194 MEMOIR OF DR. HARVEY. 



equal distances through the whole length of the city, and are 

 crossed by other streets called first, second, third, fourth, &c, so 

 that you know at once to what quarter of the city you are 

 directed. It is a very convenient plan, though it looks funny on 

 a card, or a letter, " 26 South Thirteenth Street," &c. We dined 



with Mrs. W , and in the evening went to hear Lucretia 



Mott, a Hicksite preacher, deliver a lecture on the rights of 

 women. The occasion was this : a Mr. Dana, of Boston (poet 

 and so forth), has been lecturing in Philadelphia on sundry 

 matters. Among the rest, he gave two lectures on woman, 

 wherein he defined her duties within narrow limits, seeming to 

 hold (by what I could gather) with the old song, " The wife for 

 my money maun make a good pudding," at least, he taught 

 that her duties did not extent beyond the fireside. Some say 

 that he held up Desdemona as a model, others that he did not 

 go so far. However it may be, what he said roused the spirit of 

 Lucretia, and so she determined to lecture in reply. There was 

 a highly respectable audience of 600 or 800. She addressed us 

 for nearly two hours. I agreed with much that she brought 

 forward, and when she seemed to differ from me, her views were 

 so vaguely stated that I should be puzzled to say where she 

 "got off the rails" Among her instances of illustrious women 

 were Miriam, Deborah, Jael, Judith, Joan of Arc, and Elizabeth 

 Fry. She claimed for women perfect equality, a wife was not 

 to obey her husband, but husband and wife were the arms of a 

 balance, and whichever was weightiest was to have weight (the 

 illustration is mine but conveys her meaning so far as I could 

 catch it). Women were unjustly treated in being taxed while 

 they had no votes and were uneligible to office, &c. The 

 laws affecting women's property were reviewed and roughly 

 handled, and in this respect a hard case was made out. Non- 

 resistance was held up, and women's preaching, with a variety of 

 other matters. Her delivery was good, but a little rambling, 

 with repetitions, and she was rather obscure on the points where 

 I wished her to be most definite. 



Tuesday, I called on Dr. Hare, late Professor of Chemistry in 

 the University, who took me to the Laboratory, and introduced 

 me to Professor Eogers. There I met several persuns, among 

 whom was Dr. Leidy, a young man, Avho will be famous if he 

 lives, and goes ahead ; according to present promises. He has 



