Less skillful as an operator, but of greater ability as a doctor than Mme. La Chapelle, was her illustrious contemporary, Mme. Bovin. Possessing extraordinary insight as an investigator and marvelous sagacity as a diagnostician, Mme. Bovin achieved the distinction of being the first really great woman doctor of modern times. Her marvelous success as a practitioner--Dupuytren said she had an eye at the tip of her finger--her extended knowledge of the entire range of gynecology, but above all her numerous treatises on the subject matter of her life work, gave her a prestige that none of her sex had ever before enjoyed, and commanded the admiration of the doctors of the world. Her _Memorial de l'Art des Accouchements_ passed through many editions and was translated into several European languages. And so highly were her scientific attainments valued in Germany that the University of Marburg recognized them by conferring on her--_honoris causa_--the degree of doctor of medicine and, had its rules permitted the admission of women, the Royal Academy of Medicine would have honored her with a place among its members. She was also the recipient of many other honors, besides being a member of several learned societies. But the greatest monument to her genius is a large illustrated treatise in two volumes, in which she exhibits a wonderful knowledge of anatomy, physiology, surgery, pathology and therapeutics. It gave her a large following in Germany as well as in France, and there were not wanting distinguished German _accoucheurs_ who followed Mme. Bovin's teachings to the letter. The remarkable German and French women just named were all practically self-made women. They won fame as they had acquired knowledge--chiefly by courage, in spite of the countless obstacles that beset their paths. They owed nothing to schools or universities, nothing to government patronage or assistance, nothing to the medical fraternity as a whole. Universities would not admit them to their lecture rooms or laboratories, and the various medical faculties opposed them as intruders into their jealously guarded domain, and as competitors whose aspirations were to be frustrated, whatever the means employed. It is true that, when some of the women mentioned had won world-wide renown by their achievements, they were made the recipients of belated honors by certain universities and learned societies; but these societies and universities were then honoring themselves as much as the women who received their degrees and diplomas of membership.