520 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



special instruction every day, and a considerable proportion of their 

 evenings is spent in preparing themselves for this ; 2. They themselves 

 have to teach the younger children in the school for from five to six 

 hours daily ; 3. They have to pass a Government examination at the 

 end of each year, which entails further special private study. This 

 course of instruction continues for five years ; and, being satisfactorily 

 concluded, the pupil becomes an assistant teacher. During the next 

 two years she either resides in a college and there undergoes a special 

 and systematic course of study, or, if her means preclude, she contin- 

 ues the system already described at school, and further prepares her- 

 self for a final examination ; after which, if she acquit herself in an 

 efiicient manner, she becomes a full teacher, and as such is certified by 

 Government. 



Such a career may be said to represent the intellectual life of an 

 ordinary student, in which there are considerable mental strain, a con- 

 stant exertion to acquire and retain knowledge, anxiety as to results, 

 and possibly worry and irritation in details. In consequence, there 

 are diminished exercise, loss of fresh air, and generally deficient hygi- 

 enic surroundings. We have said that numbers of such young women 

 are constantly applying to the hospitals for medical assistance. They 

 complain of physical debility, anaemia, dyspepsia, and loss of appetite ; 

 their functions are disordered and irregular, and they present the usual 

 conditions of bodily weakness and depression. Their nervous system 

 and mental faculties are also affected. They are irritable, nervous, 

 depressed, and melancholic ; they do not sleep at night, partially lose 

 their memories, they suffer from violent headaches, and can not settle 

 to work ; they have all kinds of nervous and subjective pains, hysteri- 

 cal symptoms, and, in short, all the phenomena of nervous and mental 

 as well as of physical exhaustion and debility. If our patients be 

 asked the cause of these ailments, they will with one accord say that 

 it is the hard and constant brain-work, combined with worry and per- 

 petual anxiety. 



From teachers let us turn aside for a moment to women who follow 

 other intellectual employments. If we examine the matter we shall 

 find, a certain number of exceptions always being allowed, that as a 

 rule when females are subjected to severe and prolonged mental exer- 

 tion, more especially if it is associated with anxiety and physical fa- 

 tigue, they break down under the ordeal. How many excellent and 

 clever women have we known who, either from necessity or from love 

 of study, have eagerly embraced and distinguished themselves in lit- 

 erary, scientific, and educational pursuits ! Burning the midnight oil, 

 contending, it may be, with difliculties, harassed with doubt and anx- 

 iety, debilitated from want of rest and bodily fatigue, they struggle 

 on, their circumstances or their enthusiasm impelling them, but at last 

 they, like the pupil-teachers, give way and succumb from sheer ex- 

 haustion. The objects of this paper are to endeavor to explain why 



