Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to WomenBlackwell, Elizabeth
History
Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women
Blackwell, Elizabeth
Blackwell, Elizabeth, 1821-1910; Women physicians -- United States -- Biography
The first course of medical lectures which I attended was in a
medical college in the interior of this State in 1847-48. The class,
numbering about 150 students, was composed largely of young men from
the neighbouring towns. They were rude, boisterous, and riotous beyond
comparison. On several occasions the residents of the neighbourhood
sent written protests to the faculty, threatening to have the college
indicted as a nuisance if the disturbance did not cease. During
lectures it was often almost impossible to hear the professors, owing
to the confusion.
Some weeks after the course began the dean appeared before the class
with a letter in his hand, which he craved the indulgence of the
students to be allowed to read. Anticipation was extreme when he
announced that it contained the most extraordinary request which had
ever been made to the faculty. The letter was written by a physician
of Philadelphia, who requested the faculty to admit as a student
a lady who was studying medicine in his office. He stated that she
had been refused admission by several medical colleges, but, as this
institution was in the country, he thought it more likely to be free
from prejudice against a woman medical student. The dean stated that
the faculty had taken action on the communication, and directed him
to report their conclusion to the class. The faculty decided to leave
the matter in the hands of the class, with this understanding—that if
any single student objected to her admission, a negative reply would
be returned. It subsequently appeared that the faculty did not intend
to admit her, but wished to escape direct refusal by referring the
question to the class, with a proviso which, it was believed, would
necessarily exclude her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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