When this momentous question again comes before Parliament, I trust that the issues involved will be fully realised; and that, while providing for the most stringent examination of every candidate, no arbitrary barrier will be placed in the way of any, and no regulations be allowed to stand which militate against the good old English motto for all,--a Fair Field and no Favour! FOOTNOTES: [71] By this Act a Court of Examiners was appointed and declared to be “authorised _and required_ to examine all person or persons applying to them, for the purpose of ascertaining the skill or abilities of such person or persons in the science of medicine, and his or their fitness and qualification to practise as Apothecaries;”--it being, however, stipulated that all candidates, so applying, should have gone through certain preliminary studies and apprenticeship. [72] The classes attended by Miss Garrett, in common with the other students, were as follows:--Chemistry, Practical Chemistry, Materia Medica, Botany, Zoology, and Natural Philosophy. [73] See _Note H_. [74] “A woman must have uncommon sweetness of disposition and manners to be _forgiven_ for possessing superior talents and acquirements.”--Miss ELIZABETH SMITH (_Memoir, by H. M. Bowdler_). [75] In the year 1870 the question was formally asked of the Italian Government whether women were legally entitled to study in the Universities, and the answer was in the affirmative. [76] The University Court consists of the Rector, the Principal, and the Lord Provost of Edinburgh; with five others appointed respectively by the Chancellor, the Rector, the Senatus, the Town-Council of Edinburgh, and the General Council of the University. [77] On this point I may quote the following passage from the _Scotsman_, whose great influence has always been most nobly exerted in this question on the side of justice and liberality, and to whose help in arousing the moral sense of the community, we owe a debt that we can never hope to pay. The words quoted occur in a leading article referring to a meeting of the General Council, of which mention will be found elsewhere:--“Even Dr Christison, who is well known to be in truth the very soul and centre of the opposition, and whose personal influence alone has probably prevailed to carry it on so long in the teeth of public opinion, thought it advisable to say at the Council meeting, that ‘if anything could be done to get the ladies out of their difficulty, he should be glad to be one to give them assistance.’ This expression sounds somewhat farcical to those who are aware that the present dead-lock arises simply from the fact that the ladies’ studies have now brought them to that point at which Dr Christison’s class comes next in turn to be attended, and that the Professor, in spite of his verbal gallantry, has flatly refused either to instruct them himself or facilitate arrangements by which any one can do so in his place.”--_Scotsman_, October 31, 1871.