CHAPTER XL

Opening of the new Dispensary building (the Pope Dispensary)--Dr. Zakrzewska speaks of the relation of the Dispensary to confidence in women surgeons--The new surgical building (the Ednah D. Cheney Surgical Building)--Dr. Zakrzewska’s remarks on the progress of the woman physician as demonstrated by these added new buildings (made more complete later by the Kimball Cottage for the Children’s Department)--Celebration of her seventieth birthday by a reception and by the naming of the original main building “The Zakrzewska Building”--Fatigue of this reception emphasized the failing health which had already caused her retirement from private practice--Her characteristic acceptance of the inevitable--Her death--Her funeral services--Her farewell message. (1896-1902.)

In 1896, Dr. Zakrzewska again refers to the confidence of the community in women surgeons, illustrating it by an experience which she relates in her address at the opening of the new Dispensary building (Pope Dispensary--donated by Colonel Albert A. Pope and named for the donor and his twin sisters, Drs. Augusta and Emily Pope) which was located on the site of the old one at No. 29 Fayette Street. She says:

Our Dispensary in especial serves another purpose, namely, to convince rich and poor, educated and uneducated, professionals and nonprofessionals that women physicians can serve the community at large as well as can men physicians.

Said an Irishman to me a few weeks ago, when I pronounced it necessary for a member of his family to undergo a serious operation and advised further consultation with other physicians, “Can’t we have one of the women surgeons from your Hospital?”

Seeing my surprise at this proposition, as the man was by no means an educated person, he said, “Well, Doctor, when I came to this country with my wife, we were very poor and knew nothing. The good women of the Pleasant Street Dispensary attended to us and taught us to take care of ourselves. All our children were born under their care, and they watched that we did right by them, all without any charge. Now that we can afford good pay, I am sure we want the same, for I swear by the women doctors.” This speech, delivered in good broad Irish brogue, made me laugh most heartily. I soon had the case in the hands of the proper attendant, and all went well.

So, friends, let us be proud of all we have done, with the promise to do more and better work as science advances.

In June, 1899, on Mrs. Cheney’s seventy-fifth birthday, the cornerstone of the new surgical building (the Ednah D. Cheney Surgical Building) was laid. In an address made at that time, Dr. Zakrzewska says:

After fifty years of experimental agitation and practical work, we now are completing the third department of the medical art in laying the cornerstone for this building. The medical pavilion, the maternity, and now the surgical pavilion are the proofs in brick and mortar of woman’s independent and faithful performances in the medical profession.

The confidence of the public which generously provided the means for this cause, the confidence of the sick who sought relief at the hands of the women physicians, and the attitude of the profession in general towards the woman practitioner--all these have been acquired through skillful and patient labor.

It would be affectation if we women physicians did not feel proud of the result which we now see materialized, grateful as we are to all those who in earlier years bore with us not only the doubt and opposition but also the ridicule of our attempts. While we remember those who have done their part so valiantly, we do not forget those who have passed away without having had the satisfaction which we now enjoy in the success of our early effort.

On September 6, 1899, she celebrated her seventieth birthday, and on October 24, as stated in the annual report:

The Hospital tried to do honor to the one who, more than all others, deserves to be honored--its senior physician, Dr. Zakrzewska. In her thought, the New England Hospital was born. Because of her zeal and untiring energy and the aid of a few earnest friends, it became a fact. And from that day to the present one, as wise woman, skillful physician, and faithful friend, she has been an inspiration to all.

A reception was tendered her by the Hospital at the home of Mrs. Thomas Mack and there, with Mrs. Cheney to assist, she greeted her many friends, old and new.

That the Hospital shall always bear an evident sign of its originator, it has been decided to name the main building which was the first one built, “The Zakrzewska Building,” and to have it suitably marked by a tablet.

The exhausting excitement of this celebration aggravated the nerve fatigue which had been hanging out warning signals for many years, and to which attention has been called in these pages. At last these admonitions had become peremptory, and at last the high-spirited physician was obliged to confess herself subject to the laws regarding which she had so often cautioned her patients.

A study of her symptoms would in these days lead to a diagnosis of arteriosclerosis, that sad, sure reaction that waits inevitably upon the over-strenuous life, whether this follows the spur of the inward urge or the whip of circumstance. In the earlier days of medical practice, when symptoms of this condition were most in evidence through cerebral manifestations, the diagnosis of an obscure and fatal nervous disease was made, and so it was in this case.

The keen-sighted patient realized that her ailment was progressive, that it might be palliated though not cured, and that the imperative treatment lay in a simplified mode of life with avoidance of care, anxiety and excitement.

So she retired from the last detail of private practice, put her affairs in order, even arranging her funeral service, and then she cheerfully turned her mind to bearing her discomforts philosophically and to making the best of the time which remained.

When the realization of the finality of her situation came to her, she was undoubtedly shaken (when the final summons comes, every normal-minded human being quivers, even if it be only for the moment), but she was not dismayed. Subconsciously her physical condition must have aroused compensatory instincts, as it does with all of us, for at one time she wrote:

Death is to me a good friend. Whenever it comes, it is welcome. So many of my contemporaries have gone and are going into Nirvana, the world becomes young daily and new to me, into which newness I can hardly find myself. So that, when I say, “I have enough,” I say the truth.

But additional acceptance of her position was favored by the serenity which comes to a mind which had long recognized the inevitable limitations which time would some time bring, for she writes:

For some years I have been saving money for old age, and in fact, I have done what I have so often encouraged other women to do--become independent of friends and charity. I have arranged to be independent until eighty years--to which age I sincerely hope not to live.

She seldom spoke of herself or of her feelings, but at one time she wrote:

If it were not for my poor head, I would say I was in better health than for years. But, alas! the nervous centers refuse to recuperate and the least excitement renders me sleepless, and a host of regrets, reproaches and condemnations rise up like demons to torment me.

Then, in one of the characteristic remissions of the condition, she writes, with one of her customary glints of humor:

I intend to live another seventy years because life seems so well worth living.

Once she wrote more in detail to Mrs. Cheney, because, as she said:

... It seems to me right that my dearest and oldest friend should understand me and not misjudge my actions.... Years ago some confusion of mind warned me of trouble to come, and it finally set in in the form of noises in my head. I scolded myself for being so nervous in my behavior while being irritated by these sounds, and I went gladly to California, hoping to get benefit by diversion.

However, the two distinct noises on the top of my head kept increasing so that even the noise of the cars did not drown them. Still I forced myself to act cheerfully and was determined not to be hopeless. Little by little, however, indifference toward events, then toward people, and now toward the beauty of nature, has crept upon me.

I have spoken to Dr. Berlin about this noise and described it as a steady sound of falling rain which prevented my falling asleep, to which she replied, “Well, we do fall asleep even if it rains hard, and so will you.” I do not care to talk with other physicians, as I have made a study of brain trouble more than anything else and can therefore advise myself. Besides, talking about it increases the nervous irritation. So please take this as it is written, in cool reason--it is an inevitable condition which must be braved.

Less than three years were left to test her fortitude. She grew steadily weaker and on May 12, 1902, her release came. After a night of restlessness and intense discomfort she fell asleep, never waking again but passing at sunset into the Silence.

On a beautiful afternoon, the closing scene was laid in the chapel of the Forest Hills Crematory, and the details were as she had arranged. She had requested that no flowers should be used--she who so loved Nature and all the lovely growing things--and in this her friends respected her wishes. But they could not be denied the tribute of green palms and wreaths of laurel.

There was no music, no service in the ordinary terms. Her older friend--William Lloyd Garrison--having gone before, his son of the same name and her younger friend, made a short introductory address. And then Mrs. Emma E. Butler, secretary of the board of directors of the Hospital, read the farewell letter which Dr. Zakrzewska had written for the occasion:

During my whole lifetime, I have had my own way as much as any human being can have it without entirely neglecting social rules or trespassing upon the comfort of others more than is necessary for self-preservation.

And now, upon this occasion, I wish to have my own way in taking leave of those who shall come for the last time to pay such respect as custom, inclination and friendship shall prompt, asking them to accept the assurance that I am sorry to pass from them, this time never to return.

While these words are being read to you, I shall be sleeping a peaceful, well-deserved sleep--a sleep from which I shall never arise. My body will go back to that earthly rest whence it came. My soul will live among you, even among those who will come after you.

I am not speaking of fame, nor do I think that my name, difficult though it be, will be remembered. Yet the idea for which I have worked, the seeds which I have tried to sow here and there, must live and spread and bear fruit. And after all, what matters it who prepared the way wherein we walk? We only know that great and good men and women have always lived and worked for an idea which favored progress. And so I have honestly tried to live out my nature--not actuated by an ambition to be somebody or to be remembered especially, but because I could not help it.

The pressure which in head and heart compelled me to see and to think ahead, compelled me to love to work for the benefit of womankind in general, irrespective of country or of race. By this, I do not wish to assert that I thought of all women before I thought of myself. Oh, no! It was just as much in me to provide liberally for my tastes, for my wishes, for my needs. I had about as many egotistical wants to be supplied as has the average of womankind.

To look out for self and for those necessary to my happiness, I always considered not only a pleasure but a duty. I despised the weakness of characters who could not say “No” at any time, and thus gave away and sacrificed all their strength of body and mind, as well as their money, with that soft sentimentality which finds assurance in the belief that others will take care of them as they have taken care of others.

But, in taking leave, I cannot pass by those who, in every possible way in which human beings can assist one another, have assisted me by giving me their true friendship. Of my earliest career in America, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell has been the most powerful agent in strengthening what was weak in me; while shortly afterward, my acquaintance with Miss Mary L. Booth fed the enthusiasm kindled by Dr. Blackwell and strengthened me in my uphill path. The friendship of these two women formed the corner stone upon which I have built all my life long.

To many valuable friends in New York I owe a deep gratitude, and especially to Mrs. Robert G. Shaw of Staten Island. In Boston, I leave a great number of friends, without whom I never could have accomplished anything and who have developed my character as well as faculties dormant within me of which I was unaware. It is the contact with people of worth which develops and polishes us and illuminates our every thought and action.

To me the most valuable of these early friends were Miss Lucy Goddard, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, Mrs. George W. Bond, Mrs. James Freeman Clarke, Mrs. George R. Russell, Dr. Lucy E. Sewall and Dr. Helen Morton--not that I give to them a place higher than to others, but because I am fully conscious how deeply they affected my innermost life and how each one made its deep imprint upon my character.

I feel that whatever work may be ascribed to my hand could not have been done without them. Although I could not number them in the list of other friends who, in a special sense, formed a greater part of my life’s affections, still I owe to each and every one a great debt. And I wish now, whether they be still alive or in simple tribute to their memory, to tell them of my appreciation of their kindness.

To those who formed the closer family circle in my affections--Mr. Karl Heinzen, Miss Julia A. Sprague, and my sisters--I have tried to show my gratitude during the whole of my life, on the principle of Freiligrath’s beautiful poem:

O Lieb, so lang du lieben kannst; O Lieb, so lang du lieben magst; Die Stunde kommt, die Stunde kommt, Wo du an Grabern stehst und klagst.

And now, in closing, I wish to say farewell to all those who thought of me as a friend, to all those who were kind to me, assuring them all that the deep conviction that there can be no further life is an immense rest and peace to me. I desire no hereafter. I was born; I lived; I used my life to the best of my ability for the uplifting of my fellow creatures; and I enjoyed it daily in a thousand ways. I had many a pang, many a joy, every day of my life; and I am satisfied now to fall a victim to the laws of nature, never to rise again, never to see and know again what I have seen and known in my life.

As deeply sorry as I always have been when a friend left me, just so deeply sorry shall I be to leave those whom I loved. Yet I know that I must submit to the inevitable, and submit I do--as cheerfully as a fatal illness will allow. I have already gone in spirit, and now I am going in body. All that I leave behind is my memory in the hearts of the few who always remember those whom they have loved. Farewell.

* * * * *

Perhaps she is right. Perhaps in the ordinary egoistic sense in which the word is used, there is no such thing as Immortality. Nevertheless--the spirit of Marie E. Zakrzewska still lives.

AFTERWORD

The personal quest of Marie E. Zakrzewska is ended. The land of dispossession and refusal has been penetrated by many small parties under her and other leadership, and many outposts have been established and are being valiantly held.

But the battle which she faced and fought is not ended. It remains for all lovers of justice to sustain the impulsion which carried her on and so to continue the fight till the truth of her watchword, “Science has no sex,” is acknowledged. Then, and only then, will her life’s work be fulfilled.

In medicine, many doors of opportunity have been opened as the result of her life and the lives of her sister pioneers. But as with her and with them, the struggle persists around the hospitals. Many if not most of the great medical schools are now open to women but to-day, even as in Dr. Zakrzewska’s day, the attainment of the degree of M.D. is only the beginning of medical knowledge.

Opportunities for hospital study and training are needed not only for the subsequent year of interneship, but as a constant resource all through the professional life. With a few exceptions, these opportunities are not yet open to women, and women are to-day hampered by this exclusion even more than they were in the past.

With the modern expansion of the science and art of medicine and the increasing elaboration of the required appliances and methods of examination, hospitals have become great centers of laboratory and clinical investigation and research. And the physician who is not able to form contact with some such center is crippled and is compelled to do his work either imperfectly or at the cost of tremendous additional strain.

This is the reason why we have just said that the opening of all hospital opportunities to women on equal terms with men is yet more imperative to-day than it was when Dr. Zakrzewska made such valiant battle for her sisters.

At the same time, when women seem to have attained opportunities, they still find it necessary to remember Dr. Zakrzewska’s distrust and fear of beguilement, to remain on guard and to take all possible steps to keep secure all that has been so painfully achieved.

Even among nonmedical students and in circles that are supposed to be the most broadly educated, here and there the tolerances and amenities of civilized life develop slowly. Thus as late as October 20, 1921, the students of the University of Cambridge (England) express their disapproval of even “limited membership” for women by the old, worn-out methods of mobbing and rioting--battering down and smashing the valuable memorial gates of the women’s college, Newnham. The arrival of the police prevented their further progress there, but at Peile Hall, they reached the doors and tried to force entrance into the college itself, which further outrage was again prevented by the police.

In 1922 the London Hospital decided to exclude women from the classes and services to which they had been admitted since 1908. The story has a familiar sound--“... the chairman emphasizes the fact that the step has not been brought about by any failure of the women students ... who have done very well in every way, in work, in conduct, and in discipline.”

Notwithstanding all the handicaps imposed on woman, she has demonstrated that “science has no sex.” Do not her opponents now need to demonstrate that they themselves are worthy followers of science by accepting truth wherever it may be found and by rendering impartial justice to every one?

As some of these pages are being written (June 21, 1921), Madame Marie Curie is in Boston.

The morning papers report that she was yesterday given a reception by Harvard University. President Lowell presided, and in his address he ranked Madame Curie with “Sir Isaac Newton and other epoch-making discoverers.” He then introduced Professor Richards of the Department of Chemistry, who said, “The discovery of Madame Curie gave the world new ideas concerning the structure of the universe, and opened a new path of thought to scientists.”

The highest mark of distinction which a college or university can bestow upon a person whom it desires to honor is an honorary degree. At its Commencement, three days later, Harvard did not confer an honorary degree on Madame Curie. Would it have conferred one on Sir Isaac Newton?

Is scholarship, then, the ideal of a college or university? Or is it scholarship which happens to be attained by a sex?

But humanity is neither male nor female: it is both. And both possess all human faculties plus the specialized qualities of the sex of the individual. The nonrecognition of this basic fact impedes the progress of the race. And the subjection of either sex to the other impedes both.

Hence, an appeal for justice to women, such as is embodied in this life of Marie E. Zakrzewska, is equally an appeal for justice to men. The man who would hold woman in subjection is himself held in subjection. For

“The woman’s cause is man’s: they rise or sink Together, dwarf’d or godlike, bond or free: For she that out of Lethe scales with man The shining steps of Nature, shares with man His nights, his days, moves with him to one goal, Stays all the fair young planet in her hands-- If she be small, slight-natured, miserable, How shall men grow?”

NOTES

This statement and related ones throughout the autobiographical chapters are the only references to her family history made in this connection by Dr. Zakrzewska.

A “Memoir of Dr. Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska, issued by the New England Hospital for Women and Children, Boston, 1903,” quotes her as writing to a friend, “I am in reality as family-proud as any aristocrat can possibly be, but I prefer to be remembered only as a woman who was willing to work for the elevation of Woman.” This Memoir further says:

The Polish family of Zakrzewski of which her father and grandfather were in the line of direct descendants, is one of the most ancient in Europe and traces its history back to 911. It is named among the most powerful aristocratic “republican families of agitators” of Poland, and fell with Poland’s downfall.

The princely family property--which consisted according to some accounts of ninety-nine villages--was confiscated, the main portion falling into Russia’s hands in 1793. At that time Marie’s grandfather saved his life by flight beyond the border, having seen his father fall on the field of battle and his mother and other members of the family perish in the flames of their castle.

Writing of the family history, a brother of Marie states: “Ludovico was the name written under the coat of arms which I often held in my hands as a boy, and Ludwig was the name borne by every eldest son of the family until 1802. When our father was born on November 11--St. Martin’s Day--his mother, a good Catholic, added Martin to the name of Ludwig.” His father (Marie’s grandfather) was, however, the first one of the Zakrzewski family to leave the Catholic church. He became not only a Protestant but a very liberal thinker.

The family history on the mother’s side is traced back only to the middle of the eighteenth century.

Marie Elizabeth Sauer, the great-grandmother of Marie, for whom she was named, was a Gypsy Queen of the Lombardi family. She was said to be “the most lovely of women, very beautiful and energetic.” Her father was a surgeon and was attached to the army of Frederick the Great during the Seven Years’ War. His daughter accompanied him in his work as assistant surgeon. Among those whom she attended was a Captain Urban. He had been wounded in the chest and she removed the ball. Upon his recovery they were married, much to the delight of her father, as Captain Urban belonged to the same Gypsy tribe of the Lombardi. Nine children were born to them, five daughters and four sons. They were all of unusual size, the daughters almost six feet tall, with hair flowing down to their feet; the sons seven feet tall and of perfect stature. Marie’s grandmother was the middle one of these nine children, and became a veterinary surgeon. She had three daughters one of whom was the mother of Marie.

“The undersigned, Secretary of Legation of the United States of America, certifies that Miss Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska has exhibited to him very strong recommendations from the highest professional authorities of Prussia, as a scientific, practical, experienced accoucheuse of unusual talent and skill. She has been chief accoucheuse in the Royal Hospital of Berlin, and possesses a certificate of her superiority from the Board of Directors of that institution. She has not only manifested great talent as a practitioner but also as a teacher; and enjoys the advantage of a moral and irreproachable private character. She has attained this high rank over many female competitors in the same branch; there being more than fifty in the city of Berlin who threaten by their acknowledged excellence to monopolize the obstetric art.

THEO. S. FAY.

Legation United States, Berlin, Jan. 26, 1853. (SEAL)

Upon inquiry I find that instead of fifty there are one hundred and ten female accoucheuses in Berlin.

THEO. S. FAY.

Apparently Dr. Zakrzewska had no information as to the details of raising the money which was loaned to her for defraying her living expenses while at the medical college.

In Glances and Glimpses, the source of such financial assistance is suggested by Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, who visited Cleveland in 1854. She speaks of the first Medical Loan Fund Association. She also speaks of the Ohio Female Medical Education Society, and quotes from the constitution of this latter an article referring to the repayment of loans.

Dr. Hunt further speaks of traveling to other towns in Ohio, lecturing on the study of medicine by women, and “establishing loan fund associations auxiliary to the Cleveland association.” She particularly mentions Elyria (where Mrs. Severance also spoke), Tiffin, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Yellow Springs.

Elsewhere, Dr. Zakrzewska says:

In the beginning of the first winter I was the only woman; after the first month another was admitted; and during the second winter there were three besides myself who attended the lectures and graduated in the spring.

This attitude of the clerical profession, persisting at least as late as 1857, is also referred to by Professor Joseph P. Remington in the report of an address published in the American Journal of Pharmacy, January, 1911.

Speaking of the visit made to Cleveland at this time, Dr. Hunt states in Glances and Glimpses:

In December, 1854, I started for Ohio, being desirous to understand the medical question in that State.... I had only heard that Marie was a student at the Cleveland College; but when I met her I felt that here was a combination of head and heart which was as uncommon as it was beautiful.... Further acquaintance has but deepened my interest in Marie, and Dr. Blackwell of New York must feel it a privilege to have been the means of her introduction at Cleveland as a medical student, where her noble bearing and scientific mind are perceived and acknowledged by the faculty....

I attended lectures one day on a class of diseases peculiar to women, and not one shade of levity or impropriety diminished the interest of the occasion. Men and women studying together at a medical college of high standing was prophetic. I spoke with the professor after the lecture and he remarked, “We are more democratic in Ohio than you are in Massachusetts.” I felt like hanging my head. The Athens of America was eclipsed by a younger sister; yet I rejoiced greatly that as the elder was unprepared to advance, the junior tripped her up triumphantly, stepped over her, and took the first prize.

... I thought it best to visit the towns in the northern part of Ohio and try to elicit interest in the medical question by establishing loan fund associations.

Mary L. Booth later earned a reputation as historian and as translator, and was the editor of Harper’s Bazar from its beginning in 1867.

The first Board of Directors (nineteen in number) was made up almost entirely of women who were serving on the Board of Lady Managers for the Clinical Department of the New England Female Medical College in 1861-1862, the last year of Dr. Zakrzewska’s connection with that college. Her resignation at the end of that year caused that department to be discontinued and the services of the Lady Managers to be no longer in request by the college.

To the number of Lady Managers who transferred their interest to the new Hospital were added on the Board of Directors several men, one being the former leading trustee of the college, Hon. Samuel E. Sewall.

This historic first Board of Directors was finally constituted as follows:

Mrs. Mary C. E. Barnard Miss Sarah P. Beck Geo. Wm. Bond Mrs. Louisa C. Bond Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney Mrs. Anna H. Clarke Miss Mary J. Ellis Mrs. Lucretia G. French Miss Lucy Goddard Fred. W. G. May Mrs. Joanna L. Merriam Mrs. Mary A. S. Palmer Thomas Russell Mrs. Caroline M. Severance Samuel E. Sewall John H. Stephenson James Tolman Mrs. Mary G. White Dr. Marie E. Zakrzewska

Later, Dr. Mary E. Breed, who was graduated from the New England Female Medical College and had been a student under Dr. Zakrzewska at the New York Infirmary, became resident physician, and Miss Anita E. Tyng and Miss Lucy M. Abbott, who had been her students at the New England Female Medical College, were student assistants. Dr. John Ware consented to serve as consulting physician and Dr. Samuel Cabot as consulting surgeon.

Karl Heinzen is thus described by the Boston Evening Transcript:

He was a native of Prussia and came to America in January, 1848, as an exile, having been banished from Germany on account of a book which he published on the Civil Service of the Prussian Government, which showed that, instead of the promised constitutional government, a complete net of absolutism was extending over every province of Prussia.

On the breaking out of the revolution of 1848 in France and Germany, he left America in May to participate in the movement in Europe; after its suppression he was again exiled, going first to Switzerland and afterwards to England. But in 1850 he again came to America which has since been the scene of his labors.

On his arrival he found almost the entire German population in the Democratic and pro-slavery party; he therefore established here the first anti-slavery German newspaper. This exposed him to severe persecutions by the Democrats, so that his life was threatened in New York City and in Toledo, Ohio.

He was also the first among the German-Americans to advocate woman suffrage.

Since 1858 he has lived in Boston, and during this time he has stood on terms of firm friendship with William Lloyd Garrison who frequently translated Mr. Heinzen’s articles for the Liberator.

Mr. Heinzen was the most radical thinker whom the Germans in America possess. Besides editing for more than twenty-five years a newspaper, The Pioneer, he has published a number of valuable books on political, philosophical and social subjects.

Dr. Tyng had been a student at the New England Female Medical College under Dr. Zakrzewska, later a resident student at the New England Hospital and then a graduate of the Philadelphia medical school--this school now becoming established on a more stable foundation and having changed its name from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania to the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Thompson was a graduate of the New England Female Medical College, studying for two years under Dr. Zakrzewska. Later she received an honorary degree from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. The Chicago Hospital for Women and Children which she founded was afterwards named the Mary Thompson Chicago Hospital for Women and Children.

In an affectionate letter to Dr. Zakrzewska in later years, Dr. Thompson rallies this former teacher on her frank remarks when trying to goad the students of the New England Female Medical College to better work, saying:

I wished to tell you of our work here that you might know that we are doing something more than “the ordinary run of nurses,” I having heard it remarked in times past that that was all we would amount to. That did not stimulate me in the least to this kind of work. But I will tell you what did--it was the actual love of surgery and the witnessing many men operate when I felt that I could do quite as well as they did. Since writing you, my third case of ovariotomy has done well.

Dr. Buckel was graduated in Philadelphia and then served under Dr. Zakrzewska as resident student at the New York Infirmary. During the last two years of the Civil War she rendered efficient service in the United States military hospitals of the Southwest, earning the soubriquet of “The Little Major.” The Survey, May 17, 1913, says: “She selected and supervised the nurses, kept records in the absence of clerks, wrote letters for sick soldiers, obtained furloughs for convalescents, and comforted the dying.” In the year 1865-1866, she succeeded Dr. Ruth A. Gerry as assistant physician at the New England Hospital, the latter returning to the practice which she had already started at Ypsilanti, and beginning to share in the long fight for the admission of women to the University of Michigan.

After receiving her degree of M.D. at Berne, Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake returned to Great Britain and was largely instrumental in establishing the London School of Medicine for Women and in obtaining hospital facilities for it. She has reported her experience in Medicine as a Profession for Women and in Medical Education of Women. Charles Reade makes extensive use of both of these articles in writing his novel The Woman Hater.

Dr. Morton was a classmate of Dr. Sewall when both were students of Dr. Zakrzewska at the New England Female Medical College. She had spent four years in study at the Paris Maternité during the last two of which she had served as assistant teacher.

She returned to Boston in 1867 to begin the practice of her profession. She then became connected with the New England Hospital, her first appointment being on the staff of the Dispensary. Here she became the successor of Dr. Zakrzewska, the latter resigning from this branch of the work and leaving it entirely to the constantly growing number of younger medical women.

(p. 355) There are two great causes of sickness in our lying-in wards. First, mental distress during pregnancy, caused by poverty or neglect; second, the exposure and fatigue which many endure before coming to us.

One young girl, late last fall, had been sleeping for a week in outhouses. Another came in the cold winter weather, after wandering in a bewildered condition in the streets with wet skirts and no stockings, searching for some place of shelter in her distress. Another when she entered was very sick with acute pleurisy and pneumonia, so that even before her delivery her life was threatened. Several cases of intermittent fever and one of typhus fever were admitted under such circumstances that we could not avoid taking them without being guilty of inhumanity. Two women in a comatose condition from puerperal convulsions were also taken in. One of these last was restored to health, while the other never recovered consciousness.

We have taken in several babies who were so poisoned with patented nostrums that only the most vigorous treatment with antidotes could rouse them, and weeks of the most assiduous nursing were necessary to restore their enfeebled vitality.

Some of you saw in one of the wards the wretched little creature who was brought by its mother to us in a comatose state, with the skin drawn loosely over its bones and its half-closed glassy eyes sunk deeply in their sockets. This child had been boarded out by its mother while she worked at service, and it had been gradually declining until at the age of three and one-half months, it weighed but seven and one-half pounds.

This was an extreme case, but frequently a practiced eye will detect the same process going on. Often when I am called to a sick child, I recognize in the ashy hue, sunken eyes and other well-known symptoms, the work of some “soothing syrup” or other equally pernicious drug. Pitiful indeed is the fate of babies deprived of their natural guardians and subjected to the influence of these infamous nostrums.

Can we not find some means to secure to infants a mother’s care and love for at least the first year of their lives, by furnishing these mothers with some honest means of support, and thus saving both mothers and children? I leave this important question for you to consider, for even if it is not strictly part of our work, it is a sequel to one department of our Hospital.

A young woman, who in her childhood lost her mother and whose stepmother not only kept a house of ill-fame but sent this daughter to another, has now a beautiful baby to which she is so strongly attached that, in spite of the evil influences of all her past life, she is willing to do even the hardest work for the sake of keeping her baby with her. Yet, only a few evenings ago she came, with her blue-eyed baby sweetly smiling in the soft wrappings provided by its fond mother, and said that she must give it up. “Nobody,” she said, “would take her with her baby,” and I saw the hard look in her eyes and the bitter smile that made me tremble for her future, though I am confident that she had the will and the strength to earn her living honestly.

Last winter we were called to attend a woman in a difficult and complicated labor. She lived in a dark basement with floor wet and broken, the scanty bedcovering eked out by her husband’s old coat (which he himself needed) and the small pile of coal on the floor being the only comforts visible except the stove. Cold, faint and hungry, this woman had suffered for hours. When she was safely delivered, public charity could not make her comfortable--it was private benevolence that gave her blankets, sheets, clothing and care.

Another case of recent occurrence shows how insufficient is the law to take care of the sick. A woman in one of the worst localities in the city who was beaten by her drunken husband and turned out of doors, was seized with premature labor in the streets and found her way into the house of a neighbor. This neighbor, Mrs. M., who was nearly blind, supported by her daily earnings herself and an interesting little boy whom she had taken from the city crier’s to nurse and whom she had kept with her rather than send him to Tewksbury.

Mrs. M. allowed the woman to stay, and on the third day I was sent for and found her in an almost dying condition. It was late Saturday evening, and there was neither food nor fuel in the house. The woman was too ill to be removed, no aid could be obtained from the city before Monday, and then the legal allowance would be only two dollars in groceries and one dollar in money. Clothing, a bed and a nurse were absolutely needed. These were provided by private charity and the woman recovered, though it was said that three different physicians who were called in by the neighbors had declined to attend her as they considered it useless under such adverse circumstances to attempt to save her.

The first time this woman stepped out of doors she walked from the North End to the Hospital to see if we could not get work for her. Her husband, who had been released from the jail where he had been kept awaiting the result of her illness, had visited her and told her he should do nothing more for her. Also, Mrs. M., who had given her shelter, was about to be turned out of her rooms because she had not been able to work as usual to earn her rent.

It is true that all these sufferers were drunkards, but I mention their cases to show how the Hospital leads us into every path of reform.

In order to accomplish permanent good, it is necessary to remove the causes of evil. For this reason, we are deeply interested in every effort to dispel ignorance, promote temperance, and banish licentiousness and other vices, for all these have a direct influence on health or disease. We frequently find it necessary not only to watch over the individual case of illness but to see that the whole tenement is cleaned and ventilated; or, when this is impossible, we sometimes succeed in removing the whole family to a more healthful locality away from their old associates and the low, drinking saloons.

Thus it will be seen that our students have a large field of labor open to them--every woman whom we help to educate not only adds one to the band of workers but strengthens our position and enlarges our means of usefulness. Hence, it is all-important that we gain every possible advantage for our students, and it is hard to see denied to them the valuable opportunities so freely offered to young men in this city, for we feel that the very best America affords comes far short of our wants.

The new Hospital is described in the annual report:

Although within the bounds of the city, thus giving the advantages of water, gas and the other conveniences of city life, the land is very high and commands an extensive and beautiful view of Jamaica Plain, Roxbury and Brookline. It is also easily accessible both by horse and steam cars, and seems to combine all the important requisites of good air, light and easy access at a moderate price.

The beautiful exterior of the building is due to the taste and skill of our architects, Messrs. Cummings and Sears, who have successfully grappled with the problem of designing a hospital which shall be beautiful in proportion, form and color, and so contribute to the pleasure of all connected with it, without sacrificing either interior comfort or economy of means.

The excellence of the interior arrangements, especially of the wards and the nurses’ rooms (which differ from those of any hospital known to the Committee), is due to the Women Physicians who, having learned from long experience the needs of their patients, have striven to meet them by arrangements at once simple and ingenious.

Our first object was to secure an entire isolation of the lying-in patients from those of the medical and the surgical wards, so as to guard against all possible danger of infection passing from one to the other. This has been effected by a separate house, called the “Maternity Cottage” for the lying-in patients.

In this building, the two stories are so arranged that one can be thoroughly cleansed and aired while the other is in use. Our plan contemplates a second similar building as soon as our means will enable us to construct it. Then, in case of any threatened danger, one house can be entirely isolated, while all new patients are taken to the other. In this way, we can increase our Lying-in Department to any desirable extent without incurring the dangers attendant upon large hospitals.

The next consideration was to get as much sunlight as possible into the patients’ rooms and to give the nurses, who are all human beings and need to be cared for as well as others, good airy rooms in which to take their rest when rest is possible to them. For this reason, all the medical wards have been placed on the back of the house, which looks nearly south.

Each ward consists of two rooms--one for two beds and one for four--with a nurse’s room between. The nurse can thus often have the benefit of the solitude and quiet of her own room and yet be so close to her patients that nothing can escape her notice. A bathroom, also enjoying the sunshine, separates the two wards and can be used by the patients of either. These light, airy, sunny wards with their open fireplaces seem more like the rooms of a pleasant home than the dreary apartments of a hospital.

The house does not square exactly with the points of the compass, and the northern side is touched by the sun during some part of the day, thereby securing it from dampness. The eastern surgical ward projects beyond the other part of the house, and so gains a southern window for light and cheerful sunshine. A similar projection on the western side makes a pleasant parlor for the patients.

The rest of this side of the house is occupied by the patients’ admission room, tea kitchen, etc., in which sunshine is not so important.

The Children’s Ward, in the upper story, is a new feature of which we have long felt the want. It is large, airy and convenient.

The furniture of the wards was mainly provided by individuals and by various churches and societies in the city and vicinity. The wards were named after the donors, who promised to keep them in order and in repair, the names to be retained as long as the rooms were thus sustained.

Dr. Dimock had been a student in the Hospital in 1867. As was the case with several other students, she thus at the beginning of her medical life came under the teachings of Dr. Zakrzewska. We may judge of the trend of these teachings from what Dr. Zakrzewska writes elsewhere as to her advice to Dr. Sewall when the latter wished to begin the study of medicine. She says:

“I advised her to lay a foundation by first studying natural history--biology, comparative physiology and microscopical anatomy.” And we are already familiar with the convictions of Dr. Zakrzewska that Europe at that time offered both to men and women better opportunities for a medical education than did the United States.

Susan Dimock differed from these other students in that she had more initiative, or more self-dependence, or less fear of circumstance and convention, or some other temperamental quality. Or perhaps it was the financial situation--that great lion in the path of women not trained in self-support--that she felt she could control, through Dr. Zakrzewska and other friends.

At any rate, the resulting reaction of Dr. Zakrzewska’s teaching upon this temperament was such that Susan Dimock decided to go abroad for her entire medical course, to study there and to be graduated there--almost the first American woman to take such a radical step, and one of a lengthening procession of women from many countries who were driven into temporary exile by their ambition to qualify themselves for their chosen profession, having found the best opportunities at home reserved for the exclusive use of their brothers.

She entered the University of Zurich, and after completing the required five years of study, received her degree, returning to Boston as the new building of the Hospital was in course of erection. She had paid particular attention to surgery and was intending to specialize in that branch.

Dr. Keller was a graduate of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania and she had been attending physician at the Woman’s Hospital in Philadelphia. She had also had considerable surgical experience in hospital and private practice.

The New England Hospital Medical Society, later the New England Women’s Medical Society.

Dr. Call was a student of the Hospital and later was graduated at the head of her class in the University of Michigan. She then spent a year studying in Europe before beginning work at the Dispensary.

The twin sisters, Drs. Augusta and Emily Pope, after being graduated at the New England Female Medical College, went to Europe to study for an additional year, becoming connected with the Dispensary on their return. Both later received an honorary degree of M.D. from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Among the internes whose address in India was, unfortunately, not for long, was the charming Dr. Anandabai Joshee, the first Hindoo woman to seek medical education in America, and who had been graduated at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Coming to Boston in the summer of 1886, she served only a short time when her health failed. She returned to India to become physician in charge of the Female Ward of the Albert Edward Hospital in Kolhapur, but she died from tuberculosis a few months later, before reaching her twenty-second birthday.

Dr. Clarke was a member of the board of trustees of the New England Female Medical College when Dr. Zakrzewska became a member of the faculty. He resigned this trusteeship when she resigned from the faculty, and his wife, Mrs. Anna H. Clarke, became a member of the board of directors of the New England Hospital which was founded immediately thereafter.

Mrs. Clarke remained a member of the board of directors until her death in 1897. Their daughter, Miss Lilian Freeman Clarke, was always interested in the Hospital and, as already stated, she assisted in organizing in connection with the Maternity the first hospital social service work in America.

(p. 467)

1. John Ware. 2. Samuel Cabot. 3. Walter Channing. 4. Henry I. Bowditch. 5. E. C. Rolfe. 6. Edward Jarvis. 7. Edward H. Clarke. 8. Francis Minot. 9. B. Joy Jeffries. 10. Reginald H. Fitz. 11. C. H. Osgood. 12. G. G. Tarbell. 13 Arthur T. Cabot. 14. W. W. Gannett. 15. James R. Chadwick. 16. Geo. F. Jelly. 17. J. J. Putnam. 18. Maurice H. Richardson. 19. Clarence J. Blake. 20. F. B. Mallory. 21. Vincent Y. Bowditch. 22. W. F. Whitney. 23. G. A. Leland. 24. F. C. Shattuck. 25. C. F. Withington. 26. J. E. Goldthwait. 27. Richard C. Cabot.

In 1910, the Children’s Department obtained a building of its own in the Kimball Cottage. This was named for Miss Helen Kimball and for her father, Moses K. Kimball, who was a staunch supporter of the Hospital. Mrs. Cheney became president in 1887, upon the resignation of Miss Lucy Goddard, the first president, and continued in office till 1902 when she resigned and was succeeded by Miss Kimball.

An interesting note in connection with the new Surgical Building was the receipt through Dr. Zakrzewska of a contribution of five hundred dollars towards its construction, from one of her classmates at the Cleveland Medical College, Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, then established at Castile, N. Y.

Boston Herald, October 21, 1921.

Boston Evening Transcript, March 30, 1922, quoting the Springfield Republican.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BLACKWELL, ELIZABETH, M.D., Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women.

CHADWICK, JAMES R., M.D., “The Study and Practice of Medicine by Women” (International Review, October, 1879).

DALL, MRS. CAROLINE H., A Practical Illustration of Woman’s Right to Labor, or A Letter from Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D., late of Berlin, Prussia, 1860.

GREGORY, SAMUEL, Man-Midwifery. Reports of the Boston Female Medical School; the Female Medical Education Society; and the New England Female Medical College.

HUNT, DR. HARRIOT KEZIA, Glances and Glimpses, 1856.

JEX-BLAKE, SOPHIA, M.D., Medicine as a Profession for Women; Medical Education of Women.

LIVERMORE, MRS. MARY A., The Business Folio, Boston, March, 1895.

NEW ENGLAND HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN, Memoir of Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D., 1903.

PUTNAM-JACOBI, MARY, M.D., “Women in Medicine” (Woman’s Work in America, 1891).

READE, CHARLES, The Woman Hater.

SIMS, J. MARION, M.D., The Story of my Life, 1884.

INDEX

Abbott, Lucy M., 253

Agassiz, Alexander, 385

Aigner, Dr., 182, 222, 223

Albert Edward Hospital, Kolhapur, India, 497

Alcott, Mr., 200

Alexander, Mrs. Janet, 136

Alexandrian School, 261

Alpha, The, 198, 203

American Journal of Pharmacy, 485

American Medical Association, 342, 344

Ames, Rev. Charles G., 463

Andrews, Stephen Pearl, 200

Anti-Slavery Movement, 110, 138, 146, 152, 153, 154, 193, 198, 202, 245, 297, 391, 459

A Practical Illustration of Woman’s Right to Labor, or A Letter from Marie E. Zakrzewska, M. D., late of Berlin, Prussia, by Caroline H. Dall, xi, 59, 256

Association for the Advancement of the Medical Education of Women, 398

Asylum for Infants, Temporary, 280

Atlee, Dr., 129

Bacon, Lord, 261

Barnard, Mrs. Mary C. E., 487

Barnard, Rev. Charles F., 329

Baudeloque, 263

Beck, Miss Sarah P., 487

Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, 189, 203, 211

Bellevue Hospital (New York), 222

Bellevue Hospital (N. Y.) Training School for Nurses, 364

Bellows, Rev. Mr., 203, 207

Bennett, Dr. Alice, 390, 402

Berlin, Dr. Fanny, 458, 473

Berne, University of (Switzerland), 350

Bigelow, Dr. Jacob, 136

Billroth, Prof., 347

Blackwell, Dr. Elizabeth, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 119, 121, 123, 124, 130, 134, 143, 148, 149, 155, 156, 178, 180, 181, 182, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 202, 206, 208, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 222, 225, 226, 236, 237, 238, 240, 268, 307, 310, 311, 335, 358, 373, 375, 376, 476

Blackwell, Dr. Emily, 112, 113, 130, 195, 206, 211, 214, 225, 226, 236, 237, 238, 240, 268, 358, 373, 375, 376, 402

Blackwell, Henry, 181

Blackwell, Mrs. Antoinette Brown (Rev. Dr. Antoinette Brown Blackwell), 181, 198, 202

Blackwell, Mrs. Lucy Stone, see Mrs. Lucy Stone

Blackwell, Mrs., Sr., 181, 203

Blake, Dr. Clarence J., 498

Boardman, Mrs., 411

Boivin, Madame, 111, 263, 392

Bologna, University of, 111

Bond, George William, 244, 293, 294, 487

Bond, Louisa (Mrs. George William), 244, 487

Bond, Rev. Henry, 153

Booth, Mary L., xi, 184, 185, 198, 203, 210, 230, 235, 239, 240, 476, 486

Boston City Hospital, 337, 364

Boston Evening Transcript, 127, 481, 487

Boston Female Medical School, see New England Female Medical College

Boston Herald, 481

Boston Lying-in Hospital, 243, 297, 334, 338, 364

Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 224, 342, 389, 390

Boston University Medical College, 285, 286, 382, 448

Bowditch, Dr. Henry I., 256, 277, 332, 336, 337, 344, 390, 392, 498

Bowditch, Dr. Vincent Y., 498

Boylston Prize (Harvard University), won by a woman, Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, 399

Brace, Charles, 201

Bradburn, Mrs. George, 152

Breed, Dr. Mary E., 216, 217, 295, 309, 487

Breslau, Prof., 347

Brignoli, 215

Brisbane, Albert, 200

Brook Farm Movement, 201

Brown, Dr. B., 310

Browne, Mrs., 226

Buck, Dr., 222

Buckel, Dr. C. Annette, 345, 346, 348, 349, 351, 354, 364, 369, 370, 458, 465, 489

Burns, Dr. John, 263

Busch, Dr., 44

Business, Folio, The, 129

Butler, Mrs. Emma E., 474

Cabot, Dr. Arthur T., 498

Cabot, Dr. Richard C., 498

Cabot, Dr. Samuel, 244, 256, 277, 301, 332, 339, 340, 345, 350, 351, 487, 498

Cabot, J. Elliot, 385

Call, Abraham A., 294

Call, Dr. Emma L., 294, 401, 412, 417, 497

Cambridge (England), University of, 480

Carey, Miss Susan, 244

Cary, Alice and Phœbe, 198, 215

Cary, Miss, 411

Celsus, 261

Centennial International Exhibition, 371

Chadwick, Dr. James R., 286, 385, 498

Chadwick, Mrs. (M.D.), 126, 139

Channing, Dr. Walter, 277, 332, 333, 498

Channing, Dr. W. H., 185

Channing, Dr. William F., 151, 244

Channing, Rev. William Ellery, 133

Chapin, Rev. Mr., 153, 203

Chase, Salmon, 153

Cheney, Mrs. Ednah D., 186, 193, 194, 244, 245, 293, 348, 363, 365, 371, 404, 450, 469, 471, 473, 476

Cherokee Indians, 142, 173

Chicago Hospital for Women and Children, 253, 345, 488

Christian Science, 166

Clairvoyance, 30, 31, 166, 179

Clark, Dr. E. H., 244, 277

Clark, Dr. Henry E., 254

Clark, (Clarke), Dr. Nancy, 149, 150, 336

Clarke, Anna H. (Mrs. James Freeman), 194, 244, 476, 497

Clarke, Dr. Edward H., 498

Clarke, Miss Lilian Freeman, 365, 497

Clarke, Miss Sarah, 194

Clarke, Rev. James Freeman, 244, 464, 497

Cleveland, Dr. Emeline H., 279

Cleveland Medical College, see Western Reserve University

Cleveland, Mrs., 201

Cole, Mrs., 215

Colfax, Speaker, 153, 199

College of Physicians and Surgeons (New York), 379

Columbian University (Georgetown, D. C.), 441

Cook, Miss, 301

Cooper, Peter, 201

Cotting, Dr. S., 256, 277

Cummings & Sears, 371, 494

Curie, Madame Marie, 481, 482

Curtis, George W., 203

Cushier, Dr. Elizabeth M., 402

Cushman, Charlotte, 200

Dall, Mrs. Caroline H., xi, 59, 60

Davis, Andrew Jackson, 200

Delamater, Dr. John J., 123, 125, 126, 168, 169, 170, 171, 174, 178

De la Motte, 261

Deventer, 261

Dimock, Dr. Susan, 238, 364, 365, 368, 370, 495

Ditrichin, Justina, see Siegemund

Douglass, Frederick, 153

Drysdale, Dr. Charles, 406

Eagleswood (N. J.), Phalanstery, 201

Eastern Dispensary (N. Y.), 223

Eberle, Dr., 275

Ebert, Dr., 58, 69, 70

École de Médecine, University of Paris, 398

Edinburgh, University of, 130, 350

Elder, Dr. William, 153, 211

Eliot, President Charles W., 385, 386, 387

Ellis, Miss Mary J., 487

Elson family, 460

Emerson, Professor and Mrs., 160, 161, 162, 180

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 153, 159, 160, 161, 162, 180

Farnham, Miss, 411

Fay, Theodore S., 69, 134, 485

Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, see Pennsylvania, Woman’s Medical College of

Female Medical Education Society (Boston), see New England Female Medical College

Fichte, 464

First in America-- Woman listed officially as specializing in surgery, 336 Woman appointed as attending surgeon on a hospital staff, 369 District Nursing service, 411 Hospital Social Service, 365 Regularly organized general Training School for Nurses, 363 Regularly trained nurse graduated, 364

Fitz, Dr. Reginald H., 498

Fliedner, Pastor, 57

Florence, University of, 111

Formes, Karl, 215

Fourier Movement, The, 138, 201

Fox Sisters, The, 201

Free Lovers Circle, 138, 200

Free Soil Movement, The, 146, 152, 153, 154

Freeman, Miss, 200

Freiligrath, 477

French, Mrs. Lucretia G., 487

Frothingham, Rev. O. B., 203

Gannett, Dr. W. W., 49

Garrett, Miss (England), 307

Garrett, Miss Mary (Baltimore, Md.), 437

Garrison, William Lloyd, 151, 153, 199, 244, 459, 474, 488

Geneva (N. Y.), Medical College, 112

George Washington University Medical School, see Columbian University, Georgetown, D. C.

Gerry, Dr. Ruth A., 489

Gibbons, Dr., 343

Giessen, University of, 111

Giles, John, 153

Glances and Glimpses, Autobiography of Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, 112, 126, 127, 149

Goddard, George A., 440

Goddard, Miss Lucy, 186, 244, 293, 295, 404, 410, 440, 476, 487

Goddard, Miss Matilda, 151, 280

Goddard, Mrs. M. LeB., 440

Goldthwait, Dr. J. E., 498

Goodrich, Miss, 105, 107

Gottschalk, 200

Graefe, von, Prof., 347

Greeley, Horace, 199, 200, 204

Greeley, Mrs. Horace, 201

Greene, Dr. Cordelia A., 126, 142, 498

Greene, Miss Elizabeth, 365

Greenwood, Grace (Mrs. Leander Lippincott), 146, 153

Gregory, Samuel, 272, 284

Griesinger, Prof., 347

Grimké, Miss Angelina, see Mrs. Theodore Weld

Grimké, Miss Sarah, 149, 150, 198, 201

Grissell, Dr. Elizabeth, 126

Grosvenor, Mrs., 200

Hahnemann, Dr., 32

Hale, Dr. Edward Everett, 465

Hale, Miss Ellen E., 416

Harper’s Bazar, 230, 486

Harvard University Medical School, 126, 136, 249, 286, 346, 380, 381, 383, 385, 386, 387, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 435, 437, 481, 482

Hasenfuss, (Hassenfuss), Mrs., 246

Haydock, Mr. and Mrs. Robert, 207

Haynes, Miss, 199

Heinzen, Karl, 297, 300, 303, 304, 458, 459, 460, 477, 487, 488

Heinzen, Mrs. Karl, 297, 300, 301, 304, 458, 459

Hemenway, Augustus, 372

Hildreth, Mr. and Mrs. George (N. Y.), 152, 200, 215

Hildreth, Mrs. George (Boston), 194

Hilliard, Mrs. George, 194

Hippocrates, 261

Hirschfeld, Dr. Henriette P., see Dr. Henriette Pagelson

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 403

Home for Aged Men, 243

Homeopathy, 32, 33, 105, 286, 448, 459

Hooper, E. W., 402

Horn, Director, 64, 68, 69

Horner, Prof., 347

Hospital Social Service in America begun, First, 365

Hovey, Miss Marian, 385, 386, 437

Howe, Julia Ward, 335

Howland, Mrs., 203

Hunt, Dr. Harriot Kezia, 112, 126, 127, 134, 135, 136, 137, 149, 150, 152, 185, 186, 192, 197, 224, 336,485, 486

Hunt, Sarah Augusta, 135, 136

Hunter, Dr., 263

Hydropathy, 179

Hypnotism, 166

Illinois State Medical Society, 344

Infant asylum in Boston, Temporary, 280

Insane asylums of Massachusetts, Women physicians on staffs of, 411

International Review, 286

Jackson, Francis, 244

Jackson, Dr. James, 136, 278

Jacobi, Dr. Abraham, 399

Jacobi, Dr. Mary Putnam, 136, 392, 398, 402

Jarvis, Dr. Edward, 498

Jefferson, Joseph, 215

Jefferson Medical College (Philadelphia), 274, 379

Jeffries, Dr. B. Joy, 498

Jelly, Dr. George F., 498

Jex-Blake, Dr. Sophia, 130, 350, 405, 489

Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.), 403, 435, 436, 437, 442

Johnson, Dr., 267

Joshee, Dr. Anandabai, 497

Kaiserswerth Institute, 57, 101, 197

Keene, Laura, 215

Keller, Dr. Elizabeth C., 370, 496

Kemble, Fanny, 197

Kilian, Dr., 44

Kimball, Miss Helen, 498

Kimball, Moses K., 498

King, Rev. Starr, 153

Kirtland, Dr. J. P., 124, 174

Kirtland, Mrs., 199

Kissam, Dr., 203, 211, 222, 227

Know-Nothing Party, 133, 277

Koehler Family, 460

Kölliker’s Comparative Anatomy, 175

Lachapelle, Madame, 42, 52, 263, 392

Lee, Mrs. George G., 298

Leland, Dr. G. A., 498

Liberator, The, 488

Lippincott, Mrs. Leander, see Grace Greenwood

Livermore, Mrs. Mary A., 129

London (England) School of Medicine for Women, 490

London (England) Hospital, 481

Lowell, Miss Anna, 194, 245

Lowell, President, 481

Lutze, Dr. Arthur, 31, 32, 33

Lyons, Mrs., 203

Lyceum System, 152

Mack, Mrs. Thomas, 470

Magnetism, 33, 138, 166

Mallory, Dr. F. B., 498

Man-Midwifery, Samuel Gregory, 272

Mann, Mrs. Horace, 201

Marburg, University of, 111

Mary Thompson Chicago Hospital for Women and Children, 253, 345, 488, 489

Mason, Hugh, 410

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 365

Massachusetts Infant Asylum, 280

Massachusetts General Hospital, 337, 346, 364

Massachusetts Hospitals for Insane, Women Physicians on staffs of, 411

Massachusetts, Legislature of, 334, 411

Massachusetts Medical Society, 277, 382, 383, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394

Maternité, Paris, 279, 308, 370, 490

Mauriceau, 261

May, Miss Abby, 186, 244, 245

May, F. W. G., 244, 294

Mayer, Prof., 347

Mayo, Rev. A. D., and family, 131, 137, 138, 139, 142, 144, 145, 146, 148, 151, 152, 154, 176, 464

McCready, Dr., 182, 203, 222

Medical Education of Women, by Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake, 490

Medical Loan Fund Associations in Ohio, 485, 486

Medicine as a Profession for Women, Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake, 490

Merriam, Mrs. Joanna L., 487

Mesmerism, 33, 165, 166

Meyer, Professor, 368

Michigan (Ann Arbor), University of, 383, 489

Minot, Dr. Francis, 498

Moleschott, Prof., 347

Moral Education Association of Massachusetts, 417, 418

Morton, Dr. Helen, 253, 300, 352, 366, 370, 402, 410, 416, 437, 440, 458, 476

Mosher, Dr. Eliza M., 402

Mott, Lucretia, 192

Mott, Mr. and Mrs., 135

Müller, Dr., 17, 18, 19, 42, 44

Müller, Dr. Johannes, 44

Müller, Prof., 58, 68, 69, 70, 124

Mumford, Rev. Mr., 153

Murdock, James, 153

New England Female Medical College, 150, 236-286, 291, 292, 293 Boston Female Medical School, 247, 248, 249 Female Medical Education Society, Boston, 248, 249 Clinical Department of, 243-285 Opened, 244, 252 Training for nurses, 361 Closed, 285 College merged with Boston University Medical College, 285

New England Hospital for Women and Children, Founded, 293 Incorporated, 294, 295 First board of directors, 486, 487 First location, 293; Second location, 329 First woman in America listed officially as specializing in surgery (being appointed assistant surgeon), 336 First General Training School for Nurses regularly organized in America, 363 First Hospital Social Service in America established, 365 First woman in America appointed as attending surgeon on a hospital staff, 369 First District Nursing Service in America established, 411 Graduation of first regularly trained nurse in America, 364 List of medical men on the consulting staff during the lifetime of Dr. Zakrzewska, 498 Main building of Hospital named “The Zakrzewska Building,” 471 New buildings (third location) opened, 356 Plans receive award at Centennial International Exhibition, 371 Purposes, 295 Resident students required to have degree of M.D., 411

New England Hospital Medical Society, 385, 395, 401, 496

New England Women’s Club, 375

New England Woman’s Medical Society, 496

New Hospital for Women (London), 409

Newton, Sir Isaac, 481, 482

New York Infirmary for Women and Children, 109, 112, 114, 130, 149, 182-190, 193, 196, 206-219, 227-229, 233, 234, 238, 239, 257, 293, 360, 374, 487, 489 Woman’s Medical College of the, 348, 350, 375, 376, 399

New York Times, 184, 203, 230

New York Tribune, 204

New York University of Medicine, 310

New York “Woman’s Hospital,” 225

Nichols, Miss, 301

Nightingale, Florence, 57, 197, 206

Nurses, first regularly organized Training School in America for, 363

Ohio Female Medical Education Society (Cleveland), 485

Open Court, The, 442

Osgood, Dr. C. H., 498

Pagelson (Tiburtius), Dr. Henriette, 432

Palmer, Mrs. Mary A. S. (Mrs. J. K.), 487

Pareus, 261

Paris Maternité, 279, 308, 370, 490

Parker, Theodore, 133, 151, 153, 244

Parker, Dr. Willard, 222, 347

Parkman, Miss Mary Jane, 186, 244, 365

Peabody, Miss Elizabeth P., 197, 201

Peile Hall, Cambridge (England), 480

Pennsylvania, Female Medical College of, see Pennsylvania, Woman’s Medical College of

Pennsylvania State Medical Society, 129, 390

Pennsylvania, University of, 379

Pennsylvania, Woman’s Medical College of (Philadelphia), 67, 69, 105, 126, 128, 137, 191, 195, 224, 278, 279, 310, 374, 376, 402, 488, 489, 496, 497

Phalanstery (Eagleswood, N. J.), 201

Philadelphia County Medical Society, 128, 278, 310

Philadelphia Woman’s Medical College, see Pennsylvania, Woman’s Medical College of

Philadelphia, Woman’s Hospital of, 192, 279, 374, 496

Phillips, Wendell, 151, 153, 244

Physiological Society (Cleveland), 121, 124, 125

Pioneer, The, 488

Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women, by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, 111

Pope, Colonel A. A., 468

Pope, Drs. Augusta and Emily, 417, 458, 468, 497

Porter, Dr., 203

Prang family, 458, 460

Preston, Dr. Ann, 191, 240, 278, 358, 373

Priestley, Dr., 310

Putnam, Dr. C. G., 332

Putnam, Dr. J. J ., 498

Putnam Jacobi, Dr. Mary, see Jacobi, Dr. Mary Putnam

Quaker friends of the New York Infirmary, The, 185, 210

Reade, Charles, 490

Reisig, Dr., 84

Remington, Professor Joseph P., 485

Restelle, Madame, 180

Richards, Miss Linda A., 364

Richards, Professor, 481

Richardson, Dr. Maurice H., 498

Ripley, George, 199, 200, 204

Rock Garden, 458

Rolfe, Dr. E. C., 498

Rose, Mrs. Ernestine L., 202

Royal Free Hospital (London), 406, 408, 409

Royal Hospital Charité (Berlin), 36, 40, 43, 100, 172, 254, 484

Russell, Dr. LeBaron, 385

Russell, Mrs. George R., 476

Russell, Mrs. Sarah Shaw, 244, 245

Russell, Thomas, 487

Schmidt, Dr. Joseph Hermann, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 67, 69, 107, 332

Schmidt, Mrs. Joseph Hermann, 40, 53, 54, 62, 69, 70

School for Midwives (Berlin), 36, 38, 43, 56

Sedgwick, Miss Catherine, 107, 201, 203

Sedgwick, Theodore, 108

Seelye, Dr., 142, 143

Severance, Mrs. Caroline M., 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 134, 137, 138, 142, 154, 186, 190, 460, 485, 487

Sewall, Dr. Lucy E., 192, 253, 295, 299, 314, 335, 339, 345, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 363, 366, 370, 402, 416, 437, 440, 476

Sewall, Hon. Samuel E., 192, 236, 244, 250, 281, 283, 285, 294, 298, 299, 440

Sewall, Joseph, 192

Shattuck, Dr. F. C., 498

Shaw, Mrs. Robert G., 203, 244, 353, 476

Shepard, Mrs., 125, 131, 142

Siegemund, Justina Ditrichin, 36, 37, 261, 263

Simpson, Dr., 310

Sims, Dr. J. Marion, 224, 225, 226, 274, 275, 276

Sister Catherine, 41, 43, 44, 56, 57, 58, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105

Smith, Dr. Mary A., 383, 410

Smith, Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes, 199, 215

Social Service in America, First Hospital, 365

Somerville, Mrs., 392, 405

Somnambulism, 30, 31, 166

Spiritualism, 31, 138, 166, 179, 201

Sprague, Miss Julia A., 296, 297, 301, 304, 311, 368, 458, 477

Spring, Marcus, 201

Spring, Mrs. Marcus, 198, 203

Springfield Republican, The, 481

Stephenson, John H., 487

Stevens, Miss Hannah, 151

Stevenson, Dr. Sarah Hackett, 344

St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (London), 406

St. Thomas’ Hospital (London), 406

Stone, Mrs. Lucy, 181, 198, 202

Storer, Dr. Horatio R., 295, 310, 332, 335, 338, 339, 341, 342, 343

Story of My Life, The, by Dr. J. Marion Sims, 225, 274

Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, 244

Stuart, Henri L., 226

Suffolk District Medical Society (Boston), 389, 394

Survey, The, 489

Tarbell, Dr. G. G., 498

Taylor, Bayard, 153

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 442, 482

Thompson, Chicago Hospital for Women and Children, Mary, 345, 488, 489

Thompson, Dr. Mary Harris, 253, 345, 488, 489

Tiburtius, Dr. Henriette P., see Dr. Henriette Pagelson

Tolman, James, 487

Trained nurses in America, see Nurses

Training School for Nurses in America, first regularly organized general, 363

Transcendentalism, 132, 198

Tudor, Mrs. F. Fenno, 244

Tuthill, Dr. and Mrs., 203

Tuthill, Miss Sarah, 203

Tyng, Dr. Anita E., 253, 309, 336, 338, 351, 487, 488

Unitarians, 138, 146

Universalists, 138, 146

University, Harvard, 400, 401

University, Johns Hopkins, see Johns Hopkins University

University Medical School, Harvard, see Harvard University Medical School

University of Berne, 350, 489 Bologna, 111 Cambridge (Eng.), 480 Edinburgh, 130, 350 Florence, 111 Giessen, 111 Marburg, 111 Michigan, 383, 497 Paris, 399 Pennsylvania, 379 Zurich, 346, 347, 383, 496

Vaughan, Miss Virginia, 159, 160

Vaughan, Mrs. C., 152, 153, 154

Virchow’s Cellular Pathology, 175

von Graefe, Prof., 347

von Raumer, Minister, 68

Ware, Dr. John, 254, 255, 256, 498

Weld, Angelina Grimké (Mrs. Theodore), 149, 150, 198, 201

Weld, Theodore, 201

Western Reserve University Medical School (Cleveland Medical College), 115, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 131, 134, 163, 168-170, 171, 174, 175, 394

White, Mrs. Mary G., 487

Whitman, Walt, 167

Whitney, Dr. W. F., 498

Whitney, Miss Anne, 197

Willey, Mr. and Mrs. G., 152, 177

Withington, Dr. C. F., 498

Woman, First in America listed officially as specializing in surgery, 336 First in America appointed as attending surgeon on a hospital staff, 369

Woman Hater, The, Charles Reade, 490

Woman in Medicine, Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, 339

Woman’s Hospital, New York, see New York Woman’s Hospital

Woman’s Hospital, Philadelphia, see Philadelphia, Woman’s Hospital of

Woman’s Journal, The, 322, 428

Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, see Pennsylvania, Woman’s Medical College of

Woman’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary, 348, 350, 375, 376, 399

Woman’s Medical Society, New England, see New England Woman’s Medical Society

Woman’s Rights Movement, 47, 131, 134, 138, 153, 156, 157, 202, 212, 245, 297, 459, 488

Woman’s Rights Movement in London, 410

Woman’s Right to Labor, A Practical Illustration of, by Caroline H. Dall, xi, 59, 60, 256

Women and Children, Chicago Hospital for, see Chicago Hospital for Women and Children

Women and Children, New England Hospital for, see New England Hospital for Women and Children

Women and Children, New York Infirmary for, see New York Infirmary for Women and Children

Women of attainment, Why not monuments in Westminster Abbey to English, 404

Women physicians in England, Training of, compared with that in America, 405-409

Women’s Club, New England, see New England Women’s Club

Women’s, Club, Worcester (Mass.), 436

Women’s College, Newnham (Cambridge, Eng.), 480

Worcester (Mass.), Women’s Club, see Women’s Club, Worcester

Wright, Mrs., 134

Würtzer, Dr., 224

Wyman, Dr. Morrill, 385, 392

Zakrzewska, Marie E., M.D. birth, 4 ancestry, 483 recollections of early childhood, 3-7 beginning of school life, conflicts, friendships, prizes, contacts with mental and physical illness, her mother begins training as midwife, begins to read medical books, 8-25 end of school life, resorts to father’s library, 26 training in housework, dressmaking, nursing, French, housekeeping and assisting in mother’s practice, 26-34 studies midwifery privately under Professor Schmidt, 36 enters school at Royal Hospital Charité as student and assistant teacher, 42 repeatedly declines father’s choice for marriage, 51, 66 appointed Accoucheuse en chef, 52, 65 resigns position and emigrates to America to organize a woman’s hospital, 66-72 arrives in New York, 73-83 disappointed in professional plans she becomes self-supporting in business, 83-105, 115-118 her meeting with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell reopens the medical path, 108-110, 114 assists Dr. Blackwell in dispensary of New York Infirmary, 114-115 enters Western Reserve Medical College (Cleveland), 123 learns details of the professional and social opposition to women physicians, students and practitioners, 125-131 meets men and women noted in all phases of advanced thought, 134, 138, 146, 149-153, 160 first visit to Boston, 149 receives degree of M.D., 168 returns to New York where no one is willing to rent her an office, 78; begins practice in Dr. Blackwell’s house, 181; and finds the Infirmary dispensary closed, 182 successful visit to Boston to seek money to reopen the dispensary and to establish the hospital department, 190-191 visit to Philadelphia decides those interested in the Woman’s Medical College to establish also a hospital, 191, 192 entrée into the varied social circles of New York, 196-204, 220-222 becomes resident physician and superintendent of the finally opened New York Infirmary, 209-211 incidents in hospital management, in teaching and in practice, 213-218 experiences in mobbing of Infirmary and in neighborhood fires, 218-219, 227, 233 meeting with Dr. J. Marion Sims and observation of his interpretation of the New York Woman’s Hospital’s by-law calling for the appointment of a woman physician on the staff, 224-226 definitely begins training of nurses, 212, 228 health begins to show effect of overstrain, 230, 234, 239, 244 removes to Boston to become a member of the faculty of the New England Female Medical College, 239 is appointed professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children, 238, 259 establishes the Clinical Department (hospital) of which she becomes the head, and in which she continues the definite training of nurses, 243, 252, 361 tries to elevate the standards of the college and insists students must be trained practically as well as theoretically, 250-252, 273-277 is refused admission to the Massachusetts Medical Society because of her sex, 277, 394 establishes a temporary asylum for infants, 280 continuing unable to raise the standards of the college, she resigns from the faculty and the hospital is discontinued, 280-286 founds the New England Hospital for Women and Children and becomes resident, attending and dispensary physician and in charge of the out-practice, 293, 294 details of out-practice; night calls, 328, 329 continuous growth of this hospital and addition of assisting and coöperating medical women necessitate moving to larger quarters and favor her plans for specially designed buildings, 329, 333, 334, 352-354, 356-360, 493-495 she buys a horse and carriage, 335 for a second time she is refused admission to the Massachusetts Medical Society because of her sex, 394 opening of the new hospital buildings enables her to expand her already existing training school into the first general training school for nurses regularly organized in America, this school being under the direction of Dr. Susan A. Dimock, 360-364 serious effects of overwork oblige her to take first vacation in fifteen years; goes to Europe, 366-368 joins in the movement to check tendency towards the lowering of standards for the medical education of women, and towards opening to women the great medical schools of America, 373-387, 398-399, 401-403, 424-428, 435-437, 448 assists in forming the New England Hospital Medical Society and becomes its first president, 385 declines to apply a third time for admission to the Massachusetts Medical Society, this society now deciding to admit women, 392-395 goes to Europe again for vacation and investigates the progress of medical women in England, 404-411 resigns as attending physician, becoming advisory physician, 416 her private life, 457-466 celebrates her seventieth birthday, 470 her acceptance of the inevitable, 471-474 her death, 474 her farewell message, 474-478 addresses, letters and writings, The Study of Medicine, 259 Hospitals; Their History, Designs and Needs, 312 On the Problem of the Doctor in Charging Fees, 315 On Charity, 315 On the Golden Rule, 316 A Lesson, 316 Another True Story, 322 The Medical Education of Women, 375 A Moral Code for Women, 417 Should Women Study Medicine?, 424 What’s in a Name?, 428 The Emancipation of Woman: Will It Be a Success?, 442 Letters to Dr. Lucy E. Sewall, 300-312, 348, 367, 412 On the opening of the new buildings of the New England Hospital, 356 On the question of Harvard University opening a separate medical school for women, 380 Declining to apply a third time for admission to the Massachusetts Medical Society, having been refused twice on account of her sex, 393 Should medicines which cause anesthesia, emesis or prostration ever be administered to refractory prisoners to enforce obedience through their action?, 396 Letter to Mrs. Cheney and others, 404 On the absence in Westminster Abbey of any monument to a woman of attainment, 405 On the abuse of the word “lady,” 405 On the progress of medical women in England, 405 Comparison between earlier and later women medical students, 413 On the increasing work of the Hospital under women surgeons, 438 On her attitude as a critic, 447 Against the admission to the New England Hospital of women students of the Boston University Medical School (that being then a school of homeopathy), 448 On the reciprocal relation of the medical staff and the board of directors of the New England Hospital, 449 On a question of hospital discipline, 451 Letter to an ambitious colleague whose feelings have been hurt, 453 On the relation of the Dispensary to confidence in women surgeons, 468 On the laying of the corner stone of the Ednah D. Cheney surgical building, 469 Farewell message to be read at her funeral service, 474

Zurich, University of, see University of Zurich

THE END

Transcriber’s Notes

Page 120: “to lecures in 1851” changed to “to lectures in 1851”

Page 327: “especially on rainly days” changed to “especially on rainy days”

Missing period were added at the end of a few sentences.

The index reference for Dr. Elder was corrected to 211 (instead of 21).

Footnotes 28 and 29 were numbered and moved to the Notes section with the other footnotes. All other footnote numbers have been retained as in the original, though they appear out of sequence in the original text.