248 ]ducatio7i us a Factor in Civilization. 



six in which they are allowed to share in the instruction 

 given to their brothers, have already placed three thou- 

 sand women in lucrative medical practice. Austria is to- 

 day the only civilized country of the world which debars 

 woman from this field of professional labor. In twelve 

 States women are eligible as county school superintendents, 

 and in fourteen they share in school control. "When the 

 English Elementary Education Act was passed, women were 

 at once elected to school-boards, one of them receiving 

 twenty thousand more votes than any other candidate. 

 There was not even the least discussion about the matter. 

 When Prof. Huxley resigned from the London Board he 

 gave as a reason for so doing his belief that a woman could 

 better fill the place. Three years later Boston elected 

 women to the same positions, but not with the ease which 

 had characterized the process in England. The Supreme 

 Court worried itself for an entire year over the momentous 

 question of their eligibility, and when at last it was de- 

 cided that no woman could or ought to serve in such a capac- 

 ity, the legislature promptly passed a law opening all 

 school-boards to women and both the boards and the 

 women have so far survived it. A few other cities have 

 followed the example set by Old and New England, while 

 others are gradually gaining courage to give women the 

 mothers of all the children and the teachers of three-fourths 

 of them the privilege of expressing an opinion as to how 

 these children shall be cared for, but with painful realiza- 

 tion of the solemn fact that in so doing they are running 

 a most awful risk. The Alumnae Association, formed in 

 1882 by the graduates of the women's colleges, has now a 

 membership of nearly one thousand, with branch organiza- 

 tions in several cities. It is arranging for home study and 

 advanced courses for stiulents, investigating many impor- 

 tant social questions, and collecting facts concerning the 

 results of higher education for women. 



Why it is so monstrous a thing for men and womeii to 

 study together, while they live aiul labor together in all 

 other relations of life, is one of the profound mysteries 

 which science has yet to solve, but co-education, so far 

 as it lias been tried, has not perceptibly undermined the 

 foundations of society. Oberlin College was brave 

 enough to introduce this innovation in 1833, and since 

 that time many of our best colleges have allowed their 



