Dr. Lee observed that the committee report and its concluding resolution might be considered to read about as follows: “Whereas in the opinion of this society, the female mind is capable of reaching every stage of advancement to which the male mind is competent: and whereas all history points out examples in which females have mastered every branch of science, art and literature: _therefore_, be it resolved, that any member of this Society who shall consult with a female physician, shall forfeit his privileges as a member of this society.” “The resolution completely stultifies the report.” Nevertheless the resolution was adopted, and the County Medical Society, notwithstanding so many internal protests, reaffirmed its former position. The doughty little society from Montgomery then rushed to the rescue with a counter resolution, flung at its big Philadelphia neighbor like the pebble of David at the face of Goliath: “Whereas the Woman’s Medical College _is_ properly organized, with an intelligent and efficient corps of instructors, in possession of good college buildings, and of all the appliances necessary for medical instruction; that the students and graduates are irreproachable in habits and character, as zealous in the pursuit of knowledge, as intelligent and conscientious, as any of their male compeers; we hold it to be illiberal and unworthy the high character of our profession to withhold from them the courtesies awarded to male physicians.”—E. M. Corson, M.D., Recording Secretary. In 1870, the Montgomery County Society elected Dr. Anna Lukens to membership. In these debates the reasoning of the “opponents,” was always secretly hampered by the lack of a definite standard with which the curriculum of the condemned female schools could be compared. It was perfectly true that the idea prevailed in them, that the real preparation for medical practice was to be “picked up” by beginning to practice; and that, when a legal diploma had once been obtained, all essential difficulties had been removed, and the graduate could at once enter upon her “life work,” with a light heart and assured prospects of success. But then this same idea prevailed also in the men’s schools, that were nevertheless recognized as perfectly “regular,” and whose graduates were readily admitted to membership. On this account, detailed argument upon a legitimate basis soon broke down, and resolutions were substituted which declared the views of the Supreme Being in regard to female physicians.[101] The question was now transferred to the larger area of discussion in the American Medical Association. This is a great national body, composed of delegates from all the State societies, and meeting only once a year in a session of three days, at different portions of the country. In 1871, the annual meeting was held at San Francisco, and the “female physician question” was there subjected to a long and animated debate.[102]