whereby the gates, so long closed, began to swing slowly open to the kingdom of hope.
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell invited Marie to assist in her dispensary, offered to give her lessons in English and obtained admission for her to the Cleveland Medical College. The two years at this college gave her considerable pecuniary distress and in 18SS, when joyfully expecting the arrival of her mother, a despatch brought her the crushing news of her death and burial at sea. Returning to New York, Dr. Zakrzewska with Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell bent every effort to the task of bringing into existence the "New York Infirmary for Women," which was opened in May, 1857, with Dr. Zakrzewska as first resident physician.
In 1859 the New England Female Medical College of Boston invited Dr. Zakrzewska to fill the chair of obstetrics. Dr. Zakrzewska consented, with the provision that a hospital for chemical work should be opened with the college. After three years, finding growth impossible either in college or hospital, she resigned to begin the foundation of a hospital for women and children. Friends were ready to aid and a small ten-bed hospital was started in Pleasant Street in 1862. The hospital was incorporated March 12, 1863, the incorporators being Lucy Goddard, Marie E. Zakrzewska, and Ednah D. Cheney. Its objects were to provide for women medical aid of competent physicians of their own sex, to assist educated women in the practical study of medicine, and to train nurses for the care of the sick. Rapidly the work increased and eventually land was purchased in Roxbury and a thoroughly equipped building erected, which became the New England Hospital for Women and Children of 150 beds and invested funds of a million and a half dollars. For nearly forty years Dr. Zakrzewska was the guiding inspiration.
Though she did not marry, her roof sheltered two sisters and the family of a German reformer, Karl Hinzen, a Republican exile. She wrote much on important and vital questions.
In 1899 Dr. Zakrzewska, now seventy years old, retired. She had been suffering for some time from a nervous trouble which took the form of noises, which she described to a physician as a steady sound of falling rain preventing sleep, which evoked the comment "Well we do fall asleep even if it rains hard, and so you will." With fortitude and cheerfulness she awaited the last sleep which came on May 12, 1902.
Among the papers she has left are interesting and valuable talks upon: "Climate; Its Influence upon Health;" "The Woman's Club;" "Amusements; The Value of the Theatre;" "The Dormitory System in Schools and Colleges;" "The Poor; How Best to Help Them;" "The Duty of the Physician to Give Moral as Well as Physical Aid to Her Patient;" "The American Woman" (a series of able articles sent to an English woman's journal.
Zollickoffer, William (1793–1853)
The available material for a life of William Zollickoffer, botanist, proved very scanty. He graduated M. D. at the University of Maryland in 1818, and the Washington University in 1838. In the minutes of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland is a note that in 1830 Dr. William Zollickoffer was put in charge of a "vaccine agency" in Baltimore provided he should sustain it for one year and conduct it to the satisfaction of the faculty. He was one of the earliest in the United States to write a materia medica and his book entitled "A Materia Medica of the United States," came out in 1819, and was re-issued in 1827. He also wrote, in 1822, a pamphlet on the "Use of Prussiate of Iron in Intermitting and Remitting Fevers." He was lecturer on medical botany, materia medica and therapeutics at the University of Maryland. It is said the Zollikoferia, one of the asteraceae, was named after him by De Candolle. His death took place in Carroll County, Maryland, in 1853, at the age of sixty.
