WOMAN IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
It is hard to realize in these days of professional equality between the sexes that only half a century ago a woman who desired to study medicine was considered such a phenomenon that her morality and the purity of her motives were questioned. And yet this desire is only natural, as the life of every woman has moments when she has to call for medical help. There are especially the transition to womanhood, all the experiences of motherhood, and the many ailments peculiar to women. To be compelled to consult in these cases a male physician, is for many bashful girls and women such a repellant thought, that they quite often postpone it from week to week, until too late.
No doubt such were the reasons and experiences which caused Agnodice, an Athenian girl, born about 300 B. C, to disguise her sex in order that she might study medicine. Like Dr. Mary Walker in the 19th Century, she donned male attire and became a disciple of Herophilus, an eminent physician and anatomist of the Alexandrian School. Her specialty was midwifery and women's diseases, and when she started to practice herself, she met with such great success that her male colleagues became jealous and tried to prevent her from practicing by accusing her of corruption before the Areopagus. But the result of the proceedings was quite contrary to their expectations, as a law was immediately passed allowing all free-born women to learn midwifery.
Since then female physicians practiced in Hellas as well as in Alexandria and in Rome. And when in the 9th Century after Christ the famous Schola Salernitana was established at Salerno, a department for women's diseases was included, with a number of female professors as teachers. The names of several of these professors are still known; the most noted was the celebrated Tortula, who lived in the 11th Century. Abella, Constanza, Calendas, and Hildegarde too have been praised for their great ability.
This eminent position held by women in the medical profession declined slowly after the 12th Century, and practically disappeared after the 16th Century. The cause for this relapse was undoubtedly the increasing hostility of the Christian Church toward any occupation of women with sciences. This prejudice remained alive up to modern times. It was dominant in 1845 when a young American woman, Elizabeth Blackwell, decided to study medicine. The same motives as had moved the Athenian Agnodice and the loss of a dear woman friend caused the young American to write to various physicians asking; as to the wisdom and possibility of a woman becoming a doctor. The answers she received
187
