Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1856-01-18
Should Women Study Meiicine?
WHAT AuNTl BROWN THOUGHT ABOUT IL


study mediclue, aLd lecture on women :
rights, and against the Bible. | lshouldn'i
wonder to hear next THAI you &C come out
iafdei, and joined the free lovo people,
aud run off with somebody's husband"
Stop, stop, dear, good Aanty Brown,
don't excommunicate ME quite until you ve
heard my defence, Studying medicine
hasn't anything to do with free love, or
women's rights, or infdelity. Most OF the
ladies' who attended the medical lectures
last session were religious women, several
Of them were mcmbcrs of charches, one
was the wife of a Presbyterian minister,
aud one preparing to becoule missionary. -
Well, l suppose you mean 10 lecture! 2
"Certainly | DO. | only wish | had
commenced ten years ago, Instead Of teach
ing, which has nearly rnIned my health,
and which never was coaSeniai employ
mont."
Well, had hoped better things of
you How modest woman can stand up
aud lecture to people, do 10; see"
"Why, Aunty Blown, looi, at the
ITierds, some of their most efficient
preachers are rcmca; aud where will you
fad more modest women than they and
look at yourscIf, have heard you pray in
the midst of assembled hundreds, and y0u
lifted up your voice in real, hearty, earnest
prayer, and did NOT seem in the least
abashcd'
"Well, dill not think Of the people
my heart wcnt out to God in prayer, aud
l forgot the people
" Yet, at the same time, the fact that
so many hearts were Joined with yours,
was in itself an inspiration. And so, in
lecturing, is the presence Of the people
while the thoughts that thrill you kindle
them, and you are carried away ny your
own subject, unconscious how much you
owe to the sympathy Of the aa'iience."
Well, | suppose We shall hear Of you
in the women's rights convention, next
year"
alt may be; but | think not. Wo-
mems rights l am content to leave as | find
them. | believe it is woman right TO
lecture, aud | shall claim that right for
myself personally for the rest believe
that, On our country at least) whatever
woman is fitted for intellectually aud phys
ically, she will be able TO accomplish
without the flourish Of trumpetS or chal-
leugcs cf defiance she will be able to work
.her way quietly on, into whatever of in
tellectual life and freedom she is prepared
to make profitable use Of. This would
have been sooner and far moe etiectualiy
accomplished if the storming about 'wo-
mans rights had never commenced
"Well, l am glad you are not woman's
rights woman. But, as you are studying
medicine, suppose you help cut up dead
folks?"
"Dissect? o, yes, certainly. That Is
beautiful; just look at my case Of instru-
MtHls-iu iHcS fiG"y
81 don't want to lock at them it makes
me shudder to think Of it. How can you
do such things; it must make you very
unfeeing and hard hearted"
Yet [ conld not wiring the head OF
chicken, thing you eau do very COM
posedly. Nor could | stand by to see an
OK or hog slaughtered"
Well, there may be something In
habit but do you think it is right and
proper for ladies to dissect in company
with professors, and to be lcctured to by
men on the most delicate subjects p
Il think the grave and scientific dis
cussion of everything connected with the
human system Dot only proper, but III the
highest degree favorable to morality.
never felt more religious reverence In |
church than while listening to lectures. /.
Your bodies are temples of the HoIy
Ghost seemed to be solemnly embodied
in every description ef their mechanism /
We can not Ealse our aiuiS "''uOus s"S
action of hundred muscles. Truly, we
are fearfuly and wonderfully made, '"
OF course, Aunty Brown Was not to be
convinced. Her objections were about as
weichty as the most Of those brought
against woman leciurng or studying med
icirc l. is not long since an NJ. ID. ob- .
jccted to woman study ing medicine, on the
ground that the study of medicine leads .
to infdelity. A queer idea certainly, |
while he had his diploma safe in its tin box .
at home No, it is not science that leads I
to infdelity, but debased mind, bad .
heart, corrupt affections, feebleness Of Will,
Incidence, indifference, moral degradation. /
This is the condemnation, that light Is /
come into the world, aud men ioce dark
ness rather than light, and why! Because
their deeds arc evil This is the true Sc
cret of in.ileiity, let mcu disguise 1t as
they may, with pompouS pretense Of as
! /