to 
women were made in Philadelphia without opposition. As early as 
1859, Philadelphia County Medical Society passed a vote recom- 
mending its members “to withhold all countenance and support from 
the Faculties and graduates of the Female Medical Colleges ; and 
that, consistently with sound medical ethics, they should not hold pro- 
fessional intercourse with them.” In 1867 a similar action was again 
taken. When the Pennsylvania Hospital first admitted women to its 
clinics, the male students made strenuous but futile objections to their 
presence. In 1870 admission into the State Medical Society of Penn- 
sylvania was sought by the women and not granted. The venerable 
Dr. S. D. Gross, as one of the most rigorous opponents, advanced the 
amusing argument that “ woman was taken from the side of Adam 
to show that her duty and promise was to lean upon man for all time 
to come.” 
The Department of Medicine and Surgery of the University of 
Michigan at Ann Arbor was opened in 1851. Women have been 
admitted since 1871 to separate courses, except in chemistry, but under 
the same requirements as men. It has a session of nine months 
and a graded course of three years. The number of female students 
has increased from eighteen in 1871 to forty-two in 1879. In the 
years 1871 to 1878 have been graduated eighty women. The number 
of male students ranges from three to five hundred. 
In 1865 the Chicago Hospital for Women and Children was opened, 
and has for many years been in successful operation with Dr. Mary 
H. Thompson as attending physician and surgeon. In connection 
with this institution was organized, in 1870, the Woman’s Hospital 
Medical College for the instruction of women, with Dr. W. H. By- 
ford as President of the Faculty and Professor of the Clinical Sur- 
gery of Women, and Dr. Mary H. Thompson as Professor of the 
Diseases of Children, and a full Faculty of other able instructors. 
The graduates must have studied medicine three years, have attended 
two full courses of lectures, and passed a satisfactory examination. 
In 1875 eight women graduated. The Medical Class of 1877-78 462 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
consisted of thirty-two students. There were seven graduates in 
1878. 
The Syracuse University in the State of New York was incorpo- 
rated on March 25, 1870, making from the outset no distinction with 
regard to the sex of the students. There were graduated in medicine 
in 1875 three women and ten men ; in 1876, three women and sixteen 
men ; in 1877* two women and six men ; in 1878, three women and 
fourteen men; in 1879, 110 women and six men. The President 
writes that the absence of women from among the graduates of 1879 
was “ a mere accident,” and is in no wise attributable to any evil effect 
upon the morals of the students from co-education of the sexes. 
The University of California, at Berkeley, a suburb of San Fran- 
cisco, was organized in 1868, and opened for instruction in 1869. 
Attendance at three full courses of five months is required before grad- 
uation in medicine, the studies being graded. Women are admitted 
on an equality with men, the number of all students in each class 
being but ten or fifteen, of whom two or three are women. The 
Pacific Dispensary for women and children in San Francisco was 
incorporated in 1875, and is in successful operation under the man- 
agement of three female physicians. 
In New England, as elsewhere, during the Colonial times, much 
of the medical practice was in the hands of women, who, however, had 
for the most part the rearing of a large family as their only qualifica- 
tion and the sole test of their proficiency. The former prevalence of 
a belief that women were the proper and only qualified custodians 
of their own sex in child-bearing is made evident by a town record 
printed in the first volume of the Collections of the Maine Historical 
Society. The General Court, held at Wells on the 6th of July, 1646, 
“ presented Francis Ray us for presuming to act the part of midwife. 
The delinquent, examined by the Court, is fined fifty shillings for his 
offence; and, paying the fees, five shillings, is discharged.” Such 
evidence, and it can easily be amplified, drawn from old records, does 
not of course testify to any peculiar opinion on the part of the Col- 
onists with regard to the fitness of women to practise medicine as a 
whole, or certain of its branches, but merely reveals customs which 
were founded upon tradition or imposed upon the communities by the 
exigencies of a sparse population in a new country. 
To Massachusetts is nevertheless due the credit of establishing the 
first medical school for women in the world. On November 23, 1848, 
was organized in Boston the Female Medical Educational Society, and STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
463 
incorporated in 1850. The first term of the Boston Female Medical 
School (subsequently the New England Female Medical College) 
began November 1, 1848, with twelve students and two professors. 
While the attendance on the school was comparatively large, only a 
small number graduated; the total number of graduates between the 
years 1848 and 1871 being but eighty-three. In 1874, while a prop- 
osition to transfer the College to Harvard University was under con- 
sideration by that corporation, the Trustees suddenly merged the 
College in the School of Medicine of Boston University, which is 
under the exclusive control of homoeopaths. While this act may 
have involved no betrayal of trust on the part of the trustees in a 
legal sense, it certainly was an indefensible breach of trust toward 
those who had contributed funds to enable women to obtain a medical 
education in accordance with the tenets of the regular school. As the 
scope of this paper does not include an historical account of the 
various homoeopathic, eclectic, botanic, and other schools which have 
admitted women to their courses, it is sufficient to state that no dis- 
turbances or other untoward results have arisen from an association 
of the sexes in the Medical Department of the Boston University. 
Recent events, however, have drawn attention to the position of the 
Harvard Medical School with regard to women, and it may not, there- 
fore, prove devoid of interest to pass in brief review the history of the 
various attempts which have been made by women to attend the lec- 
tures at that institution. 
In the autumn of 1847 Miss Harriet K. Hunt, who had been prac- 
tising medicine in Boston for several years, applied for permission to 
attend lectures, and was refused. Application for the same privilege 
was again made by the same lady in 1850. On November 23 of that 
year it was voted in a meeting of the Medical hacuity, at which all 
the seven members were present, that “ Miss Hunt be admitted to the 
lectures on the usual terms, provided that her admission be not 
deemed inconsistent with the statutes.” Drs. Jacob Bigelow and 
James Jackson voted in the negative. At a meeting of the President 
and Fellows of the University, on November 30, it was voted “ that 
this Board, if the Medical Faculty deem it expedient, perceive no 
objection arising from the Statutes of the Medical School to admit- 
ting female students to their lectures, expressing hereby no opinion 
as to the claims of such student to a medical degree.” These votes 
appeared to have removed all obstacles to the fulfilment of Miss 
Hunt’s aspirations ; but another, which proved to be insuperable, arose 464 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
on the part of the students. At the beginning of the session of 
1850-51 two colored persons had been found to be among the students, 
and were the cause of much dissatisfaction. A few weeks later another 
black made his appearance, and soon after it was reported that a woman 
had taken tickets for the lectures. The indignation of the students 
now found vent in a meeting in December, 1850, at which two series 
of resolutions were passed remonstrating against the amalgamation 
of sexes and races. These were referred by the Faculty to a com- 
mittee, which reported through its chairman, Dr. Jacob Bigelow, the 
following votes, relating to the admission of the woman, which were 
adopted: 
“ Voted, that the Faculty are at all times anxious to promote the gratification 
and welfare of the members of the medical class as far as their duty and the great 
interests of medical education permit. 
“ Voted, that the female student who had applied for liberty to attend the lectures, 
having by advice of the Faculty withdrawn her petition, no further action on this 
subject is necessary.’ 
This concession of the Faculty to the predilections of the students 
was probably unavoidable, owing to the fact that the Medical School 
was at that time without any considerable endowment, and entirely 
dependent for its support upon the fees of the students. In 1866 
permission to attend lectures was denied to two women who made 
application; and the like again occurred in 1867. In 1868, it having 
been reported to the Medical Faculty that women were attending the 
lectures of one of the University lecturers (not a member of the Fac- 
ulty) by his permission, this action was declared to be inconsistent with 
the rules, and the women were ordered to discontinue such attendance. 
At a meeting of the Corporation of Harvard University on April 8, 
1878, a letter was read from Miss Marian Hovey, Trustee, offering to 
give the sum of ten thousand dollars, from a fund for benevolent pur- 
noses bequeathed by her father, Mr. George O. Hovey, to the Har- 
vard Medical School, if its advantages were extended to women on 
equal terms with men. The Corporation referred the communication 
to the Board of Overseers, which has only advisory powers in such 
matters. At a meeting of this Board on April 10, it was referred 
to a committee of its members, viz. the President of the University, 
and Messrs. Wyman, Agassiz, Cabot, and Le Baron Russell. 
On May 3, 1879, the committee presented two reports : the majority, 
signed by Alexander Agassiz, Dr. Morrill Wyman, Charles W. Eliot, 
and J. Elliot Cabot; and the minority, by Dr. Le Baron Russell. STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
465 
The majority of the committee recommended the acceptance of the 
trust offered by Miss Hovey for the Medical School upon the follow- 
ing conditions : 
“ That, after the completion of a new building, women be admitted to the Medi- 
cal School, as an experiment, for a period of ten years. 
“ That they be not less than twenty-two years of age. 
“ That the requisitions for admission and the course of study be the same as 
for men. * 
“ That the examinations for women and men shall be identical. 
“ That nothing shall be countenanced which will in any way lower the standard 
of the school, or affect the execution of the plans laid out for its development. 
“ That the courses of lectures in which students take no active part be open to 
both men and women; that for personal instruction in laboratories and for recita- 
tions the two sexes be separated ; and that a complete separation be made in such 
subjects as obstetrics, the diseases of women, certain portions of anatomy and 
physiology, and the like. 
“ The first cost of this experiment need not, we think, be very great; for the 
present a probable outlay of twenty or twenty-five thousand dollars for additional 
laboratories and recitation-rooms in the new building, and an ipcrease of some 
three to five thousand dollars annually, in the salaries of instructors, would be 
sufficient. It may be roughly estimated that a sum of sixty to sixty-five thousand 
dollars would amply cover the pecuniary cost of this experiment; but should the 
change be permanently adopted, a considerable endowment would be required to 
meet the increased annual charges. 
“ It should be distinctly understood, however, that the experiment can be con- 
tinued only so long as, in the opinion of the governing boards, it does not conflict 
in any way with the best interests of the school.” 
The report continues as follows : 
“ Your Committee are well aware that the Harvard Medical School owes its high 
standing to the devotion of its staff of professors, and that their voice should there- 
fore have great weight in the decision of the question, and in determining the duration 
or cessation of the experiment. • To them and to their successors the school must 
look for the maintenance and increase of its intellectual activity. It is a critical 
moment of its history. The members of its staff are all earnest in their endeavors 
to raise the standard of the school ; for this they have made, and are ready to 
make, great sacrifices. Besides the continuous need of broadening and elevating 
instruction, there is urgent need that the new building for the Medical School 
should be supplied with all modern appliances for teaching and for original investi- 
gation, without which the school cannot hold its place among leading institutions. 
These improvements will be costly. The professors, therefore, naturally hesitate 
to undertake just now a change of policy which seems, to some of them at least, of 
doubtful issue, without ample provision against the case of failure. 
“Of twenty-one members of the Medical Faculty, who expressed their views in 
writing, six are in favor of admitting women to the school with restrictions. Three 
are in favor of making the experiment, but have strong doubts of its expediency or 466 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
success. Seven are strongly opposed to the plan. Five are opposed, but willing 
to try the experiment under certain conditions. 
“ Of the six in favor, only one is in favor of admission without restrictions. 
“ Of the nine more or less in favor, four require a guarantee fund of $200,000. 
“ Of the twelve more or less opposed, five consider $200,000 as the sum neces- 
sary to warrant the trial of the experiment, if it is to be tried at all.” 
The minority report, signed by Dr. Le Baron Russell, opposed 
the acceptance of the gift on the terms proposed. 
“ But while opposed to the admission of women to the Harvard School, he cor- 
dially recognizes the reasonableness of the desire for greater opportunities than are 
n?>w afforded for the higher education of women, as well in medicine as in other 
departments of knowledge. There is reason to believe that there exist, at the pres- 
ent time, a legitimate demand for, and an important place to be filled by, well-edu- 
cated women as physicians. The position which some of them have already taken, 
and the large and apparently increasing class of persons who wish for their ser- 
vices, make it on all accounts to be desired that means for a thorough medical 
education should be provided for them. This object can, in his opinion, be best at- 
tained by the establishment of a separate medical school for women, in which all the 
inconveniences and embarrassments attaching to other plans will be avoided, and the 
fullest opportunities be enjoyed by them without restraint. Such a school, while 
equally thorough in its requisitions with the best medical schools for men, should 
yet recognize to a certain extent the different paths of practice which will naturally 
be pursued by women, and, while neglecting nothing essential, give particular atten- 
tion to those branches most important to be studied by them. A positive gain 
would thus be reached which could not be attained by women in medical schools 
for men, as at present conducted. The same system of careful examination should 
be required for admission, as well as in the studies throughout the course and for a 
final degree, as are now required at the Harvard School. The professors and in- 
structors should be of the highest character, and nothing omitted which belongs to 
a school of the first rank. Many of the instructors of the Harvard School would 
undoubtedly be found willing to repeat their lectures and other exercises for the 
benefit of the school for women, and others could be obtained if more were needed. 
Among the large number of persons who have manifested their interest in the sub- 
ject of the medical education of women, there must be many able and willing to 
contribute the necessary funds. The amount required for such a school could 
hardly exceed very considerably that said to be required for the guaranty and ex- 
penses of the experiment of the admission of women to the Harvard School, and 
its superior advantages would more than compensate for the additional cost.” 
The reasons adduced in support of this report were primarily the 
danger to the permanent interests of the school, and to its large classes 
of male students at this stage in the attempt to elevate the standard 
of the school. Since 1871 a graduated course of lectures and recita- 
tions had been arranged to fill each of the three years of the term of 
study ; a preliminary examination had been required for several years ; STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
467 
and the final examination for degree had been made more rigorous. 
The changes had proved successful in every sense ; but other changes 
were in contemplation, such as the addition of another year to the re- 
quired term of study, and the qualifications for entrance and gradua- 
tion were to be still further raised. While these modifications were 
pending, the report deemed it unwise to jeopard the result by introdu- 
cing so doubtful an innovation as the education of women. The re- 
port further pointed to the divided opinions of the Medical Faculty, 
of which a majority opposed the scheme as likely to impair the suc- 
cessful working of the plan. It expressed a fear of the effect upon 
the attendance of male students on the school from the opposition of 
so large a number of the physicians of the State ; and a fear that 
opposition would arise among the male students themselves. Finally, 
the peculiar difficulties of co-education of the sexes in medicine were 
dwelt upon at some length. 
A vote was immediately taken upon the adoption of the majority 
report, with the result of seven votes in the affirmative, and nine in the 
negative. As several of those who voted against the motion an- 
nounced that they had done so solely because they had not had time 
to consider the question properly, it was voted to reconsider the mo- 
tion two weeks later. 
The closeness of this vote on the adoption of the majority report, 
and the knowledge that several of the voices in the negative might be 
reversed when their authors had had time to consider the question on 
its merits, created a great stir in the academic and medical portion of 
the community. The Medical Faculty was especially aroused at the 
prospect of being called upon to assume the education of women, 
which it was generally supposed would be impossible at the high figure 
($200,000) which they had specified as the minimum price at which 
they could safely undertake to grapple with the task. It must be 
remembered in this connection that the gift of Miss Hovey was prof- 
fered merely in order to test the sentiments of the University and 
Medical Faculty. Although the $65,000 mentioned in the majority 
report would probably suffice to meet the additional expense to be in- 
curred, no fund had been provided for as a guarantee against a possible 
falling off of male students whereby the present income of the school 
might be curtailed. In seeking to arrive at a decision between these 
contrary opinions, it must be borne in mind that the committee of the 
Overseers had had the matter under consideration for a year, during 
which no pains had been spared to collect information from all parts 468 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMENi 
of the world; while the Medical Faculty on the other hand had com- 
mitted itself to the higher estimate after an hour’s discussion. 
A meeting of the Medical Faculty was at once called, and passed 
the following resolution, by a vote of thirteen to five : “ Whereas, the 
Medical Faculty has now engaged in radically changing the plan of 
study in the School, an undertaking which will take several years for 
its completion, and will demand all the time and ability of the teachers 
which are available for the purpose, we deem it detrimental to the 
interests of the School to enter upon the experiment of admitting 
female students.” It was also “ Resolved, that it was not advisable to 
open the course of study at the Medical School to women,” by a vote of 
fourteen to four. Under these circumstances, it was but natural that, 
at their next meeting, the Overseers should pass the following resolu- 
tion, “ That the Overseers find themselves unable to advise the Presi- 
dent and Fellows to accept the generous proposal of Miss Hovey,” by 
a vote of seventeen to seven. A long discussion ensued, which was 
concluded by the passage of a motion sixteen votes in the affirma- 
tive and ten in the negative proposed by the President: “ That in 
the opinion of the Board of Overseers it is expedient that, under suit- 
able restrictions, women be instructed by Harvard University in its: 
Medical School.” It is fair to infer from these two votes that, while 
the Overseers, who are supposed to give expression to the voice of the 
community in the government of the University, did not deem it wise 
or expedient to impose upon the Medical Faculty an obligation to which 
the majority of its members were opposed, they still remained uncon- 
vinced by the arguments adduced, and hoped to see in the future a 
more liberal spirit evinced by that body. 
The strongest arguments on the side of the Faculty in this agitation 
were, that the experiment of carrying out a system of education upon 
which they were embarked, radically differing from those hitherto pre- 
vailing in this country, was still in a problematical stage ; and, sec- 
ondly, that the cost of the experiment, including a guarantee fund to 
meet the possible reduction in the annual income from students, was 
put too low by the majority report. With regard to the first of these 
points, there is certainly room for difference of opinion. The system 
has been in operation for eight years ; under its operation the number 
of students, at first greatly reduced, has risen until it is now nearly as 
great as under the former system ; the aggregate of annual fees from 
students is greatly in excess of any hitherto received ; the Faculty 
has up to this time been unanimous in its assertion that success had STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
469 
been achieved ; the whole country is resounding with the praise of 
Harvard for having demonstrated the feasibility of that system which 
all had previously admitted to be the best, but for which they had 
unanimously predicted failure. The addition of a fourth year to the 
term of study, which is announced as in contemplation, is no integral 
part of the new system: it does not change the method of instruc- 
tion, it simply extends the amount of it. On the other hand, it is 
undoubtedly a measure which would tend to reduce the number of 
students, and therefore is entitled to weight in determining the future 
policy of the College. But it must be remembered that the majority 
report did not recommend the admission of women to the School 
until the completion of the new building of the Medical School, for 
which the Corporation has held the funds for several years. The 
promised elevation in the requirements of the preliminary and final 
examinations is a fresh indication of a laudable spirit of progress 
in the Faculty, but, being gradual in its application, would subject the 
School to no sudden strain in its operation. 
The disagreement as to the amount of money required to justify 
the adoption of the scheme was fair ground for further consideration, 
and, if need be, for compromise. It was well understood that the 
supporters of the movement would have found it difficult, if not im- 
possible, to have raised $200,000 to effect their cherished aim ; yet 
there is no reason to doubt that half that sum, or even more, would 
have been freely contributed. 
It has been alleged, editorially, in the columns of the Boston Med- 
ical and Surgical Journal, that the promoters of this movement 
are disingenuous in alleging as their motive for this application to 
Harvard, “ the total lack of means to obtain a proper medical education 
[for women] in this country.” The success of the various medical 
schools for women is pointed at in proof that “ abundant opportunity 
for a good medical education for women does exist in the country.” 
Undoubtedly, some of these schools do present opportunities for study 
equal, and perhaps superior, to the average schools for men; but the 
Harvard School stands pre-eminent for the thorough plan of its course 
of study, the rigor of its examinations, and the high standard of its 
requirements. If now women voluntarily seek for their sex such 
superior advantages for study and such severe tests of proficiency 
as there prevail, it is much to their credit, and not a fair subject for 
reproach. The question of the admission of women to the Harvard 
Medical School is not regarded in academic circles as definitely 470 
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BY WOMEN. 
settled, but will probably be left in abeyance until some public-spirited 
individual revives it by the offer of such a sum of money as will silence 
all opposition on this score. 
An independent movement in favor of female physicians was in- 
augurated in 1878 by the petition of the Middlesex South District 
Medical Society for the admission of female practitioners into the 
Massachusetts Medical Society, of which it is a section. The com- 
mittee appointed to consider and report upon the petition sent to 
the Fellows of the Society throughout the State a circular of inquiry 
as to their opinions. About 60 per cent replied ; of these about 72 
per cent were in favor of some sort of formal recognition of female 
practitioners by the Society, either by their admission to fellowship, 
or by a certified examination by the censors of the Society. There is 
every reason to believe that this ratio of 72 to 28 per cent fairly rep- 
resents the sentiment of the Society. The New York State Medical 
Society has already pledged itself to women’s interests by admitting 
several to its membership, and a similar step has, I believe, been 
taken by several of the other State societies. The American Medical 
Association in 1878 admitted three women to its membership, two of 
whom were graduates of the Woman’s Medical College of Penn- 
sylvania. 
What, in brief, are the inferences to be drawn from the above his- 
torical summary ? 
(1.) That there is a wide-spread and ever-growing movement in all 
parts of the world in favor of allowing women to study and practise 
medicine. 
(2.) That their claims for admission to the existing medical schools 
for men have in many instances been acceded to, even in countries like 
Germany, where there is no considerable number of applicants for the 
privilege. 
(3.) That nowhere, except in Zurich during the two years of Russian 
invasion, have the predicted social, moral, or educational calamities 
befallen the colleges or communities. The testimony as to these 
points is full, authoritative, and unequivocal. 
(4.) That the extent and force of the demand for the medical educa- 
tion of women in the several countries is in direct ratio to the general 
enlightenment of the people, finding its loudest expression in Eng- 
land, and notably in America. 
No observant person can fail to admit that all the larger cities of 
America contain many female practitioners, who, despite their general CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. 
471 
lack of attainments and proper qualifications for the profession of 
medicine, are on the average as well patronized as those of the other 
sex. We have reached that absurd stage and the sooner we recog- 
nize it the better —when the burning question is no longer, Shall 
women be allowed to practise medicine ? They are practising it, not 
by ones or twos, but by hundreds ; and the only problem now is, Shall 
we give them opportunities for studying medicine before they avail 
themselves of the already acquired right of practising it ? It is 
clearly the interest of the community to give to women the fullest 
instruction in accordance with the most approved systems and 
under the most eminent teachers ; and also that their proficiency 
should be tested by the most rigid ordeals before they finally receive 
certificates. By a recognition of these certificates, and their compar- 
ative values, the community would be able to protect itself from the 
impositions of ignorant or fraudulent pretenders to medical knowl- 
edge. James R. Chadwick, M.D. 
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. 
At the suggestion of friends, Captain Pierce tells us, this translation of 
the 1 is added to the many already published. The bold under- 
taking is worthy of a gallant officer, considering the fate of his predecessors. 
“ Dr. Brady attempted in blank verse,” an eminent critic has said, “ a trans- 
lation of the AEneid which, when dragged into the world, did not live long 
enough to cry, I have never seen it; but that such a version there is, or 
has been, perhaps some old catalogue informed me. With not much better 
success, Trapp attempted another blank version of the yEneid. His book 
may continue in existence as long as it is the clandestine refuge of school- 
boys.” The task has been undertaken before and since, in verse and in 
prose, by Englishmen and Americans, by great poets and by small politi- 
cians, with varying success; but Virgil still seems to attract translators 
almost as much as Homer. 
The present work is aversion of a kind “unattempted yet in prose or 
rhyme,” being neither the one nor the other; and may serve to justify the 
preference, which the authority already cited has given in another place, to 
poetical prose over prosaic verse, observing that a man may like brandy in 
his tea, though not tea in his brandy. And certainly it is well to abandon 
regular metre and rhyme, and give the spirit of the original in well-chosen 
I A Rhythmic-prose Translation of Virgil’s Aineid. By Henry Hubbard Pierce, 
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