Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to WomenBlackwell, Elizabeth
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Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women
Blackwell, Elizabeth
Blackwell, Elizabeth, 1821-1910; Women physicians -- United States -- Biography
I have just returned from an interview with Miss Nightingale
at Malvern in relation to a school for nurses which she
wishes to establish; and I start to-morrow for France _en
route_ for Mentone. My old friend’s health is failing from
the pressure of mental labour. I cannot go into the details
of her last five years now, but the labour has been and is
immense. I think I have never known a woman labour as she
has done. It is a most remarkable experience; she indeed
deserves the name of a worker. Of course we conversed very
earnestly about the nursing plan in which she wished to
interest me. She says that for six months she shall be
utterly unable to give any thought to the fund work, and
wants me meanwhile to observe English life very carefully,
and make up my mind as to whether I can give up America,
which she thinks a very serious matter. Unfortunately she
does not think private practice possible in connection with
her plan. If so, it would be impossible for us to help her.
She thinks her own health will never permit her to carry
out her plan herself, and I much fear she is right in this
belief.
After a short visit to the Riviera, to confer with the Countess de
Noailles about her proposed sanatorium for women, I returned to
London. There my warm friends the Misses Leigh Smith, supported
by their generous-hearted father, and Miss Bessie Rayner Parkes,
interested themselves actively in preparing for the first delivery
of my lectures. The Marylebone Hall was secured. Our young friends
brought up primroses and other lovely flowers and green wreaths from
Hastings to ornament the reading-desk, and warmly supported me by their
ardent sympathy. On March 2, 1859, the first lecture was given to a
very intelligent and appreciative audience, whose interest was warmly
enlisted. I well remember the tears rolling down the benevolent face
of Miss Anna Goldsmid, who sat immediately in front of me. But the
most important listener was the bright, intelligent young lady whose
interest in the study of medicine was then aroused—Miss Elizabeth
Garrett—who became the pioneer of the medical movement in England,
and who, as Mrs. Garrett Anderson, lives to see the great success of
her difficult and brave work.
These addresses were afterwards given in Manchester, Birmingham, and
Liverpool; Mr. Bracebridge kindly making arrangements for them in
Birmingham and the Rev. W. H. Channing in Liverpool.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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