The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-03-12
CARLYLE ON WOMEN DOCTORS.


The toloHlng hlgbly CHARACTERISTIC
letter, which has never previously been
published. was sent by the late Mr..
Thomas Carlyle to a medical student
who vas a prominent supporter of his
candidature for the Lord Rectorship of
Edinburgh UniveritY, and who request
ed him to express his opinion on the
woman question generally, and espe-
eially in regard to the entrance of wom-
en- into the medical profession:
No. 8 Cheyne Roy, Chelsea,
February 9, 1871.
Dear Sir-It is with reluctance that
| write anything to you on this subject
Of female emancipation, which is now
rising to such a height, and i do it all
on the strict condition that whatever /
say shall be private, and nothing of it
get into the newspapers. The truth is
the topic of fye-and twenty years past,
especially for the last three or four. has
been mere sorrow to me-on Of the
most affecting proofs of the miserable
anarchy that prevails in human society,
and | have avoided thinking of it, ex-
cept when fairly compelled. What lit
tie has become clear to me on it | shall
now endeavor to tell you.
In the first place, then, l have never
doubted but the true and noble function
of a m in this world was, is and
forever will be, that of being a wife
and helpmate to a worthy man; and dis
charging well the duties that devolve on
her in consequence, AS mother of chill
dren and mistress OF a household-du-
ties high, noble, silently important as
any that can fall to a human creature;
duties which, if we'll discharged, consti-
tute woman in a soft, beautiful and
almost sacred way-the queen of the
world; and which, by her natural facul-
ties, graces, strengths and weaknesses,
are in every way indicated as specially
hers. The true destiny of woman,
therefore, is to wed a man she can love
and esteem, and to lead noislessly under
his protection, with all the wisdom,
grace and heroism that is in her, the
life prescribed in consequence.
1t seems, furthermore, inGubitable
that II a woman miss this destiny OF
have renounced it, she has every right,
before God and man, to take up what
aver honest employment she a find
open to her in the world. Probably
there are several or many employments
10Y exclusively in the hands Of men
for which women might be more or less
ft-printing, tailoring, weaving, clerk
ing, etc. That medicine is iDtrinsically
not unfit for them is proved from the
fact that in much more sound and ear
nest ages than ours, before the medical
profession rose into being, they were
virtually the physicians and surgeons,
rs well as sick nurses-all that the
world had. Their form of intellect.
their sympathy, their wonderful acute
ness Of observation, etc., seem to indi-
cate in them peculiar qualities for deal
ing with diseases, and evidently in
certain departments THAT of female
diseases) they have quite peculiar
opportunities Of being useful. My
answer to your question, then, may be
that two things are not doubtful to me
in this matter.
First-That women-any woman
who deliberately so determines
have a right to study medicine, and that
it might be profitable and serviceable to
have facilities or at least possibilities
offered them for so doing. But
Second-That, for obvious reasons,
female students of medicine ought to
have, if possible, female teachers, or else.
an extremely select kind of men. And,
in particular, that to have young wom-
en- present among young men in anat-
omical classes, clinical lectures or gener-
ally studying medicine in concert, is an
incongruity of the first magnitude and
shocking to think Of to every pure and
modest mind.
This is all 1 have to say, and l send
it to you under the condition above
mentioned, as a friend for the use Of
friends. Yours sincerely,
I. CARLYLE.