The obstacles to such a union consist chiefly in the fact that any one wishing to become a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society has to present himself or herself for examination before a number of censors chosen by the Society, and at present in the Suffolk District Medical Society consisting of five of its youngest members, who have to examine the candidate in Obstetrics, Histology, Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Materia Medica, and Chemistry, that is to say, precisely in those branches for proficiency in which the candidate has received a diploma years ago. It is well known that wisdom and experience acquired in practice push into the background textbook knowledge, and that most physicians after ten years of practicing life have gained a great deal of knowledge which is not in the textbooks and have forgotten a great deal which is. It is therefore a question whether the amount of benefit gained by admission into the Massachusetts Medical Society is worth the waste of time necessary for reading and studying books which we have long laid aside and simply use occasionally for reference. To young beginners, I would advise the seeking of this privilege but as for myself, I feel constrained to make the following statement: When I came to Boston in 1859, eight years after my graduation in Berlin as _accoucheuse_ and three years after graduation as physician from the Western Reserve Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio, and having been regularly employed in teaching classes and private pupils in medicine, consequently, in the full life of a student--I made application for examination to be admitted into this society and was refused. Again, five years later, that is, in 1864, I made the same application, and was not so decidedly refused. Thinking there was a possibility of my being admitted, I set myself to work reviewing some of my studies in order to prepare myself to meet the high dignitaries in the shape of the young men members and censors of that venerable society; but after several months of discussion, I again received a refusal. This last refusal I met with the declaration that “when the time comes for women to be received into this Society--and I know it will come before I have passed out of this existence--this venerable Society cannot have me as a candidate for examination but must give me an honorary membership if it wants me at all.” To-day, its condescending proposal for my examination for admission has been made, and I am only a little more than fifty years old. But after twenty-six and one-half years of practice (that is, nearly at the end of my career), my only personal interest in this affair is that I am happy that the younger women can have the benefit of an association which is very desirable for all beginners, and most desirable in assisting women to gain the position for which they strive.