Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-11-26
"rhe Suppressed Sex. ]"


tunities. We copy few passages:
Miss Mitchell is as good al
astronomer as any i'll America: and the
Z professor OF mathematics at Antioch,
woman, taught without book the mos
abstruse portions of her science with /
clearness which the hest male professor.
acknowledged could not be surpassed =
The writer has often lseen in the recita
ton rooms, AMI can testify that the girl.
4 in nowise were inferior, in their per
| formanees, to the young men ; and a
the Commencement the public essay:
read by the female graduates dealt with
subjects of general interest quite as ably
as the oratiens of the male graduates.
4 Indeed, the uniform testimony of thest
icoeducationalc colleges confirms that OF tlit
examiners at Cambridge, England, thal
if there has been any difference between
the examinations of the young men and
Young women. il has been in favor Of ltit
latter. ss
The undeniable facts reported from
Cambridge have compelled the oppon
ents of all such steps 10 shift theil
ground Forced to admit that women
can pursue, with equal success, the same
studies with men, they now say: Yes
but they are not proper studies for wo
man: they do not fit her for her true
sphere; and consequently they unseA
Iher." Now il must be admitted that il
would be strange anomaly in nature i
this were true. Women dailyssit at the
same table with men, and partake of the
same food nature has not provided one
4 kind of beef and mutton for women, and
another kind for men; and yet the same
meat and bread are converted by one
sex into woman, by the ather into man
iThetwo are not unsexed by breathing
the same air, or by the same sunshine
there is not female and male air Ol
sunshine; and yet one frame converts
these to long tresses, the other 10 long
boards. 1t would be strange indeed if
by the small mental diet, the same iatel
lectual sun and atmosphere, Somer
I, should be made too nIaseuliue or men
effeminate. The fact is, this is absolute
1y phantom. 1t ought to be at this
da te needless to affirm TO English peo-
pie that the broad culture aud profound
psychological penetration t0 George
Eliot, the severe scholarship of Elizabeth
Z Browning. the political insight oi Har-
I riet Martineau. and the science of Marie
I Mitchell, coexisf Eiih the utmost wo'
manly feeling and gelha,leDt tc
I We are not, however. disposed 70 syade,
but rather to rejoice in the fact, upon
I which is based much of the opposition
to the education of women in directions
] hitherto reserved for n-namely. that
4 il must tend 10 extend their occupations
to emplcyments hitherto omonopolizesi by
men. That there are occupations for
which men and women are. respectfully
endowed we have no doubt: as little do
we doubt that nature has in such cases
set barriers which. though they may be
overleaped by peculiar natures III long
intervals, neither seq can destroy. For
tuDately, however, we are not without
the means of knowing the directions in
which the larger education which some
women have managed to secure has
tended to widen their sphere OF employ
ment., The age in which we live has
prevailed against our hereditary theories,
and many women have gained strength
10 contend successfully with the preju
dices and sentinientalisms winch still
imprison majority of theif sex. j. i
remarkable how little of reactionary de
fiance has attended the movement OF
those who have thus been liberated
They have not only no! sought TO be sea
captains or military generals, but have
not even tried 10 become lawyers Or en-
bassadors. Politically they nave been
content TO demand the franchise; while
the only profession before nioAopoliZed
by men whiel they have invaded is that
of medicine.
The female physician IN aar .udg
ment, represents so well the healliiness
and the safety or the woman's rights
movement, thar we propose to devote
some portion of our present article TO re-
viewing the present relation Of that sex
TO the medical profesSjo't, and the ipsIe
recent steps by which it has been eeasi-
ed Before the female physician had
made her appearance il was cOnservat' sc
platitude that woman place was in tie
sick room. Conservative, however.
means that size, should lie there in tiie
capacity of Mrs. GFapip, and had no
idea that DR.. Elizabeth Black we'll was
disguised in the nurse who relieved Tie
physician ofthe more disagreeahle duties
of the sick room, without sharing Ills
fees. Nevertheless, so it was; whether
derived fraD, long experience, or natural
gift, or from both az :hesa, woman has
manifested a special incIi;,GtiGu ausi
ability for the study md practice af
medicine. At various times within the
pass two centuries there had appeared
women who gained eminence in special
o; medical knowledge; aud |
when seen in the lecture rooms of Ger |
many, Italy, or Fra!iaa through the /
mist of intervening generatioiis. they
seemed not formidable, but somewhat !
mpnsing figures. even To the eye oi
medical conservatism.