1886.] bOJ [Allen. 



nevolent society who informed him that an abandoned woman was about 

 to be tried for the murder of her child. The poor creature had taken 

 the life of the infant soon after its birth. She had been arrested and at 

 the time that Dr. Smith was notified she was on trial for the crime. It 

 appears that the mother had applied to the Nurses' Home for assistance, 

 but in vain. Dr. Smith Deeded but a simple narration of the facts to 

 have his sympathies aroused. He relinquished all his engagements and re- 

 pairing to the court-room undertook to defend the woman. He endeav- 

 ored to show by statements made on the witness-stand by himself and his 

 medical friends, whom he had summoned, that a homicidal tendency is not 

 infrequently developed in the mother while in the parturient state, that 

 the woman had sought relief and protection at the Nurses' Home, which, 

 had it been granted, would have shielded her from her own maniacal dis- 

 position, and that no premeditation to the murder could be proved. The 

 plea was successful and the woman was acquitted. 



The zeal which always characterized Dr. Smith's efforts to save and de- 

 fend women doubtless accounted for the line of practice he accepted. 

 While a resident at the Pennsylvania Hospital he was noted for the deli- 

 cacy with which he treated the women patients. In his practice he gave 

 evidence of a thorough acquaintance with the peculiar organization of 

 women. He studied not only her physical but her psychical nature. 

 Women returned this appreciation with an esteem and affection that was 

 unbounded. 



A lady whose knowledge of Dr. Smith was gained almost entirely in 

 the course of his professional visits to herself, has recorded some of the im- 

 pressions which she derived from him. His influence, she thought, was 

 due in great part to his sympathy. It had no limits. He took the trials 

 and griefs of others to himself. He was never known to be impatient 

 even when he was weary and sad at heart. As his health failed he dis- 

 guised his sufferings and listened with interest to the most trifling ail- 

 ments. " I saw him," said she, " on the very day that he finally gave up 

 work, yet he was so bright and cheerful that I felt completely reassured 

 that he was restored to health." 



Dr. Smith had a high conception of womanhood. He accepted woman 

 as man's helpmate in the most exalted sense. He held her to be man's 

 guide and controller. In his judgment, while her moral instincts 

 were truer than his, her mental powers were equal, and that on the 

 encouragement given her depended the moral regeneration of the world. 

 He was as urgent in calling her to a true sense of the immense importance 

 of her mission as he was strenuous in his endeavors that society at large 

 should acknowledge her claims. "Woman," said he on the occasion of 

 a memorial meeting held in honor of Professor Cleveland, "must expect 

 to exalt herself to her true position in which she can perform the proper 

 function in the intellectual and social economy."* 



* Papers read at the Memorial Hour in Commemoration of the late Professor 

 Emeline H. Cleveland, M.D., Phila., 1879, p. 28. 



