Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-12-01
General 8ntelIiQence.
sHtII WOMEN BE DoCToRss


The True story OF How the Medical
Students Hooted the Ladies, from
an Eye witness.
Philadelphia Nov. q. Correspondence New York
The lecture room of the old Pennsylvania
Hospital was the scene of novel exhibition
on Saturday morning last. The managers,
having opened the doors for the admission
of female medical students to the clinical
lectures delivered there, had the pleasure
of seeing, for the frrt time in the history
of the institution, about thirty students
from the Women's Medical College seated
in the little theatre where the ''clinica" are
held. Three or four hundred male STU
dents from the other medical colleges of
the CITY were likewise present, as it wrs
the regular lecture morning. From one of
the upper benches observed that the cir
cular form of the apartment and the rising
tiers of seats placed the women IN full
view as they sat in body on one side.
Two or three of the managers, members
of the Society of Friends, were seated on
the little stage availing the en-
trance of the lecturer. They were t'weighty"
Friends, a sort of moral Doric column,
with solidity of person, and mild massive
ness of countenance which betokened that
they were not to be diverted from a pur
pose by trifes. They were dressed in
black, and wore their broad-brinmed hats,
and in the few impatient minutes before the
lecture attracted more attention than the
novices themselves. Presently the cry of
chat, hat" was raised by a few students,
and soon q hundred voices took it up. They
decidedly wished the elderly gentlemen to
be uncovered; but it is known that Friends
decline to remove their hats in public as
l. ba1r fort
This harmless custom, originating in an
hour of democratic purity and religious
protest, has the sanction of two hundred
years-as all events, is h1storlcal-and
might have passed over had these young
men been better read or better bred. But
they kept up the cry while solemnly and 81
lently the managers sat, not in the least dis
concerted by the clamor Presently one of
them arose, and was about to pass through
a door opening from the platform to an in
ner apartment. The shouts were renewed;
and, as though patience were no longer
virtue, the Manager turned and faced the
assembly. There was nothing brow-beat-
ing In his look, nothing cholerlc IN his
visage, nothing fiery in his glance. 1t was
q calm. reprovlng eye with which this d1scl-
pie of Penn regarded the students, but 1t
was not crowned with the success that at
tended his great exemplar. They would
not smoke the pipe of peace, but still
screamed .'Hat, hat. The entrance OF the
lecturer at this point diverted attention and
imposed silence. During the first hour
medical cases were lectured upon solely,
and the interest of the subject made the So
cial question quite subordinate. Malaris,
sun-stroke and dropsy, illustrated by their
victims, claimed the general ear. Then fol-
lowed the surgeons hour, in which he had
to do with the brain Of murdered man.
With skiliful alacrity, the dissection was
completed, showing by the clot of blood,
and the lack of disease, that death had
been by violence. The lady students were
then edited by sight of the p1neal gland,
the alleged seat of the soul The remains
of the cerebral organ being dismissed, the
assistants brought forward man with
broken thigh. This was particularly IN
teresting and melancholy case; for the frac-
tured bone had refused to unite. The poor
fellow was placed recumbent on the revolv-
ing couch, and the young doctors proceed |
ed to pull off his boots. At this, a quick,
low standing, like growl of dissent, ran
round the benches. But F'Off, of, ye lend
ings," was the rule, and speedily the natu-
raj, unsartorlal man lay before Us. The
doctor had, however, prepared blanket
for the nonce, with which the patient was
draped But in this chamber the surgeon
means business; and, at times. the decor
Gus conventions must shrivel up before the
needs of science and humanity. In this
case, while measuring the fractured limb,
there was a momentary exposure, which
proved the signal for an explo-
sion among the students mock applause,
clapping, stamping, and shouts of laugh
ter, mingled with hisses and jeers, in one
wild uproar The eyes of half the audience
were on the lady students, who sat calm
and unruffied under this brutal treatment,
their looks riveted on the lecturer, as If
utterly oblivious of aught else that was
transpiring. After this shameful evidence
of low breeding on the part OF the students,
it was not surprising that when the classes
were dismissed n number of them were
ready to heap indignities upon the ladies
as they passed out. &c. crowding the side
walks, they compelled them to take the
cartway as they crossed the hospital
grounds, and were unsparing in their jeers
and derisive applause. Whether mixed
classes at clinical lectures are desirable may
be questioned, they may be embarrassing
to the lecturer and impair his thorough
ness; but this doubts no mitigation of the
disgraceful and unmanly conduct of the
male students, which thoroughly deserves
nyn0S1Irp