MEDICAL EDUCATION. 263 MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. -school of Eiliiibui'f^li oil this >(e of tlio Atlantic. In the early part of the ninetoonth century it lie- came customary for Anierieau physicians desirous of studying abroad to take their postgraduate work in Krancc. In this way the teaching of Lacnnee, Trousseau, and above all of the great Louis, became familiar to the American profession, and served to give an immense impetus to scien- tific medical work in the United .States. The most prominent medical colleges of the United States now require candidates for admission to possess a collegiate degree, or to pass examinations practically ecpiivalent to those customary at the termination of the sophomore year of the col- legiate course. According to the report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1898-'J9, there were at that time in the United States a total of 157 medical colleges; of these, 122 were classed as regular, 21 as hoiiKEopathic, G as eclec- tic, 2 as physio-medical, and as post-graduate. There were 23.778 students in these institutions, and 43811 instructors. In almost every State of the Union there are now examining boards which hold biennial examinations, which it is necessary for a physician to pass before he can establish himself in practice in the State. In 1875 there were no medical schools in the United States which required even so much as a three years' course. In 189!) a four years' course was com- pulsory in 141 medical schools. Meuical Euuc.tio. of Womex. The proposi- tion to admit women into the medical profession met with bitter ojiposition, which has gradually given way. Although the Boston Homceopathic School for Women was opened as early as IS48, the Association for the Advancement of the Medical Education of Women, organized some time afterwards, first brought the subject clearly to puldic attention. The Woman's Medical Col- lege at Pliiladclphi.a was opened in 1850, alid graduates about 20 physicians every j'ear. The Woman's iledical College of the Xew York In- firmary was opened in 1S68 by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (q.v.) and her sister Emily, the In- firmary for Women and Children having been in successful operation since its establishment by Dr. Blackwell in 1S53. The college was closed in .June, 1898, having fulfilled its mission. The New York Free ilcdical College for Women was founded in 1870. There are at present, besides these, colleges at Baltimore, San Francisco, and Chicago, and a homa'opathic institution in Xew York. At the University of Michigan female students are admitted to the regular courses in me<lKiuc, which are for four years, attending certain lectures separately. The College of Physicians and Surgeons at Boston and Omaha Medical College are open to both sexes, and the Meharry medical dejiartment of the I'niversily of Central Tennessee was founded for colored male and female students. In the large cities the dispensaries are now open to women, and candidates for degrees in the Woman's Medical College of New Y'ork were received as residents of the New York Infirmary to receive special instruction in obstetrics and phannacy. A be- quest of .$10,000 was left the medical department of Harvard University, with the condition that women slinuld be admitted to the full course of instruction; and although the bequest with ■this proviso was not accepted by the authorities, there was a noticeably strong vote in its favor. Jn 1S90 the tru^lees of .Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, accepted from ladies of that city and elsewhere $100,000 for the endowment fund of the university medical school, with the understanding tliat it should admit women on the same terms as men. Medical schools for women have been found- ed by American women in Turkey, and fifteen gradiurtes of the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia in 1884 were especially prepared for missionary work in foreign lands. One of the first female practitioners in England was ])r. Eliza- beth Blackwell, who settled in T.ondon in 1808 and became connected with the Women's Jledieal College there. As late as 1807 the Apothecaries' Society passed resolutions excluding women from examinations for degrees. The admission of women to the University of Edinburgh led to o|ien riots among the students. The 'enabling bill,' giving permission to medical schools and societies to grant qualifications for the registra- tion of physicians Aithout regard to .sex, was passed by Parliament in 1870; King's and (Jueen's College of Physicians, Dublin, and the London University threw open their doors to women soon afterwards; and a preparatory medi- cal school in London annually recruits the num- ber of female matriculates in these institutions. There are dispensaries at London, Leeds, and Bristol superintended by female physicians; and Queen Victoria during her reign interested her- self in behalf of 'medical missions carried on by Englishwomen in the East. The faculty of medicine at Paris has given ii number of diplo- mas to women, as have the imi versifies of Bern, Zurich, and Geneva. The first woman medical graduate in Germany was !Mrs. Dorothea Chris- tiana Erxleben. who received the medical degree from the University of Halle in 1754. upon rec- onnnendation by Frederick the Great in a royal decree. But medical colleges in Germany were closed to women till 1900, when by a decision of the German Federal Council female medical students were entitled to be admitted to the State examinations in medicine. Heidelberg University opened its doors to women in 1900. Thei-e are medical courses for women at the Carolinian institutions at Stockholm and at Up- sala. The Spanish iiniversities of Madrid. Val- ladolid, and Barcelona extend the same privi- leges. The War Department of the Russian Government founded a medical school for women at Saint Petersburg; a similar institution is now open at iloscow. All the medical societies in the United States and many in foreign countries admit female physicians to their congresses and discussions. MEDICAL ELECTRICITY. See Electbxc- ITY. ^[edical Use.s of. MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE, or Forex- ,sic !Medicixe. The application of medical science to the elucidation of legal questions which have a medical aspect. The questions in- cluded in modern medical jurisprudence are divided by Ciodkin into five general classes: (1) Those arising out of sex relations, as im- potence and sterility, pregnancy, legitimacy, and rape; (2) injuries inflicted on the living or- ganism, as infanticide, wounds, poisons, injuries, and death from violence; (3) questions arising out of disqualifying di-^eascs. as the different forms of mental alienation; (4) those arising out of deceptive practices, as feigned diseases;
