The result of this expansion [says Dr. Zakrzewska] was enabling us not only to enlarge our work, but also to divide it into three distinct departments--Hospital for medical and surgical cases; Lying-in Department and Dispensary. Had our work not been wanted [she continues], had our help not been needed, here and throughout the country, we should not have found so many patients asking for help and advice; nor have had so long a list of names of students waiting for a vacancy; nor have met with that response from the community which provided the means for carrying on our institution and enabling us to enlarge it. Professional recognition was slowly growing, but even slight advances helped to lighten the almost overpowering mental strain of isolation. In such conditions, every slight word or act of indorsement, even though with reservations, was like a ray of hope that at last the dawn was breaking. Referring to this period of professional loneliness, Dr. Zakrzewska writes in a letter to the editor in 1900: In looking over these reports, there come back to me the many hours of fear and anxiety when I really was the only person who stood before the world responsible for our work in the Hospital. The few brave men who supported my efforts were advanced in years and had a large practice; they were often not available for consultation when requested to come, or they came too late, when the danger was over or had ended in death. My co-workers were young and inexperienced, looking up to me for wisdom and instruction, while the public in general watched with scrupulous zeal in order to stand ready for condemnation; this zeal being stimulated by the profession at large who wanted to find fault but did not dare to do so openly so long as the two or three professional men stood as a moral force behind me. I remember how twice--once in New York and once in Boston--a man colleague told me I was foolish to take to heart the death of a patient which I saw coming as a natural event. Such consolations helped to uphold me. [Illustration: THE NEW ENGLAND HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN This hospital was first housed in a dwelling house on Pleasant Street further along than the rear houses here seen (1862-1864). This was soon outgrown in favor of the one front and three rear houses here shown or indicated (1864-1872).] This professional loneliness must have been peculiarly poignant to her, since it contrasted so painfully with her recollections of the cordial fellowship which she had enjoyed with Dr. Schmidt and other leading medical men in Berlin.