WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



lize the practice of medicine. They, like the medical fac- 

 ulty of Paris, strenuously objected to women "putting the 

 sickle into their harvest," and they, accordingly, left noth- 

 ing undone to circumvent the intrusion of those whom they 

 always regarded as undesirable competitors. 



It was argued by the men that women, to begin with, 

 lacked the strength and capacity necessary for medical 

 practice. It was also urged that it was indelicate and un- 

 womanly for the gentler sex to engage in the healing art, 

 and that, for their own good, they should be excluded from 

 it at all costs. Those who were willing to waive these 

 objections contended that women had not the knowledge 

 necessary for the profession of medicine and should be 

 excluded on the score of ignorance. When women sought 

 to qualify themselves for medical practice by seeking in- 

 struction under licenced practitioners or in medical schools, 

 they found a deaf ear turned to their requests. The doc- 

 tors declined to teach them and the medical schools, one 

 and all, closed their doors against them. 



Thus it was that in England, France and Germany the 

 practice of medicine and surgery was always practically in 

 the hands of men until only a generation ago. Even the 

 English midwives gradually ' ' fell from their high estate, ' ' 

 and were left far behind the female obstetricians of Ger- 

 many and France. For these two countries can point to 

 a number of midwives who, by their knowledge, successful 

 practice, and the books they wrote, achieved a celebrity 

 that still endures. 



Chief among these in Germany were Regina Joseph von 

 Siebold, her daughter Carlotta, and Frau Teresa Frei, all 

 of whom, in the early part of the last century, enjoyed an 

 enviable reputation in the Fatherland. 



The first named, after following a course of lectures on 

 physiology and the diseases of women and children, and 

 passing a brilliant examination in the medical college of 

 Darmstadt, devoted herself to the practice of obstetrics, 



