masculine ferocity and tames the turbulent passions—when it pleads the cause of the needy and comforts the afflicted—when it adorns and beautifies humanity and sheds a halo of loveliness on everything around,—then, indeed, it becomes the greatest of earthly blessings. Nowhere is the strength of that influence more apparent than in New England—nowhere else are family ties more sacredly observed—and nowhere in the wide world are the endearments of the parental hearth so strong and so holy.
Several causes have contributed to give American females a very large share of influence in medical matters, and it must be acknowledged that that influence has often, either directly or indirectly, promoted empiricism. For good or for evil, it is evident that this power is of no trifling importance. Every one knows that no young physician can succeed without the approbation of the maids and matrons of his particular precinct. He is held amenable to their tribunal;—their approving smiles give him life, and hope, and prosperity; or their disapprobation, like the frowns of some angry deity, drives him to
