The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-08-24


residents in our large hospitals
and as practicing physicians in
civil life.
The old prejudice about women
doctors is rapidly going the way of
most of our prejudices-to obliv-
ion. 1t wasn't very long ago that
when a girl decided to study me-
dicine the family and friends re-
garded it as a kind Of disgrace.
Those days are gone and for
several reasons. In the first place,
in a class of medical students the
hen medic" as she has been pref
ty generally known from time i'm
memorial, now meets a far higher
character of male companions than
the roughnecks of a few decades
ago. She is treated in all the
medical classes with which | am
acquainted with the respect land
courtesy due her position. The
medical course is now so long that
the age Of the students is older and
about quarter to half the class
is married, so the "hen medic"
finds herself in a social group that
is half feminine.
The increase in women medical
students of late is marked. In the
senior class of the medical school
where ! teach there are six women
out of a total class Of 10. Twenty
years ago one would have stood out
and probably have been the butt
of not too gentle jokes, but that is
all over.
81 At Bellevue
According TO TABS very in
teresting account, there are 81
women internes this year out of a
total Of 244 at Bellevue Hospital,
New York. Bellevue pays them SIS
month, plus room, food and
laundry. This is a small salary
comparatively, but Bellevue can
afford to pay small salary on ac-
count of the prestige attached to
it with its very large number of
patients and excellent teaching
staff. ! know many hospitals not
quite so we'll known or as large,
but where the experience is ex-
cellent, where the woman doctor
gets $50 to s75 during her inferno
year and $3.50 during the advanced
wear Of residancv
As TO the capabilities of the
woman doctor, so far as my ex-
perience goes, they are up to and
often beyond the average man
medical student. They have Sc
lected the career because they are
vitality interested in it, because it
is true call or vocation, and that,
added even to average intelligence,
makes for a more than average
student.
During the next few years the
woman medico will come into her
own. The Army and Navy have
made most generous offers to
medical students. They are prac-
tically all Of draft age. of course,
but they are allowed to complete
their course and also complete one
year Of hospital interneship be-
fore they enter service (Which
they do with the rank Of First
Lieutenant). But the year or two
of residency which follows the in
terne year is closed to them for the
emergency, and here the woman
doctor has the greatest chance of
all time A dozen HOSPITALS known
to me are clamoring for residents.
The full-fedged woman doctor
is especially qualified to practice
gynecology, obstetrics, diseases Of
children. eye and ear disease, but
these fields do not limit her pow
ers. Several hospitals in the coun-
try are entirely stated by women
and all the surgery is done by
them.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
+. L.: Will a lack of water
tfthtAdA4s FAUST lilildHluldllOn VI
the kidney? drink less than half
a glass Of water day, preferring
to substitute when thirsty coffee,
tea, cola water and fruit juices. |
realize all Of them contain water,
but have no way Of gauging the
amount.
Answer: II anyone is really
suffering from lack Of water it
does harm many places before its
hits the kidneys. 1t makes no diff
ferences where the body gets its
water-from coffee, fruit juices or
where. You can safely turn the
gauging of the amount Of water
you drink over to Nature. No SEN
sation Of the body is such a deli
cate indicator Of what is needed
SLa.~k