------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transcriber’s Note: This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs or quotations in which they are referenced. Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Only the most egregious of these have been corrected if they occur within quoted text, particularly juvenile matter. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. THE LIFE OF SOPHIA JEX-BLAKE _By the same Author_ ------------------------------------ MONA MACLEAN FELLOW TRAVELLERS WINDYHAUGH THE WAY OF ESCAPE GROWTH ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: _Samuel Laurence pinx._ _Emery Walker ph. sc._ _Sophia Jex-Blake_ _at the age of 25_ ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE LIFE OF SOPHIA JEX-BLAKE BY MARGARET TODD, M.D. (GRAHAM TRAVERS) MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON 1918 _COPYRIGHT_ GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD. TO ALL THOSE MENTIONED IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES OR PASSED OVER FROM IGNORANCE OR WANT OF SPACE, WHO LENT A HELPING HAND TO A BRAVE AND UNSELFISH FIGHTER, THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED PREFACE There are several reasons why it has seemed worth while to write the life of Sophia Jex-Blake at some length. 1. She was one of the people who really do live. In the present day a woman is fitted into her profession almost as a man is. Sixty years ago a highly dowered girl was faced by a great venture, a great quest. The life before her was an uncharted sea. She had to find her self, to find her way, to find her work. In many respects youth was incomparably the most interesting period of a life history.