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    MEDICINE AS A PROFESSION FOE WOMEN. 149

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    -«A» » F In Or Inviting Women, Consider ...

    supp bearing lying this the need hysical . Physiology life of man and are all pursued branches almost of science

    exclusively by upon physicians p , and from these branches of learning they deduce more or less clear ideas with regard to the conditions of htened

    health in every-day life . But it is only the most enlig tion physicians of the who profession do this " work who are for well themselves acquainted ; a very with large the bearing

    proporof show this its le relation arning upon to the , disease prevention , would of find disease it , a and difficult the securing matter to of with

    health majorit regard , y to by of ph its ysicians women application , the it must wide to scientific dail evidentl y life y . training _Tbe If impossible this that be the would to g ease ive rule enable to the of

    them , from their own knowledge to deduce practical s guidance . This must be done by those whose avocations require wide scientific knowledge—by physicians . Yet the medical

    profession is at present too far removed from the life of women ; they regard cannot su these l subj the ects want from The such , a lication different of stand scientific -point knowled that they ge

    to women pp ' s necessities y in . actual app life can only be done by women who at once the scientific learning of the physician , and

    possess as women a thorough acquaintance with women ' s requirementsthat is , by women physicians .

    That this connecting link between the science of the medical profession and the every-day life of women is needed , is proved by the

    fact that during the years that scientific knowledge has been accuniulating in the hands of physicians , while it has revolutionised

    the science of medicine , it has had so little direct effect upon domestic life . Twenty years ago , as now , their opinion was strongly expressed with regard to the defects in the adaptation of modern

    life and education to the physical well-being of society , and particularlof its injurious results to women . Yetas far as these

    latter are y concerned , no change has been effected , . In all such points women are far more influenced by the opinions of society at

    large , and of their elder women friends , than by their physician , and this arises from the fact that hysicians are too far removed

    p from , women's life ; they can criticise but not guide it . On the * other hand , it is curious to observe that , as within the last few years

    the attention of a considerable number of women has been turned to medicine , the first use they have made of it has been to establish _,

    a class of lectures on physiology and hygiene for women . They are scattered all over the country the lectures are generally as

    crude and unsatisfactory as the medical ; education _oxit of which they have sprung ; but the impulse is worthy of note , as showing the

    instinctive perception of women , as soon as they acquire even a slight acquaintance with these subjects , how directly they bear upon the exists to

    interests of womenand the inclination which attempt , at least , to apply them , to their needs . As teachers , then , to diffuse among women the physiological and sanitary knowledge which , they

    need , we find tlie first work for women physicians .

    Medicine As A Profession Foe Women. 149

    MEDICINE AS A PROFESSION FOE WOMEN . 149

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1860, page 149, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051860/page/5/