The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-05-18
FEMALE PHYSICIANS.

In London, few weeks ago, new college wae
formally opened for the instruction Of women in
the science and practice Of medicine. Mrs. DR..
Garrett Anderson, one Of the members Of the
First London School Board formed under the
present law, was present. and the Chairman,
Mr.. Forsythe, stated that eighteen female stu
is the member of the English House of Com
mons who but the other day introduced a bill
giving the right of suffrage to women upon the
same terms and qualifications as those upon
which it is held by males.
His bill was rejected by the narrow majority Of
thirty weight, Disraei, the Premier, voting with
the minority, and John Bright, for the first time
In his lfe against the proposed concession. 1t is
probable that the women Of England, as body,
desire the ballot. Upon the other hand, when
they are still and for centuries have been en-
titled to vote in minor parochial matters, it seems
somewhat illogical to withhold their right to q
voice in the selection OF members OF Parliament
Be it expedient to grant or deny this privilege
az it may, it is certain that the renewed agitation
of this question is proof positive OF that social
restlessness which perceives errors and flaws IN
it's economy, for the correction OF which no ade-
quate method has yet been devised Politics
aside, however, there can be no valid objection to
the admission OF women into the ranks OF the
doctors. Contrary to the ideas generally enter
tanned, the idea is no novelty. It was in the
school Of medicine OF Alexandria that Herophl-
lus first taught the true principles Of obstet-
RIGS upon ANYTHING even approaching s,;o to
and best pupil was the woman Agro-
dicea, duly licensed to practice, and whose
reputation exceeded that of her teachers. In the
beginning Of the twelfth century st: Hldegarde,
the Abbess Of Rupertsberg, near that Bingen
on the Rhine" Of which Mrs. Norton has written
with such exquisite spirit and sweetness, was re-
garded as one Of the ablest physicians in Europe.
It is true that the best medical science of the age
school Of Avicenna and his successors; but the
Nunnery Of Rupertsberg, simple as were the
remedies applied, was the great school Of Ger
many, and it's renown spread far and wide.
Throughout all the middle ages, during the
whole dominion of chivalry, the noblest women
were taught the elements OF both medicine and
surgery as diligently as they were instructed in
the use of the needle and the art of embroidery.
Instances of their skill scattered through the
pages of Froissart, and adorn both the prose and
verse of Sir Walter scott. In one branch OF the
profession, that of obstetrics, from the Gays Of
Moses until the last century, women were almost
exclusively employed. and there is reason to be.
ieve that death in childbirth, or from its conse-
quences, is more frequent now than it was two
hundred years ago.
This OF course, is not necessarily the result OF
the change from female to male attendance, but
still the fact remains that for many hundreds OF
years, women, in the hour of their supreme
agony, were content to be miDstered to by their
own sex, and thai their father, and brothers,
and husbands, and the medical profession itself
was willing to hove it 80. AS nurses, women
have been ever the best. the most careful and
the most scrupulously attentive.
When st. Vincent de Paul founded the Order
Of the Sisters of Mercy for the care Of the sick,
he was aided both IN money and counsel by
Madame LIE Gras, andi Madame LIE Gras has, in
fact, been the originator Of the tisterhoods that
combine with tenderness in nursing degree oil
knowledge to the healing art but rar. possessed
by young practitioners. Woman seems thus, by
the tried experience of ages, to have proved her
self fitted for the duties OF physician, and The
career of the graduates of the new college in
London will be watched with the greatest inter-
est by every one anxious to find new and appro-
pirate avenues of employment for the weaker,
but the better, sex.
In three countries of Europe Sweden, France
and England-the three greatest noveliats are
women, and Sophie Swartz, Marian Evans and
George Sand are representatives., not merely of
the creative powers Of Imagination, but of that
discipl ned method so highly CHARACTERISTIC OF
the strongest masculine intellects Of the period.
While women like these live and write-while
Mrs. Garrett Anderson not only carries on an ex-
tensive practice, but is also leading spirit and
practical wol ker in all the philanthropical and
educational labors of the largest city in the
world-it is most certainly harsh to say the least
OF it, that any attempt should be made to exclude
women generally from duly licensed and scien-
tifcally taught labor in that field which, from 80
many points Of view, seems peculiarly their own.
Cincinnati Commercial.