Bell.] YkHc | March 21, 



A vacancy in the chair of Midwifery in the University of Pennsylvania, 

 was created by the broken health and subsequent resignation of Dr. 

 Dewees ; and Dr. Meigs presented himself as a candidate for the succes- 

 sion. The contest between him and his successful rival, Dr. Hugh L. 

 Hodge, was animated and served to extend a knowledge of his profes- 

 sional and personal merits. His disappointment on the occasion was 

 keen, but was soon compensated for by his receiving with, we believe, 

 entire unanimity on the part of the Trustees of the institution, the Pro- 

 fessorship of Midwifery in the Jefferson Medical College in 1841. Three 

 other chairs, viz. : of the Practice of Medicine, Chemistry, and Surgery, 

 were rilled at the same time by the election of Drs. John K. Mitchell, 

 Franklin Bache, and Thomas D- Mutter ; the other Professors were Drs. 

 Joseph Pancoast, Robert M. Huston, and Roblev Dunglison. Under this 

 re-organization of the Faculty, the fortunes of the Jefferson College, 

 which in former years had been often clouded and adverse, became at 

 once propitious and successful, and to this happy result it must be said 

 with a full appreciation of the ability and attainments of his associates in 

 the College, Dr. Meigs largely contributed. With his professional 

 treasury full to overflowing, earnest in inculcation, fluent in speech, easy 

 and familiar, often approaching to colloquy in delivery he made his youth- 

 ful auditory feel that they were addressed by a wise, experienced and 

 affectionate parent whose lessons, whether of encouragement or warning 

 amid the trials of the sick-room, were at once their belief and deeply 

 impressed on their memory, to serve for their future guidance. Some 

 shading to this picture is found in affluence of speech, which was some- 

 times redundant, and a euphemism leading to affectation in style, but in 

 his case there was no straining after effect, and it seemed as if he could 

 not help embellishing the substance of his prelections byword-ornament 

 which was not always taken from the vernacular. His love for the beau- 

 tiful was ingrained in his philosophy, and gave a coloring both to his 

 written and spoken compositions, and the strongest instance of which 

 is exhibited in his work, " Woman : Her Diseases and Remedies," in the 

 form of letters addressed to his Class in 1848. 



The author describing to his readers her diseases and the means of cure 

 presents a picture of woman with aU her attributes, as a sentient, ex- 

 citable and imaginative being, easily affected by the surrounding influences 

 of sky and air and social habits, craving for admiration, affection and 

 friendship, charming even in her smaller vanities, and noble in the 

 devoted discharge of domestic and religious duties at every sacrifice. 

 From her come the quickening spirit of the charities and amenities of 

 the world, all that adds grace to civilization, and impels and sustains 

 man in deeds of patriotism and practical philanthropy. 



The author illustrates his view of woman's nature by drawing on 

 physiology, psychology, classic lore, and the collateral aids of poetry and 

 the fine arts, with such happy adaptation as to make that which might at 

 first seem to be diffuse and extraneous matter, appear to be a part of the 

 general argument, not merely to show what woman is, but in what 

 variety of channels the physician must carry his scrutiny, and what a 



