WOMAN IN MEDICINE
a paper read before the national association of
Colored Women's Clubs at Wilberforck, Ohio,
August 6, 1914.
By
S. MARIA STEWARD, M. D.,
Graduate of the New York Medical College and
Hospital for Women. Post-graduate course at
the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn,
New York.
One of the Founders of the Woman's and Chil¬
dren's Hospitai, Brooklyn, New York.
Resident Physician, Wilberforce University.
( Price 15 Cents)
WILBERFORCE, OHIO.
PREFACE
Yielding to the solicitation of many persons,
strangers as well as acquaintances and friends, I am
offering the following paper to the public.
It is the result of serious labor and care and sent
forth in the hope that it may furnish encouragement
to the earnest women into whose hands it may fall.
The generous reader is asked to give to this
humble effort the few moments attention wrhich its
perusal will entail.
vS. Maria Steward, M.D.
(Pres. Scarborough's Annual Report, June 16, 191U-)
"Dr. S. M. Steward, our Resident Physician for a number of years,
has been faithful in looking after the young people in need of medical
attention. I am very glad to commend her and her services, and to
say that to have such a woman connected with the institution, where
there is large attendance of girls, is indispensable."
INTRODUCTION
New York has ever had reason to be proud of its women.
Many of these by direct descent or by adoption have worthily
carried- the honor implied in the distinguished, affectionate
appellation—Daughter of New York.
While but a small number of Afro-Amercian families have
been New Yorkers for more than a generation, among these
families there is scarcely a family lacking at least one woman
member of greater of less distinction ; some of them have
even a better showing. Among this latter group the Smith
family of Long Island stands pre-eminent. In their uniform
success the daughters of Sylvanus Smith and Anna Springsteel,
his wife, form a remarkable coterie.
The eldest of these was the late Mrs. S. J. S. Garnet. For
many years she filled the exceptional position of principal in
one of the public schools of Greater New York. The memory
of her worth and her usefulness is still alive and fragrant.
Mrs. Emma Smith Thomas, also deceased, was not only an
accomplished teacher, but was noted for her excellent judg¬
ment in business matters. She was successful in the acquisi¬
tion and investment of money and was a competent adviser
in financial affairs.
The youngest daughter, Mrs. Clara T. S. Brown, chose
music as her profession, was a successful teacher of the piano,
and for several years organist of the Concord Baptist Church,
Brooklyn, N. Y., of which Doctor W. T. Dixon was pastor.
Miss Mary Smith and Doctor S. M. Smith Steward, the
one in business, the other in the profession of medicine have
acquired affluence and reputation. They are now enjoying
the fruits of continued application and systematic effort.
.3
4
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
Upon family, friends, resident localities, our women espe¬
cially, women in general,—they, and those like them confer an
honor lasting and most highly to be appreciated.
Such women accentuate the power, the dignity, the pres¬
tige of womanhood. They enter into the fullness of life as
designed for them by their Creator. In this ideal life, the as¬
pects of daughter, sister, wife, mother are incidental. It is a
personal, individual life, involving unlimited scope for ex¬
pansion and development.
The woman who today enters a profession appears to be
doing a casual, ordinary thing. When the then Miss S- Maria
Smith undertook her medical apprenticeship such a decision
was momentous. The fear of woman unsexing herself was
the bugbear of that period. Only level-headed, determined,
self-reliant women then ventured to take a step likely to elicit
unfriendly criticism ; likely to induce disparagement if not
estrangement.
To the credit of our women it may be said that none have
ever been more alert, more progressive, more aggressive, more
ready to follow paths of upward trend. Whenever and wher¬
ever they have entered the arenas of competition, while they
have met equals, they have never been forced to retire before
superiors. It is hence more gratifying than surprising to
state that Miss Smith was no exception. She was trained in the
New York Medical College and Hospital for Women, an insti¬
tution founded by the illustrious Doctor Clem»ence S. L,ozier.
She completed the prescribed course with the usual success,
and with additional distinction. The recognition by the fac¬
ulty of Miss Smith's merit, was an act as graceful as unusual.
She was chosen valedictorian of her class—a class regarded as
one of the strongest that had ever been sent out.
The youthful graduate hung out her shingle in her native
city, Brooklyn. N. Y. She took a post-graduate course.in the
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
5
Long Island College Hospital, the only woman student in a
large class. The practice for which she had made such ample
preparation, slowly but steadily grew until in the zenith of
her career she maintained consulting offices in two different
sections of the city.
B2sides her technical equipment and her ever widening
experience, she had available certain quailities of temperament
and of character. These aided in shortening her professional
probation and insuring a more ready success. Friends
became patients because they believed her trustworthy ; stran¬
gers became loyal adherents when they learned to rely upon
her capability and to appreciate her skill and devotion. Her
practice included both sexes. It was a practice unlimited by
color or creed. As a family physician she came to be in con¬
stant demand. Consulations frequently brought her in con¬
tact with leading local practitioners. A member of the Kings
County Homeopathic Society and of the New York State
Medical Soctety, she held for years a leading place as a capa¬
ble, popular, prosperous physician. Her removal from
Brooklyn was the outcome of her second marriage.
Professional demands of any sort are numerous and exact¬
ing. Doctor Steward discharged all such faithfully, yet never
neglected social or personal obligations. Twice married, with
intervening years of widowhood, she presents a fine illustra¬
tion of an exemplary matron, an admirable mother, a model
home keeper, and a woman active in all matters pertaining to
general uplift and betterment. Her Brooklyn home was a
center for social intercourse and informal interchange of
thought and opinion. Though not a prominent clubwoman,
she was one of the founders of the Woman's Loyal Union of
New York and her interest in that association has outlived her
connection with it.
Apart from her knowledge of medicine, Doctor Steward is
6
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
also a musician, having studied the organ carefully under John
Zundel of Plymouth Church and later under Henry Eyre
Browne of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and served as Church
organist, Bridge St. A. M. E. Church 23 years, Bethany Bapt¬
ist Church, two years.
Doctor Steward is at present resident physician at Wilber-
force University with which, her husband Chaplain T. G.
Steward, an author of reputation—is connected. The Doctor
has travelled extensively over her own country and has
enjoyed European tours in company with her husband.
Now, delightfully located in a fine luxurious home, she is
resting but not apathetic. She is always busy, and as alive
as ever to the vital issues of today.
The story of her life and of her work is valuable for in¬
spiration, for emulation, for imitation. Such lives are beacon
lights illuminating the wastes of indecision. They warn
against the fatal frittering away or misuse of power, faculties,
advantages, privileges ; they direct the course of the ambitious,
though untried towards the harbor of systematic, sustained,
concentrated endeavor. In these havens are to be found re¬
wards so ample, so rich, so enduring as to fully compensate
for all that must be done, must be endured, in securing their
attainment.
MARITCHA R. l,YONS,
Brooklyn, N. Y.
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
BY S. MARIA STEWARD, M. D.
Instead of reading to you a paper on "Tuberculosis and
Kindred Diseases", as alloted to me on the program for this
date, I have taken the liberty of changing my subject to that
of "Woman in Medicine", and I shall give to you, as briefly
as I can, the history of woman in the study and practice of
medicine, from the .early centuries until the present time.
That women have made a record for themselves in medicine
is a fact; and that broad-minded men, as historians, have given
them a place in the history of medicine, along with their bro¬
thers in the profession,, is another fact; otherwise .I would not
be able to prove my first statement, that they have made a
record, well worthy of being handed down in history.
The earliest record of women in the practice of medicine is
found in sacred history. I refer to their work as given in the
Bible, Exodus 1st chapter. Here we find that to women, and
to women alone, belonged that branch, or department, of
medicine denominated. "Obstetrics", which deals with partu¬
rition, the treatment of women and children at the most sacred,
and the most important , moment of their lives.
It is recorded of these women, that they feared God. There
were, according to Dr. Clark, the commentator, five hundred
or more Hebrew women obstetricians in Egypt at that time,
although the names of. only two have been handed down to us,
Shiphrah, and Puah. . These women all feared Godv and held
themselves responsible to Him in the faithful discharge of
their duty to their patients. These women feared God /rather
than man, although that man was a king. All those who are
familiar with this portion of the Scriptures, know the results
of the work of these God-fearing women.
7
8
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
Dr. James J. Walsh, author of a recent history of medicine,
entitled, "Old Time Makers of Medicine", says: "We are
prone in modern times to think that our generation is the first
to offer to women any facilities, or opportunities, for education
in medicine. We are prone, however, in the same way to con¬
sider that a number of things that we are doing are now being
done for the first,time. As a matter of fact, it is extremely
difficult to find any important movement, or occupation, that
is not merely a repetition of a previous interest of mankind".
"The whole education of women we are apt to think of as
modern, forgetting that Plato, in his "Republic" insisted as
absolutely as any feminist of our times, that women should
have the same opportunities for education as men ; and at Rome
at the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire,
women occupied very much the sa:me position in social and
literary life as our own women Of to-day." *
Coming up to early Christian times, during the fourth and
fifth centuries, there were many distinguished women physi¬
cians, and the names of a few of them have been transmitted to
us. Such as Theodosia, at Rome. She was remarkable not
Only as a physician and surgeon, but also in the fact she suf¬
fered martydom with other Christians under the Emperor Dio¬
cletian v Eabiola, is noted because she was the founder of the
first hospital in Rome. There are two other names of Greek
physicians, Origenia, mentioned by the great surgeon Galen',
and Aspasia, mentioned by Aetius, a distinguished physiciaii
and surgeon in his day. We have evidence enough to show
that Greek Women physicians were not very rare. ;
" Women among the Greeks and Romans enjoyed both en¬
couragement and opportunity to study and. practice medicine
in. the. early centuries of the Christian era'.'. .And why shpul.d
this not have been so, when the example and influence of the
Great Physician, the emancipator of women in His timej
dominated that portion of the world ?
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
9
We now come to the history of the medieval- women
physicians, and their very superior oppo"tunities:for the study,
of medicine in the great medical school at Salerno, Italy;
where women were admitted oft the same terms as men, and
given the same thorough advantages as students. It is said :
The best proof of how thorough was the medical education
at Salerno, and how much influence it exerted even over
public opinion, is to be found in the regulation of the practice
of medicine, which soon began, and the insistence on proper
training before permission to practice was granted. Three
years of preliminary university education, before the study of
medicine might be taken up ; four years of medical studies
proper, before a degree was given, including a special course
in anatomy, if surgery were to be practiced ; a year of practice
with a regularly licensed physician, before a license to prac¬
tice could be obtained."
"All this represents an ideal we are now striving after. And
all this is so much more advanced than we could possibly have
imagined, only that the actual documents are in existence,
that most people refuse to let themselves be persuaded, in
spite of the law, that it could have meant very much. Espe¬
cially as regards medical education are they dubious- as to
conditions at that time. To them, it seems that it could make
very little difference how much time was required for medical
study or for studies preliminary to medicine, since there was
so little to be learned. The age was ignorant, men knew- but
little, and so very little could be imparted, no matter how
much time was taken, This is a common impression, but an
utterly false one".
' 'The preliminary training* that is, the undergraduate
Work at the universities then, consisted of the seven liberal
arts, the trivium and the quadrivium, which embraced
grammar, rhetoric* logic, arithmetic ,•••: music, geometry 9 and
10
WOMAN IN MEDICINE,
astronomy." To this was added metaphysics, and cosmolo¬
gy, in which some biology was studied. This was a thor¬
oughly rounded course in intellectual trainings ' No won¬
der Professer Huxley said, in his inaugural address as Rector
of Aberdeen," "I doubt if the curriculum of any modern
university shows so clear and generous a comprehension as to
what is meant by culture as this old trivium or quadrivium.
does." • ■
. "There is no doubt at all about the value of the under¬
graduate training, nor of the scholarship of the men and
women turned out under this system, nor of their ability to
concentrate their minds on difficult subjects. Said one of the
graduates of this school at Salerno", "I cannot say too much
for the training given in this, the first of the medical schools.
One thing is sure, the professors were eminently serious, the
work taken up was thoroughly scientific, and some,of the
results of the medical investigations of that early day are
interesting even now."
"That which is most interesting to us in the modern time
in the history of the medical school at Salerno,, is to be found
in the opportunities for the medical education of women, and
the surrender to them of a whole department in the medical
school, that of the Diseases of Women." It is not definitely
known just when this development took place. The first
positive evidence with regard to it comes in the life of Trotula,
who seems to have been the head of the department, with
other women as professors under her. She is said to have
flourished about the middle of the eleventh century. The life
of this great woman, as given, is exceedingly interesting. She
was a woman of great literary ability, and was noted for her
writings. Some of her books are well known, and are often
quoted from".
"Salerno continued to enjoy the reputation for training
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
11
women physicians thoroughly, until well on in the .fifteenth
century. The custom seems also to have been transferred to
Naples, and licenses to practice were issued to women grad¬
uates. Salerno influenced Bologna and the north Italian
universities prfoundly in all branches of medicine and medi¬
cal education, particularly in surgery, and the practice of al¬
lowing such women as wished to practice medicine or sur¬
gery, to enter the university medical schools. This is exem¬
plified in the case of Mondino's assistant in anatomy, Allesan-
dra Giliani ; though there are others whose names are men¬
tioned in history. Through the influence of the first and
great university in Italy, feminine education obtained a strong
foothold, and with the further development of universities,
feminine education came to be the rule. This rule has main¬
tained itself all down the centuries in Italy, so that there has
not been a single century since the twelfth, in which there
have not been one or more distinguished women teachers in
the Italian universities ".
Walsh, in speaking of the educational opportunities out¬
side of Italy, says : "in spite of the absence of formal oppor¬
tunities for feminine education in medicine at the Western
universities, a certain ainonnt of scientific knowledge of dir
seases as well as valuable practical training in the care of the
ailing, was not wanting. The medical knowledge of the wo¬
men of Northern France, Germany and England, however,
though it did not receive the stamp of a formal degree from
the University, and the distinction of a license to practice,
was none the less thorough and extensive."
This history of the medieval women physicians would be
quite incomplete without a short sketch of the life and work
of one of its most remarkable women, that of the Abbess Hil-
degarde. The record as given of this woman is as follows ;
' 'The life of the Abbess Hildegarde is worthy of consideration,
12
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
because it illustrates the period and makes very clear that, in-
spite of the grievous misunderstanding of their life and work
so common in the modern time, these old time religious or¬
ders had most of the interests of modern times, and pursued
them with even more than modern zeal and success, very often.
Her career illustrates very well what the foundation of the
Benedictines had done for the women. When St. Benedict
founded his order for man, his sister, Scholastica, wanted to
do a similar work for woman. We know the Benedictine
monks saved the old classics for us, kept burning the light of,
intellectual life, and gave refuge to men who wanted to de¬
vote themselves to leisure and peace, to the . things of the,
spirit, whether of this world or the other. We have known
less of the Benedictine nuns, until now the study of their
books shows they provided exactly the same opportunities for
women, and furnished avocation, a homeland an occupation
of mind and a satisfaction of spirit for women who, in every
generation, do not feel themselves Called to be wives and
mothers, but who want to live their lives for others, rather
than for themselves and their kin ; seeking such development
of mind and spirit, as may come with the leisure and peace;
of celibacy."
St. Hildegarde was born of noble parents in Germany,
about the end of the eleventh century. She was a woman of
very superior intellect, and possessed of great learning. It;
is said of her as a writer,—"One of the most important books
on medicine that has come to us from the twelfth century was
written by her." Reuss (Rois), the historian, in speaking of
her, says,—"Among all the saintly religious who have prac¬
ticed medicine, or written about it, in the middle ages, the
most important is, without doubt; St. Hildegarde. With re¬
gard to her book, he continues,—"All those who wish to
write the history of medical and natural sciences miist read
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
13
this work, in which this religious woman, evidently grounded
in all that was known at that time of the secrets of nature,
discusses and examines carefully all the knowledge of the
time. It is certain St. Hildegarde knew many things that
were unknown to physicians of her time."
In the sixteenth century, the study and practice of medi¬
cine by women, began gradually to decline, and during the
following centuries actually died out and became entirely for-:
gotten. Just how this happened is hard to say. It is like1
other human interests that have been, and ceased to be.
The revival of the study of medicine did not occur until
the middle of the nineteenth century, and America enjoys the
honor of being the pioneer in this matter. The woman to
take advantage of the first opportunity was an English lady,
Elizabeth Blackwell, and this dates back to 1848, when she-
was admitted, after having applied at several medical colleges
in the country, into the Geneva Medical College of New York.
The history of the admission of this heroic woman ; her life as
a student in this college of men, many of whom were rough
and uncultured ; the transformation of such, by her presence
alone, into gentlemen,—or, better put, manly men ; the an¬
noyance she experienced:outside the college, by the women of:
the boarding-house and the women of the village, who took
it upon themselves to treat her with scorn and contempt be¬
cause she, as a woman, dared to study medicine and aspired
to practice this sacred, profession ; her graduation with honor
from this institution ; her admission to the Maternite and
other hospitals in Paris after a hard struggle to gain enr.
trance ; and her completion of a three years' course in that
city, is most interestingly told by her sister, Dr. Emily Blacky
well in a lecture'given by her at the celebration of the fortieth
anniversary ofj. the First National Woman's Rights .Convention,
held in Boston, January 28, 1891. ' , .
14
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
"immediately after Dr. Blackwell's graduation a few women
were admitted into other medical colleges. But, so much
opposition was brought to bear by the medical societies
against the colleges admitting woman, that the doors of these
particular colleges were soon closed and these opportunities
were cut off. The exclusion of women from all medical in¬
stitutions in the country now became the settled policy;
hence the necessity of opening up medical schools for women.
In this Boston took the lead in 1850. In the same year
Philadelphia followed. In 1854 the Blackwell sisters obtained
a certificate of incorporation for the New York Infirmary for
Women and Children, and in 1868 the Woman's Medical
College of the New York Infirmary was established."
In 1863, Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, who had received her
medical education in Syracuse, New York, being the first and
only woman to graduate from that college, and graduating
with the highest honor of the class, founded and endowed the
New York Medical College and Hospital for Women and
Children. Dr. I,ozier was a distinguished physician, and the
first woman to perform a surgical operation in the city of New
York. She was a surgeon by knowledge and by nature. To
know this cultured Christian lady, was to love her. To be as
sociated with, and under her influence, was an inspiration.
Being a woman of wealth and great influence, she left no
stone unturned to make this college—(her heart's delight),
all that it should be in the way of equipment, so that the
students enjoyed the best possible opportunities, both theoret¬
ical and clinical. The lecturers in their special subjects
were all able men. In the subjects of mineralogy, geology,
and chemistry, inorganic and organic, she obtained for the
students permission to attend lectures under Professor Charles
Stone, one of the best scientific lecturers in Cooper Institute,
presiding over one of the best-equipped chemical laboratories
Clkmenck 8. L.ozikk, M. I).
Founder and first Dean of the New York
Medical College and Hospital for Women.
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
15
to be found in the city. For clinical advantages, and special
lectures in the subjects of surgery, diseases of women and
children, and the diagnosis class, under the distinguished
diagnostician, Dr. Thomas, the doors of the great Bellevue
College and Hospital were open to them, and on an equal
footing with men the students of this college enjoyed these
advantages. The opthalmic and aural hospital clinics, where
they saw and studied the special diseases of the eye and ear,
were also attended by these classes of women ; and they were
permitted to attend clinics at many of the city dispensaries.
The advantages afforded to the students were the best that
then could be obtained, and fortunate were the women who
gained admission to this college.
, The love and admiration on the part of the students for
this their noble and energetic dean, Dr. Clemence L,ozier,
were most remarkable. She was to them the highest type of
womanhood : strong in intellect; firm, but just; generous,
but judicious; kind-hearted and true. The closing of her
life was in keeping with her nature. She had organic dis¬
ease of the heart, of which she was aware. She was found
one morning dead in her room, kneeling beside her bed, with
hands clasped as though in prayer when her spirit took its
flight to the great beyond.
It was my privilege to attend the funeral of this most dis¬
tinguished woman. She had been my preceptor and my friend ;
hence I loved her. I remember one beautiful sentence spoken
on that occasion by Dr. J. P. Newman her pastor and life-long
friend, who delivered the eulogy. As she lay in her casket
in front of the pulpit: as though in peaceful sleep,
looking down on her remains while speaking of her force of
character and her achievements, he said,—"Here lies before
me Energy in repose." To fully understand and appreci¬
ate this sentence, was to be a listener to the whole eulogy.
16
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
It:is said of the faithful Christians, after1 death,-^'their
works do follow them." This is exemplified in the Case of
this Christian lady ; for the college of her founding is still in
existence, and.is said to be the best woman's medical college
in the world to-day.
It has been fittingly said,—"Women ill medicine hav^
been like a band of immigrants in a new countty, which they
could only penetrate by building their own roads as they
went." This was true in the history of the women pioneers
in America, who were Doctors Elizabeth and Emily Black-
well, Dr. Harriet K. Hunt, of Boston, Dr. Zakrzewska, Dr.
Sarah Dolley, and Dr. Clemence S. Xozier, of New York. This
noble band of herioc and energetic women, through discour¬
agements deep and dark, and with great personal sacrifice and
often humiliation, by hard work overcame the obstacles that
embarrassed them and obstructed their pathway, and opened
up the road of opportunity for the great army of women who
are now following in the footsteps of their elder sisters. •
The editor of "The Medical Review of Reviews," in the
June number, has the following to say of the work accom¬
plished by women physicians up to the present time :—-''Fem¬
inism is a tefm which at present is frequently seen in the
newspapers'and magazines, and is heard upon the public plat¬
forms arid in the lecture circuits; The awakening of women
to a sense of power and responsibility is extending: through¬
out the civilized world. The desire for an opportunity fof
self-expansion equal to that of their brothers, has developed
a ihi'litant spirit on the part of the intellectual women. The
first real opportunity for the expansion of feminine ac^
tivities was in the medical profession.^ The medical women
of'this country have reflected ' credit' "upon themselves and
their choseri professionGreat advances -have beeiVmade in
medicine siiicte the days' of those splendid' pioneers''^-givitjfg
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
17
the names of those I have already mentioned. These are fol¬
lowed by the names of those who have gained distinction in
the different departments of medicine : "Mary Putnam Jacobi,
Grace Peckham Murray, Elizabeth Mosher,. in medicine ;
.Mary D. Rushmore and Bertha Van Holsen, in surgery;
Alice Weld Tallant, in obstetrics : Anna W. Williams and
Martha Wallstein, in pathology ; Alice Hamilton and Caro¬
line Hedger, in industrial and social diseases; Evangeline
Young, in eugenics ; and S. Josephine Baker, in child-wel¬
fare." He continues :—"These represent but a few of the
women who have brought things to pass, in their professional
career, so as to achieve distinction for themselves as well as
the praise of their professional brethern and the communi¬
ties in which they have worked."
This list of earnest medical women might easily be aug¬
mented, matched up, and given color tone, by the names of
their sisters of a darker race in the profession, who too have
taken advantage of stepping into the doors of medical oppor¬
tunity. These are Doctors Rebecca J. Gole, Susan M. Smith
(McKinney) Steward, Sophia Jones, Caroline Still Anderson,
Lucy K. Moten, Mary L- Brown, Verina Morton Jones, Alice
Woodby McKane, Hallie Tanner Johnson, Alice Bennett,
Consuela Clark Stewart, Georgia Patton, Georgiana Rumley^
Lucinda Key,; Mary; Waring, Mary Fitsbutler, Lucv Hughes
Brown, Ida Gray, Laura Joiner, Sarah Grant, Hulda Proileau,
Julia Hall, Mildred Gibbs, Jane Whipper, Carrie Thomas,
Mary Lucas, Grace Du Quid, Josepha Jarrat, Agnes Berry,
sMary iBritton, Mi; Evelyne Thompson Coppin, Matilda. Ai
Buans, Lucilla E. Miller, Theodosia Shoults, M. E. Grito
hotter and others, whose; ^names I have not been able to ob¬
tain:* These have made, and are making, records lor thenar
s'ehresfrthat will be handed down in history tol the .distinguishr
jedicisediit QfctourLown race. These women havei measured up
18
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
with their sisters in white, and in some instances have, as
students, carried off the highest honors of their classes.
Returning to the Editor of "The Medical Review", he con¬
tinues " The present status of medical education for women
in the United States gives evidence, as far as medical schools
are concerned, that there is no lack of opportunity for secur¬
ing a medical education. 1 In 1909 there were ninty-orie co¬
educational schools, and three distinctively women's triedical
colleges. There \vere ovSr nine hundred students in attend¬
ance and more than one hundred and fifty graduates during
that year. Apparently, the exteiision of special medical schools
for women is unnecessary. The great need at the present
time is equality of o^pdrtunity for hospital service. Recently,
after long discussion, two women were admitted as internes at
Bellevue Hospital."
Quite recently, I have learned that a colored young woman,
Miss Isabella Vanderwal who is now a Junior in the New York
Medical College and Hospital for Women, has been admitted as
an interrie into the Mkternity Hospital in New York.
The editor above quoted, urges the medical women to de¬
mand admission to interneship in the hospitals of the country
as their right, and says :—■ "There are no arguments
against the admission of women physicians as internes in
hospitals, which were not raised against their admission into
the medical profession/ ' He heartily commends the women of
the country' for the nbtable success they, as a class, have
achieved in spite of this embarrassment, and says:— "They
should be recognized in every possible way, and shouldbe given
the fullest opportunity to demonstrate their fitness to secure
the training so essential for the development of their highest
possible attainments in a profession which should no more
recognize sex differences than the diseases it aims to combat."
The most recent account of the world-wide opportunities
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
19
for women now in the study of medicine, is given by Dr. Field¬
ing H. Garrison, in his "History of Medicine", published
this year, in which he gives the names of the countries and
intitutions furnishing these opportunities.
In the United States and Canada, women can now study
medicine anywhere on the same terms with men. In the
London School of Medicine for Women, they acquired the
privilege of resident posts in the Royal Free Hospital. The
Royal College of physicians in Ireland, and The London,
University, admit them to the privilege of examinatiou. The
Universities, of Durham, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham,
Leeds and Bristol are co-educational. At Glasgow, Aberdeen,
Dundee and St. Andrews, they are given every facility ; but
there has been much opposition in Edinburg. On the Con¬
tinent, the Swiss universities took the lead in 1876, The
German states followed, one by one, Prussia being the last to
throw open the right of university instruction and graduation
to women in 1908, Paris, Vienna, Rome, Brnssels, Upsala, and
Copenhagen, are all co-educational. The faculties of Paris
and Berne are the most frequented. Crowds of young Russian
Jewesses flock to the latter.
This historian says. "The number of women graduates
who get into practice is said to be relatively small, probably
by reason of marriage." Grant this to be so, and very nat-
rually so. these women, thus educated make better wives and
mothers ; and fortunate are the men who marry these women,
from an economic standpoint at least. They are blessed in a
threefold measure, in that they take unto themselves a wife,
a trained nurse, and a doctor. In the words of the book of
Proverbs, I may say, "She will do him good, and not evil, all
the days of her life.''
Unfortunate, however, is the woman physician who finds
herself unevenly yoked ; for such a companion will prove to
'•20
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
be to her as a mill-stone hanged about her neck. But the
'medically educated women are generally good diagnosticians
in this direction also. They are trained in the art of differen¬
tiation, and hence, in the delicate matters of the heart, are the
better able to make wise selections; so that the medical ed¬
ucation of women and marriage need not become a question
of discussion with the women who have chosen the profession
oi medicine as their life-work. They have only to rejoice over
the world-wide opportunities opened up to them, and the fact
that so many women are now availing themselves of these
advantages.
July, 1914 Susan M. Smith McKinney Steward
APPENDIX
Since writing this essay, the war that might justly be call¬
ed the war of the nations, that is now being waged in Europe,
has afforded to women physicians and surgeons, such splen¬
did opportunities to display their skill and ability under circum¬
stances that are most cruel and trying, that any history of
women in medicine would be incomplete without these the
latest achievements ; achievements that will redound to the
glory of noble womanhood the world over. Hence I include
them as they come in their order of events, to prove more fully
my claim for woman in medicine.
Doctor Louis Livingston Seaman, in an article to "The
Independent", Nov. 2, 1914, entitled "La Croix Rouge
de France" telling what the Red Cross is doing in Paris, says
there are three principal societies:
' 'First and foremost is La Croix Rouge Francaise, organized
over half a century ago, which today extends its beneficent
influence over every section of this beautiful land. It is
governed by a central committee of fifty members, presided
over by the Marquis de Vogue. It includes three principal
Societies, La Croix Rogue Militaire, which formerly admitted
only men ; L' Union des Femmes de France, with only women
surgeons and attendants, presided over by Madame D. Perouse,
and Les Dames de France, whose membership is composed
mainly of the wives of Government Officials, of which Madame
Carnot is the president.
The fifty delegates composing the committee and sub¬
committees are chosen from these three societies and from the
delegates accredited to the Military Government of Paris, and
21
22
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
the twenty army corps of France, thus insuring harmonious
action between the military and civil authorities. The society
has a membership of over 110,000, and 400 committees, and its
humanitarian work goes on in times of peace as well as war."
Another organization contributing to the work of the Red
Cross is the Societe Franfaise de Secours aux Blesses Militaire,
which is equipped similarly to the three already mentioned
and is working on parallel lines.
The general bureau of distribution for the hospitals, is
presided over by Madame L,ejars. It is liberally stocked with
medical and surgical supplies, as well as hospital equipment
beds, blankets and clothing—so that an "ambulance" can
be supplied for installation at the front or elsewhere on demand.
Paris is enthusiastic over the work.
Following on to this comes the announcement of the
appointment of Dr. Mary Crawford of Brooklyn, New York to
the position of resident physician of the American Military
Hospital in Paris.
Doctor Crawford is a member of the Duchess of Talley¬
rand's Red Cross section. In this Military hospital, up to
the date of the announcement of the appointment, Nov. 3rd,
500 French and British wounded soldiers had already been
treated and discharged.
Doctor Crawford first gained her fame as the first ambulance
surgeon in Brooklyn. She now appears to have succeeded in
her ambition to be the first military surgeon. She graduated
from Cornell in 1904, and sailed for France, Oct. 17, 1914.
The latest and most scientific achievement in surgery by
women, is reported of Madame Curie, Paris, Nov. 19, 1914.
Madame Curie has sugested the use of automobiles containing
radiographic apparatus on the battle field, and herself has
organized the beginning of the service. By the use of this
field apparatus, bullets have been found and extracted from
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
23
the heads of wounded and even patients whose brains had
been entered by bullets have lived.
This ends my little essay on "Woman in Medicine." It
is simply a very brief account of the history of women phy¬
sicians and surgeons ; but written for the inspiration of women,
especially to those inclined to the study and practice of
medicine.
24
WOMAN IN MEDICINE
EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS
Palmyra, Mo. Oct. 13, 1913.
Dr. S- Maria Steward,
Resident Physician of Wilberforce University,
or, as I greatly prefer to address you,
Dear Susie Smith,
For well do I remember you as a valued and congenial class¬
mate in those old college days. * * * It is a long story to
tell since those earnest strenuous student days, when we last
saw each other and said a hopeful goodbye. * * * j am as in
the long past.
Sincerely Your Friend,
Elmira Y. Howard
Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 24, 1914
Dear Dr. Steward :
I am glad I heard you yourself read your paper on "Woman
in Medicine" and I supposed at that time that the paper was
too valuable to be left in your desk and thought it would be
put in pamphlet form and distributed among the club women
for inspiration.
Sincerely yours
Mary B. Talbert
President of Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs.
New Bedford, Mass., Nov. 7, 1914
My Dear Dr. Steward:
I remember your paper "Woman in Medicine" and a very
fine paper it was, and I think it a fine idea to have it printed.
I agree with Chaplain Steward and the others.
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth C. Carter
President Northeastern Federation of Women's Clubs.