The fact also that every human being we are called on to treat, is, like the infant and the child, soul as well as body, must never be forgotten. Successful treatment requires the insight which comes from recognition of these facts and the sympathy that they demand. In the infinite variety of human ailments the physician will find that she must often be the confessor of her patient, and the consulting-room should have the sacredness of the Confessional, and she must always be the counsellor and guide. In those two departments of medicine which seem to me peculiarly valuable to women physicians, which I shall refer to later--viz., midwifery and preventive medicine--it would be hard to say whether the moral or intellectual qualities of the physician were called most largely into play, so inseparably are they blended. What patience and hopefulness also are demanded in the lingering trial of chronic illness! What discrimination and union of gentleness and firmness these cases require! Then think of the children in our families! To the girls and boys, the young women and men, who grow up under our ministrations, what an inspirer of nobleness and purity, what a guardian from temptation the true physician can be! Again, in the treatment of the poor, an immense demand is made upon our pity, patience, and courage. These poor victims of our social stupidity are often extremely trying. The faulty arrangements which compel us to see thirty, fifty even, in an hour exhaust the nervous system of the doctor. It requires faith and courage to recognise the real human soul under the terrible mask of squalor and disease in these crowded masses of poverty, and to resist the temptation to regard them as ‘clinical material.’ The attitude of the student and doctor to the sick poor is a real test of the true physician. Having thus realized the profound adaptation of the nature of woman to the practice of the Art of Healing, let us consider in what way the intellectual faculties may be strengthened, so as to give enlarged efficiency to the maternal qualities. In other words, how shall we become reliable doctors? What I have hitherto dwelt on is the necessary attitude of mind or the atmosphere and light in which women physicians must breathe and work if they are to attain to their distinctive efficiency; let me now refer more particularly to the method of training for our practical work. The intellectual training required for the physician is admirably adapted to supply deficiencies in the ordinary experience of women. The intellectual characteristics which must be especially gained during student life are: the faculty of patient observation, exact statement of what is observed, and cautious deductions from these observations.