Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  I 
January,  1911.  j 
Susan  Hayhurst. 
37 
We  next  find  her  going  West  for  a  much-needed  rest  and  change, 
and  to  visit  friends.  Then  she  was  asked  to  organize  a  new  pubUc 
school  in  the  town  she  was  visiting,  on  the  Philadelphia  plan.  Hav- 
ing finished  this  work  and  made  the  visit/ she  at  the  end  of  a  year 
returned  to  Philadelphia,  and  with  the  intention  of  taking  up  the 
practice  of  medicine,  entered  the  Woman's  Hospital  to  familiarize 
herself  with  the  advance  ideas  in  medicine  since  her  graduation. 
She  was  solicited  by  the  management  of  the  hospital  to  take 
charge  of  its  pharmaceutical  department,  a  position  of  great  respon- 
sibility, and  entered  on  her  new  duties  in  1876. 
With  her  life-long  habit  of  knowing — what  may  be  knovvu — 
of  the  subject  in  hand,  and  having  turned  away  from  that  which  she 
had  intended  as  a  life  work,  she  again  took  up  the  student  life  in 
connection  with  daily  service  as  pharmacist  at  the  hospital.  It  was 
not  her  habit  to  leave  anything  undone  in  the  way  of  investigation 
that  could  add  to  her  efficiency,  so  she  sought  and  obtained  per 
mission  to  matriculate  at  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
No  difficulty  surrounded  her  attendance  of  these  lectures.  The 
boys  were  probably  not  glad  to  receive  this  one  woman  who  entered 
a  class  heretofore  occupied  entirely  by  men,  and  who  might  mar 
their  college  freedom,  but  they  made  no  offensive  demonstration. 
When  she  took  her  tickets  it  was  a  question  whether  the  college 
would  grant  her  its  diploma,  but  on  the  completion  of  its  course,  she 
was  graduated  in  1883. 
Professor  Remington,  in  his  valedictory  address,  said :  "  It  is  the 
best  and  largest  class  we  have  ever  graduated,  and  we  do  what  has 
never  been  done  in  the  history  of  these  sixty-two  commencements, 
confer  the  degree  on  a  woman."  Then  arose  such  a  storm  of 
applause  as  would  have  satisfied  the  most  ambitious  debutante. 
The  large  hall  was  filled  in  every  part,  and  the  graduates,  150  in 
number,  seemed  to  vie  with  the  audience  in  expressing  their  gratifi- 
cation. 
The  contrast  in  twenty-six  years  between  these  two  commence- 
ments in  which  Dr.  Hayhurst  participated  marks  the  advance  of  pub- 
lic sentiment.  At  the  first  when  it  was  an  innovation  for  women 
to  enter  the  medical  world,  there  were  but  ten  graduates,  a  small 
audience,  and  no  enthusiasm.  A  wide  acquaintance  with  medical 
students  made  lier  influence  far-reaching.  From  India,  Cliina  and 
Japan  came  messages,  gifts  of  rare  and  beautiful  things,  thanks 
