68 Early Practice of Medieine by Women. [February, 
accustomed to frequent country fairs, about which she loved 
to reel, screaming, abusive, and in a state of beastly intoxi- 
cation.” This attractive lady was by profession a bone- 
setter, and was patronised by patients of rank and wealth, 
who sought her charily bestowed favours with ill-disguised 
contempt of her person. The town authorities of Epsom 
greatly esteemed Mrs. Mapp, or perhaps we should say 
highly valued the benefit the town derived from the influx 
of wealthy patients, and they offered her the sum of five 
hundred dollars per annum if she would continue to reside 
in the town. 
The first half of this century has witnessed the career of 
a few women eminent in the art of healing. In France 
Madame La Chapelle had an extensive gynecological prac- 
tice, and Madame Boivin attained to such distinction that 
she was honoured with the degree of DoCtor of Medicine by 
the University of Marburg. In Germany Charlotte Heiden- 
reich and Frau Heiland, her step-mother, were similarly 
honoured with doctors’ diplomas. 
It is the glory of America that she is distinguished above 
all countries not only as the cradle of liberty, but also as 
the foster-mother of the intellectual advancement of women. 
Yet this has not always been the case: in the early chro- 
nicles of the colonists (themselves refugees from persecution) 
we find, strangely enough, many laws of an exacting and 
repressive character, some of which were aimed direCtly at 
the ambition and zeal of women. In the famous Blue Laws 
of Connecticut the following curious entry occurs under the 
date of March, 1638: — “ Jane Hawkins, the wife of Richard 
Hawkins, had liberty till the beginning of the third month 
called May, and the magistrates (if shee did not depart 
before) to dispose of her ; and in the mean time shee is not 
to meddle in surgery or phisick, drinks, plaisters, or oyles, 
nor to question matters of religion except with the Elders 
for satisfaction.” — (“ True Blue Laws of Connecticut,” by 
J. H. Trumbull, 1876.) 
A hundred and forty years later we find marked progress 
in liberality in the State of Connecticut. As early as 1 773, 
in the town of Torrington, Litchfield County, two women 
were greatly honoured and much sought for on account of 
their remarkable skill as accoucheuses. The first of these, 
Mrs. Jacob Johnson, to quote the historian of Torrington 
(Rev. Samuel Orcutt), was as thoroughly known and 
trusted in her profession as any physician that was ever in 
the town. “ She rode on horseback, keeping a horse for the 
special purpose, and travelling night and day, far and near,” 
