{From the Philadelphia Medical < nd Surgical Reporter.) 
WOMEN AS PHYSICIANS 
Fn a recent discuss ion before the Philadelphia Count1/ Medical Society, upon the Status of 
Women Practitioners of Medicine, the following Preamble and Resolutions were 
adopted: 
Looking to the usefulness and dignity of the 
profession, which are inseparably connected with 
the welfare of the community, we are not with- 
out very grave objections to women taking on 
themselves the heavy duties and responsibilities 
of the practice of medicine. Their success in 
the walks of general literature, and even in some 
instances of science, which allow them a choice 
of time and season for intellectual labor, cannot 
be adduced as arguments in favor of their ability 
tu bear up under the bodily and mental strain 
to which they would be unceasingly subjected 
in this new vocation. The physiological pecu- 
liarities of woman even in single life, and the 
disorders consequent on them, cannot fail fre- 
quently to interfere with the regular discharge 
of her duties as physician in constant attend- 
ance on the sick. How much greater must be 
the interruption to her duties if she enters the 
marriage state, and becomes a mother and 
nurse. The delicate organization and pre- 
dominance of the nervous system render her 
peculiarly susceptible to suffer, if not to sink, 
under the fatigue and the mental shocks which 
she must encounter in her professional round. 
Man, with his robust frame and trained self- 
command, is often barely equal to the task. 
The home influence of woman is one of the 
greatest benefits growing out of Christian 
civilization. More especially is this manifest 
when we look at her as the head of the house- 
hold, a helpmate to her husband, and the 
confidante, guide, instructor, and loving friend 
of her children, whose future happiness and 
respectability so much depend on her tuition 
and example. What would be the state of 
the household, what the present condition 
and future prospects of the children, de- 
prived to a considerable extent of their natural 
guardian, who would be engaged all day, and 
not secure against calls in the night, in the 
service of the sick? Nor when at home, can 
the mother, worried and fretted and anxious 
about her patients, give healthy milk to her 
infant, or be in a fit frame of mind to inter- 
change endearments with her beloved little 
ones, to receive their confidences and offer 
advice. 
Once embarked in the practice of medic mo, a 
female physician will not long confine herself 
to attendance on persons of her own sex. 
Curiosity, caprice, the novelty of the thing, 
would induce some men to ask the professional 
advice of a woman doctor. It is sufficient to 
allude merely to the embarrassments which 
would be encountered on both sides, in her 
visiting and prescribing for persons of the 
opposite sex. If her services be restricted to 
the female portion of the family, then must 
there be a male physician to attend on the 
males, and thus there will be constantly two 
physicians in the regular service of a family, 
with all the chances of counter-prescriptions 
and advice, and breach of ethics, misunderstand- 
ings and heartburnings, by each one passing 
the lines of the other. If a female physician be 
once received in full standing, and professional 
intercourse by consultation or at other times 
with a physician of our sex be allowed, the 
greatest latitude will be taken and given in the 
statement of the case of disease, whatever it 
may be, its symptoms and causes, and questions 
of treatment therapeutical and psychical. Will 
woman gain by ceasing to blush while discussing 
every topic as it comes up with philosophic 
coolness, and man be improved in the delicate 
reserve with which he is accustomed to address 
women in the sick room? The bounds of 
modesty once passed in this professional inter- 
course, will the additional freedom of speech 
and manner thus acquired, impart grace or 
dignity to a woman in her new character ? Could women be induced to see the true line 
of duty in relation to medical study, it would 
be to learn preventive medicine and acquire a 
suitable knowledge of physiology and hygiene, 
so as to be able to preserve their own health 
and that of their children, and to inculcate on 
the latter the close connection between the 
physical and mental well being of our nature. 
The held is large, and its cultivation would 
richly repay the laborers in it. 
In no other country than our own, is a body 
of women authorized to engage in the general 
practice of medicine. The specialty of mid- 
wifery practice in France is hedged in by regula- 
tions which call for the assistance of medical 
men in any case of difficulty or doubt. 
Moved by these considerations, be it there- 
fore 
Resolved, That, in conformity with what 
they believe to he due to the profession, the com- 
munity in general and the female portion of it 
in particular, the members of this Society cannot 
offer any encouragement to women becoming 
practitioners of medicine, nor, on these grounds, 
can they consent to meet in consultation such 
practitioners. 
REPLY. 
The following communication appeared in the i{Medical and Surgical Reporter r' of 
May 4dh, 1867: 
Editor Medical and Surgical Reporter: 
I Have read with surprise the preamble and 
resolution adopted by the Philadelphia County 
Medical Society, and published in the Medical 
and Surgical Reporter of the 6th ult., in 
reference to the status of women-physicians; 
and as a subscriber to the Reporter, and one 
personally interested in the bearing of that de- 
cision, I trust I may be permitted, through the 
same channel, to examine the arguments which 
support the resolution. 
Although shrinking from all controversy, and 
seeking the quiet path of duty, the time has 
come when fidelity to a great cause seems to 
demand that I should speak for myself and for 
the women with whom I am associated in this 
movement, and give a reason for the course we 
are pursuing. 
The "very grave objections to women taking 
on themselves the heavy duties and responsi- 
bilities of the profession ” appear to be based, 
in the first place, upon the assumption that they 
do not possess the “ability to bear up under 
the bodily and mental strain to which they 
would be unceasingly subjected in this new vo- 
cation;” in the second, upon the presumed in- 
compatibility of professional practice with the 
best home, influence of the woman and the du- 
ties of the mother; in the third place, upon the 
••.oTision and practical difficulties that might 
if ” Ament members of the same family 
should employ two physicians—a man and a 
woman; and lastly, the objections are made 
upon the ground of the equivocal effect of me- 
dical consultations upon the modesty and deli- 
cacy of feeling of those who may thus meet : 
and also upon the fact, that “ in no other coun- 
try but our own is a body of women authorized 
to engage in the general practice of medicine,” 
In regard to the first difficulty, few words 
need be expended. Pausing merely to allude 
to the fact, that in barbarous communities wo- 
man is pre-eminently the laborious drudge, and 
that in civilized society she is the nurse, keep- 
ing her unceasing vigils, not only by the cradle 
of infancy, but by every bed of sickness and suf- 
fering, with a power of sustained endurance that 
man does not even claim to possess; that her 
life is as long, and her power of surmounting its 
painful vicissitudes not inferior to his, we come 
to the open, undeniable fact, that women do 
practice medicine, that they are able “to bear 
up under the bodily and mental strain” that 
this practice imposes, and that “ natural obsta- 
cles” have not obstructed their way. 
There are in this city women who have been 
engaged in the practice of medicine a dozen 
years, who to-day have more vigor and power 
of endurance than they possessed in the begin- 
ning of their career; and the fact of “their deli,- 
cate organization and predominance of the ner- 
vous system,” combined with their “trained self-command,” is the very reason that, in some 
cases, their counsel has been preferred to that of 
the more robust man. 
The second objection, bearing upon the home 
influence of woman, has certainly another side. 
Probably more than half the women of this 
city and country are under the stern necessity 
of supporting themselves by their own exer- 
tions. Some mothers leave their young chil- 
dren day by day and go out to labor, in order 
to be able to bring them bread at night; others 
sew away their strength for the pittance which 
barely keeps famine from their doors, and. ex- 
hausted with their labors, they are indeed not 
in “ a fit frame of mind to interchange endear- 
ments with their beloved little ones;” nor can 
they, even with the price of life itself, surround 
them with the home influences and comforts 
needful to their healthful and harmonious de- 
velopment. 
If the woman who has studied medicine 
should be surrounded by a family of young 
children, we should surely regard it as a mis- 
fortune if the same overpowering necessity 
should compel her to follow an active practice 
during the period that these heavy maternal 
claims were pressing upon her; although even 
then, her duties would be less exhausting, and 
her time less continuously occupied than are 
hers who supports her family oy sewing or 
washing. 
But although the mother may not actively 
exercise her profession, the knowledge of pre- 
ventive medicine which she possesses will sure- 
ly aid her in training her children in accordance 
with those hygienic rules which are now so 
sadly neglected in families, and will not detract 
from that pure, sweet, “home influence” which 
is the safeguard of the happiness and integrity 
of society. 
We know of quite a number of medical wo- 
men, who, in consequence of the remunerations 
of their practice, have been able to make them- 
selves the centres of happy homes, which other- 
wise they could not have done; and some of 
these, in their thanksgivings for the daily inte- 
rests and enjoyments of their lives, count it 
among their deepest blessings that they have 
been enabled to pursue a course which so richly 
satisfies their womanly sympathies and affec- 
tions, as well as gives scope to their intellectual 
cravings and powers. 
The third objection, in regard to collisions and 
“heart-burnings,” could scarcely apply to high- 
toned physicians who know what belongs to 
the proprieties of their position. The danger 
would seem to be equally imminent if the me- 
dical advisers were both of the same sex, and 
yet we all know it is quite common in this city 
for more than one practitioner to attend the 
different members of the same family one 
• being preferred for his supposed skill in one 
class of cases, another for his superior reputa- 
tion in another class; and we have yet to learn 
that injurious results follow this proximity of 
practitioners. 
The natural tendency would seem to be, to 
foster care and research; and if mutual obser- 
vation of the results of treatment should occa- 
s.r>nally suggest improved methods to either 
party, and break up old, sluggish routine, the 
profession and the community will surely be 
gainers by this mutual stimulus. 
The objection upon the ground of the inva- 
sion of delicacy in examining questions of dis- 
ease and treatment is indeed an astonishing one, 
to come from a body of scientific and right- 
minded physicians. Who are the patients treat- 
ed by these men? Often women—the sensi- 
tive and refined. The whole nature of the 
malady must be investigated and the means of 
recovery enforced. If, as frequently happens, 
to save the shrinking sensitiveness of the 
young woman, some tender, experienced mother 
or elder friend informs the physician of the 
symptoms and conveys to the patient his con- 
clusions, she, for the time, performs the part 
of the attending physician in reference to the 
consulting one; yet who will dare assert that 
her womanly modesty is compromised, or that 
“the delicate reserve with which” a man “is 
accustomed to address woman in the sick-room ” 
is injuriously affected by this necessary and hu 
mane intervention? 
Among the motives which have contributed 
to the support of this movement, that of shield- 
ing the sensibilities of shrinking women has 
not ben the least. Men opposed to the medi- 
cal education of women have, in some cases, 
changed their views when the subject has been 
brought home to their feelings in the person of 
some beloved member of their own families, 
and they have appreciated the mental suffering 
which the dread of medical investigation has 
caused. Physicians, too,—the father, husband, 
and brother,—have asked our counsel in the 
cases of those dearest to them; and they have 
asked it because we are women, and as such, 
they believed we might elicit the cause of suf- 
fering, and apply the means of relief, as they 
had not been successful in doing. 
But leaving these special points, there are 
broad, general grounds upon which, as physi- 
cians and as women, we stand, and appeal from 
the resolution of the Philadelphia County So- 
ciety to the better judgment of true-hearted 
professional men. 
When once it is admitted that women have 
souls, and that they accountable to God for 
the uses of the powers which He has given 
them, then the exercise of their own judgment 
and conscience in reference to these uses, be- 
comes a thing which they cannot, rightfully, 
yield to any human tribunal. 
As responsible beings, who must abide by 
the consequences of our course for time and for 
eternity, we have decided for ourselves thac 
study and practice of medicine nrc manly, and adapted to our menta moral, and i 
physical constitution. 
We shall scarcely be charged with presump- 
tion in supposing that our instincts may be 
as pure, our intuitions as clear, our sense o1 
what is right and fitting for ourselves as re- 
liable, as are those of the men who condemn our 
course. 
We are sustained by the approval and sym- 
pathy of the best men and women,—by the 
moral sentiment of the general community. 
We feel, and society feels, that we are not I 
usurping the place of men, but taking a posi- 
tion in the broad field of medicine which appro- 
priately belongs to women; and that we shall 
enlarge the sphere of professional usefulness, 
and contribute to the knowledge -which shall 
bless the race. 
The names of those who support our Hospi- j 
tal and College are largely the names of those of , 
whom Philadelphia is justly proud, as repre- 
sentatives of her intelligence, respectability, | 
and moral worth. 
That we have not had the facilities for ac- 1 
quinng medical information is a charge that, it 
seems to us, should hardly come from those who I 
have systematically closed hospitals and colle- 
ges against our applications for admission, and 
wTho have endeavored to prevent the members 
of the* fraternity from assisting us in our 
struggle for knowledge. 
That we have stemmed this tide of opposi- 
tion, and found opportunities for obtaining me- 
dical instruction—some in other cities and 
across the ocean, some by persevering and long- 
continued efforts in various ways at home; that 
we have found noble men in the profession to 
assist us, and that we have been able to found 
hospitals and open various channels-for practi- 
cal education, is due to the inherent vitality of 
our cause, and its strong hold upon the sympa- 
thies and convictions of the community. 
That wre have not yet all the facilities for in- 
struction that are needed, we are fully aware. 
That “there are female graduates who are a 
disgrace to the medical profession,” we also 
know too well; for the sake of humanity we 
would that we could truly add, that the gradu- 
ates who disgrace the profession are found only 
among women! 
From the nature of the relation of physicians 
to society, not more than one man in hundreds 
follows medicine as a profession, and the pro- 
portion of women, under the most favoring 
circumstances, will probably not be greater; 
but the systematic training, and the knowledge 
of physiological functions and hygienic condi- 
tions involved in a thorough medical education 
for the few, will, we believe, be reflected in 
many homes, and be one of the means of radi- 
cally changing that mistaken plan of education, 
and those destructive social customs and habits, 
which are now undermining the health, and 
darkening the lives of so many of the women 
of this country. 
If it be true that “ in no other country but 
our own is a body of women authorized to en- 
gage in the general practice of medicine,” the 
fact is no more an argument against its propri- 
ety than is the fact that in no other country 
are the rights of the people so acknowledged 
and secured, an argument against the propriety 
of republican institutions. 
We regard this movement as belonging to 
the advancing civilization of the age—as the 
inevitable result of that progressive spirit 
which is unfolding human capabilities in many 
directions, and which has perceived that it is 
the condition of the highest health and happi- 
ness for woman, that she, also, should exercise 
the powers with which she has been endowed 
in accordance with her own convictions and 
feelings, and in harmony with her nature and 
organization. 
That our position is womanly—that this 
work is established in the fitness of things and 
in the necessities of society, and that the move- 
ment belongs to the “revolutions which never 
go backward,” we have no shadow of doubt. 
For us it is the post of restful duty—the 
place assigned to us, as ive believe, in the or- 
der of Providence, and we can do no other than 
maintain it. 
But on behalf of a little band of true-hearted 
young women who are just entering the pro- 
fession, and from whose pathway we fain would 
see impediments and annoyances removed, wre 
must protest, in the sacred name of our common 
humanity, against the injustice which places 
difficulties in our way,—not because we are ig- 
norant, or pretentious, or incompetent, or un- 
mindful of the code of medical or Christian 
ethics, but because we are women. 
Ann Preston, M. D. 
Philadelphia, April 22, 1867.