The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-06-08
women a. Doetors.

think there is great deal Of ungener
Gus sentiment on the part Of men, 50 much
as to be astonishing and incomprehensi
Bile, considering the strong sense Of supe'
riority which exists in the male bosom
from the age OF two upward. 1t can not
be fear Of q new competitor, and yet it
looks like it. The doctors, most liberal
and highly cultivated profession, have
shown themselves in this particular not
more enlightened than the watch makers,
who have also resisted the entrance OF
women into their trade with violence;
though nobody can know better than
medical men how heavily weighted wo.
man is, how much more energy she must
require 70 carry her to actual success in q
profession, and how certain it Is accord
ingly, that only few exceptionally en-
dowed. individuals can ever enter into
those lists which are 30 fiercely guarded.
But WHY not let convenience and general
utility be the rule here "a in all other mat
tiers?
Every new piece OF machinery in the
manufacturing districts has been mobbed
and wrecked at lis first introduction, Just
az the female students would have been
on one occasion had the gentlemen OF the
profession had their way; but the ma
chine, if it is a good one, always triumphs
in the end. Ny own opinion is that the
advantage to women Of having q woman
doctor 10 refer to Is incalculabIe. To dis
cuss the peculiar ailments OF their mystic
rious frame with man is always trial
and pain 10 the young. Necessity hard
ems them as they go on in life, and preJu-
dice, and the idea that woman can not be
properly educated, or that by expressing
q preference for female doctor they are
exposing themselves TO be ridiculed as
supporters of women's rights, keeps many
. woman silent on the subject; but nature
herself surely may be allowed to bear tes;
timony on such point can not i'm
agine it TO be desirable in any way that
women should get over their sense OF per-
sonal delicacy even with their doctor.
But at all events the question whether
women should be doctors or not Is one, 1t
might be supposed, TO be argued quite dis
passionately.
They could not invade the profession
all at once in such numbers as 70 swamp
it, and as their opponents have always
Indignantly maintained their want OF
for its exercise, there can not
surely be doubt in their minds as TO the
failure OF the experiment and their own
eventual triumph. But here once more
the sentiment involved is greater injury
than the fact. Not only were the gates OF
knowledge barred. but the vilest insinus-
tons, utterly beyond possibility Of proof,
were launched against the few blameless
women who did nothing worse than ask
for the privilege Of studying for enlighten-
ed profession. One or more writers, sup-t
posedly English gentlemen, in q very
and influential paper, asserted
boldly that the women students in Edin-
burg and elsewhere desired TO study medi-
zine from prurient curiosity and the foul.
est Of motives. This was said in English
print in full daylight OF the nineteenth
and nobody, so far as | can re-
objected to it. The journalist
was not denounced by his brethren, and
public opinion took it quite coolly, as
hing it was no shame TO say.-Ars. Oh
Dhdnt, in FrGIcT'S Magazine.