Had that absurd notion outlived its opposition, hundreds and thousands of the world's female population who now live in health to testify to its folly, would still have been "doomed to tread with weary step life's barren waste, where no beautiful oases-green with verdure or blooming with flowers had adorned the deserts of their lives; where no evergreen glades or shady bowers, with notes of prattle upon the balmy breeze, had rested their weary forms or cheered their aching breasts; where no silvery rills, nor pebbled brooks, nor purling streams had danced in the sunset's mellow gleams, to cheer them on their lonely way. To them the charms and endearments of domestic bliss, and the fond imaginings of a mother's endearing love had never, never come, only in fleeting and ever changing visions, that vanish on the waking of the dawn." (Battson.)

Those who imagine that women are of little moment in the conduct of the world's advancement, should remember that they have in all periods of the world's history, been first to stanch the tottering fabrics of morality and religion; and that to-day their hands are the first to drag from the depths of degradation and ruin, the helpless inebriate, and the fallen of their own sex; they are the first to brave the dangers of the storm-tossed ocean, the scorching sands of the desert, the pathless wilderness-leaving behind them the comforts and endearments of home and civilization, they throng to their self-immolation, that the benighted denizens of the earth's remotest verge, may find eternal life. In the camp, in the hospital, on the gory battle-field, they hold the cup to the parched lips, soothe the aching brow, and with their tender presence, yield the sunlight which raises thousands from the couch of despair, or smooths the rugged pathway for those who had before known no hope. In a word, their usefulness in the hour of suffering, danger and dying, is unsurpassedunequaled by their male companions, notwithstanding their claims to a greater share.

I am aware that we can find few precedents in the annals of ancient medicine, upon which to base a spacious defense

of women's entering the pursuit of physic; but as this moral bugbear seems to loom up in gigantic proportions on all occasions, when the question is talked of or written upon, it is well to stop and institute an inquiry as to whether there has ever been anything observed in the conduct of female aspirants to the honors of the M. D., to warrant the conclusion that the "hobby" has its foundation in fact. The world has never, so far as I am informed, accused Florence Nightingale of lewdness, nor has an "itching curiosity" been the governing incentive in the professional career of Elizabeth Blackwell, and Miss Garrett. Nor have I seen an authenticated instance in which a female medical student has been charged with "prurient" or unbecoming conduct. If anything of the kind had occurred, the lynx-eyed populace, who are ever on the alert for items of scandal, would not long have kept the world from the benefits (?) of the important secret.

It would seem that the war on the "innocents," on the score of moral grounds alone, has nothing for its foundation more substantial than the "baseless fabric of a vision." Let gentlemen be perverse as they may, it is evident that "female physicians" are to become a recognized feature in our professional household: they number among their supporters many of the first medical men in Europe, and this country. Among the familiar names in Great Britain may be mentioned Sir James Y. Simpson (lately deceased), Robert Barnes, J. Hughes Bennett, Lionel S. Beale, Wm. B. Carpenter, Thomas King Chambers, Curling, Erichsen, Murchison, Sieveking, etc., and others whose names I can not now remember. On the other hand, it numbers among its avowed enemies many names of eminence and authority, not the least among them Prof. Gross, of Philadelphia.

The prediction of a recent foreign writer upon this subject is that "women will soon take a high place among medical practitioners in this country (England); nothing would tend more toward human progress, the diminution of human suffering, and the prevention of disease, than the admission

of females to all branches of the healing art." When our College and Hospital authorities recognize the justice of the sentiment expressed in the foregoing extract, and so far divest themselves of preconceived and, to my mind, erroneous ideas in regard to this matter, as to admit on terms of equality to their lectures and clinics, students of either sex, who may present themselves with proper credentials, the contention would be hushed into quiet: then, and not till then.

In adding to this part of the subject, I can do little better than improve Hamlet a little-a thing which my readers will no doubt say would be no small task for an older and wiser head than mine. He asks, "What a piece of work is a man?"-What a piece of work is Woman! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form, and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an Angel! in apprehension, how like a God! the beauty of the world! the paragon of creation! "All this and more" might well be said in her behalf, though "this goodly right, the earth, seems not to me a sterile promontory," nor "the o'erhanging firmament a foul and pestilential congregation of vapors."

In considering woman's capacities to occupy successfully a place in practical medicine, the second stand-point, that of mental adaptability, is reached. It is a singular fact that this, the most essential prerequisite to her worth as regards her relation to the sick, in the capacity of physician, has been almost entirely ignored as a debatable point; and the one of infinitely the least importance-morality, allowed to monopolize the discussion.

Even amid the great clamor raised throughout this country, and in most countries of Europe, for more efficient intellects to begin with, more thorough preparatory training, and a higher standard of requirements generally, for male students, before admitting them to the honors of the Doctorate, the female portion of the medical world have almost totally escaped attack, in the most vulnerable quarter; and is thus left, to enjoy the delusive supposition that they are perfect as to mental material.

Physiology and anatomy teach us, that there is a very wide dissimilarity in the arrangement and functions of the physical organization of the two sexes; but that in the mental organization there is very slight difference to be observed.

In the female, the osseous, the muscular, the vascular, and (least of all) the nervous systems, are unlike those of the male; and even the composition of the blood is different. When, however, we come to compare the important function, the intellect, the marked difference before observed everywhere to exist, here, in a great measure, disappears; leaving the two sexes nearer on an equality in this than in any other characteristic. There is in this particular certainly a difference observed, and it is in favor of the male the cerebral hemispheres in the female being inferior in size; while there is little or no observable discrepancy in other portions of the encephalon; the superior development of brain substance in the male, however, only corresponding to his superior physical development.

While candor compels the admission that her powers of logic and analysis may not be so profound as those of the sterner sex, her intuitive powers are certainly greater than his; her perceptions more acute, and her apprehensions quicker; often enabling her to scan the human character, read the feelings of others, and probe the hidden mysteries of the human heart, when man's most searching investigation would be completely inefficient. This principle in the female mind, is equivalent to that trait in the minds of mankind in general, which allows that first impressions of any given occurrence, founded upon a reasonable relation of the facts attending it, are, commonly, more nearly correct than those formed after deliberation, this faculty bearing a close correspondence to that of instinct.

The characteristics of the female mind, above set forth, could in no pursuit be of more ready application, and of more value, than in practical medicine; as while a profound knowledge of the principles of the science is often essential in arriving at correct ideas in pathological problems; yet in

many diseased conditions, particularly among the susceptible and nervous of her own sex, among whom her practice would mainly be confined, their nature can only be made apparent by exploring the hidden recesses of the soul-the whole human fabric, moral, psychical and physical. Her powers of interpreting the feelings of others, her ready sympathy with the afflicted and unfortunate, and the strength of her intuition, guiding to clearness and decision in judgment and action, can but render her an efficient aid

in the sick household.

While we are not inclined to debate the proposition that women are equal, in point of intellect, with men, we have the premises clearly before us upon which a very material part of this inferiority depends, namely, the lack of opportunity; particularly is this the case with our Western females, who have had the advantages of education very sparingly meted out to them. With all our modern civilization and Christian progress, our women have been, and are yet, too generally looked upon through the shadow of the long intellectual night, which for so many weary centuries preceded the waking of the dawn, two hundred years ago; and which yet occasionally flits across the splendor of our intellectual noonday. While woman has not the same facilities afforded her in our institutions of learning, whereby she may receive primary and complete training, equal to that bestowed upon the male sex, we may not expect to find her equal in intellectual development.

However this matter of female education may have been lacking in the past, the noble generosity of such men as Vassar, and the wise liberality evinced by our people generally, in our own generation, in this direction, have been and will yet be, the means of perfecting, as nearly as can be, our already advanced civilization. Indeed, our females have themselves awakened from the long night-slumber which enveloped them, and are making Herculean efforts toward equality in the affairs of life; efforts which promise to be crowned with a greater degree of success, and to be