Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1880-02-26
Women as Physicians.

Women as Physicians.
In an article in tho International Re-
vtew, DR.. Chadwick makes the just obscr-
vation that the question is no longer, Shall
women be allowed to practice medicine?
They are practioiug it not by ones aud twos,
but hundreds; and the only problem now is,
Shall we give them opportunities for study
ing medicine before they avail themselves
of the already acquired right Of practicing
it? 1t is clearly the interest of the oom-
munity to give to women the fullest in
struetion, in accordance with tho most i'm
proved syslems, and under the most eminent
toachers; aud also that their proficiency
should bu tested by the most rigid ordeals
before they Gually receive certificates. By
recognition Of these certificates aud their
comparative values, tho community would
be able to protect itself from the i'm positions
of ignorant or fraudulent pretenders to
medical knowledge.
In this connection it will be interesting
to notice tho remarkable medical missionary
work going on in China, and tho skill of an
American young lady physician, Miss L.
A. Howard, who has lately had the good
fortune of restoring to health the wife OF the
great Governor General Lib I ag-chong,
who entertained General Grant so hand
somcly. Rev. D. u. Sheffield, of Tang
cho, North China, writes as follows to the
Missionary Heralas
"Recent letters from missionaries in
North China give intensely interesting
accounts of the sudden providential inau.
:guration of medical missionary work in
Tientsin, on g,and scale, md under very
remarkable auspices. The importance of
advance movement can hardly bo overcsti
mated, and it is not much to bo hoped that
it will give new impetus to every depart
mont of missionary effort"
Rev. A. H. Smith, of Ticntsiu, writes as
follows: "Dr. Mackenzie, a medical mis-
sonary of the London Mission, was trans.
terrcd to this city las: spring, with Wow
to opening ali extensive medical work here,
which has never yet been done. A petition
was presented to His ExcelIcncy the Go
vernon General Of the province, Lii hung
chang, tho most influential man in China.
asking his corporation. Owing, perhaps,
to the arrival of General Grant and the
ensuing excitement no reply was made A
few weeks since tho wifo Of His Exccllcncy,
long on invalid, was SO low that native
physicians gavo her up after administering
all tho most expensive drugs in the Chinese
pharmacopnia, and, as they told the Go
vernon General, know nothing else to do
unless to begin and give them all over
again! In this emergency two foreign
physicians were summoned, who saved
Madame Lis life. AS Chinese prejudice
torbids much that occidental civilization
allows, it was necessary to complete cure
to summon lady physician, which was
dono with assent Of Ills Exoellenoy tho
Governor General.
"Misa L. A. Howard, of the American
Methodist Mission, arrived here early in
August, and took up her quarters in
suite OF three rooms near to Lady Ii in the
yameh, or Official residence. Missionaries
have occasionally been in tho yamen of
vlceroys before, but it has generally been
either in the capacity of bcggars or as
prisoners, never as physicians in charge.
Miss DR.. Howard has lived in tho yamen
about three weeks, md Madame Ii is SO
far recovered as to be considered we'll.
The fame of foreign medicine has gone
abroad with the highest indorsemcnt. The
foreign physicians operated in certain
surgical cases in the yamen, and the pa
tients made successful recovery. AS
native doctors know nothing of surgery this
is looked upon as wonderful art. The
Governor General has not formerly granted
tho petition referred to, but no has opened
dispensary in the largest temple in Tient--
sin, 10 that portion Of it used as memorial
temple to his predecessor, the lato Tseng.
kuo.tan. The medicines are furnished by
tho Governor General, and the missionary
physician in charge has full liberty
to preach the Gospel to every pa.
ticnt. A few weeks ago such an ovent
would have been considered utterly impro.
bable, its consequences eau hardly bo fore
seen. Lii hung-ohang is the statesman
who last year remarked, during tho famine
relief, that thero must bo something in
religion which induces men to lay down
their lives for total Strangers of different
patton. Little by little tho great wall of
Chinese prejudice is falling in pieoes AS
It falls Christianity enters"