During the reign of Henry VIII a law was again enacted in favor of women physicians; for at that time an act was passed for the relief and protection of "Divers honest psones, as well men as women, whom God hathe endued with the knowledge of the nature, kind and operaçon of certeyne herbes, rotes and waters, and the using and ministering them to suche as be payned with customable diseases, for neighbourhode and Goddes sake and of pitie and charitie, because that 'The Companie and Fellowship of Surgeons of London, mynding only their owne lucres and nothing the profit or case of the diseased or patient, have sued, vexed and troubled' the aforesaid 'honest psones,' who were henceforth to be allowed 'to practyse, use and mynistre in and to any outwarde sore, swelling or disease, any herbes, oyntments, bathes, pultes or emplasters, according to their cooning, experience and knowledge—without sute, vexation, penaltie or loss of their goods.'"[205]
The italicized words in this quotation prove that the women doctors of England had the same difficulties as their sisters in France, and that the real reason of the opposition of the male practitioners was that they wished to monopolize the practice of medicine. They, like the medical faculty of Paris, strenuously objected to women "putting the sickle into their harvest," and they, accordingly, left nothing undone to circumvent the intrusion of those whom they always regarded as undesirable competitors.
It was argued by the men that women, to begin with, lacked the strength and capacity necessary for medical practice. It was also urged that it was indelicate and unwomanly for the gentler sex to engage in the healing art, and that, for their own good, they should be excluded from it at all costs. Those who were willing to waive these objections contended that women had not the knowledge necessary for the profession of medicine and should be excluded on the score of ignorance. When women sought to qualify themselves for medical practice by seeking instruction under licenced practitioners or in medical schools, they found a deaf ear turned to their requests. The doctors declined to teach them and the medical schools, one and all, closed their doors against them.
Thus it was that in England, France and Germany the practice of medicine and surgery was always practically in the hands of men until only a generation ago. Even the English midwives gradually "fell from their high estate," and were left far behind the female obstetricians of Germany and France. For these two countries can point to a number of midwives who, by their knowledge, successful practice, and the books they wrote, achieved a celebrity that still endures.
Chief among these in Germany were Regina Joseph von Siebold, her daughter Carlotta, and Frau Teresa Frei, all of whom, in the early part of the last century, enjoyed an enviable reputation in the Fatherland.
The first named, after following a course of lectures on physiology and the diseases of women and children, and passing a brilliant examination in the medical college of Darmstadt, devoted herself to the practice of obstetrics, and with so great success that the University of Giessen in 1819 conferred on her the degree of doctor of obstetrics. Her daughter, Carlotta, after studying obstetrics under her mother, went to the University of Göttingen, where she devoted herself to physiology, anatomy and pathology. After passing an examination and successfully defending a number of theses in the University of Giessen, she was also proclaimed a doctor of obstetrics. At a later date Frau Frei received a similar degree.[206]
More noted as accoucheuses and gynecologists than the three distinguished women just mentioned were Mme. Marie Louise La Chapelle and Mme. Marie Bovin, who, shortly after the French Revolution, entered upon those wonderful careers in their chosen specialties which have given them so unique a place in the annals of medicine.
Mme. La Chapelle was particularly celebrated for the numerous improvements she effected in lying-in hospitals, for the large number of skilled midwives whom she furnished, not only to France, but also to the whole of Europe, and, above all, for the excellent treatises which she wrote on obstetrics, which gave her a reputation second to none among her contemporaries, men or women. Her Pratique des Accouchements, in three volumes, based on the immense number of fifty thousand cases at which she presided, reveals an operator of rarest skill and genius. This production was long regarded as a standard work on the topics discussed, and for years exerted an immense influence in the medical world.
Less skillful as an operator, but of greater ability as a doctor than Mme. La Chapelle, was her illustrious contemporary, Mme. Bovin. Possessing extraordinary insight as an investigator and marvelous sagacity as a diagnostician, Mme. Bovin achieved the distinction of being the first really great woman doctor of modern times. Her marvelous success as a practitioner—Dupuytren said she had an eye at the tip of her finger—her extended knowledge of the entire range of gynecology, but above all her numerous treatises on the subject matter of her life work, gave her a prestige that none of her sex had ever before enjoyed, and commanded the admiration of the doctors of the world. Her Memorial de l'Art des Accouchements passed through many editions and was translated into several European languages. And so highly were her scientific attainments valued in Germany that the University of Marburg recognized them by conferring on her—honoris causa—the degree of doctor of medicine and, had its rules permitted the admission of women, the Royal Academy of Medicine would have honored her with a place among its members. She was also the recipient of many other honors, besides being a member of several learned societies. But the greatest monument to her genius is a large illustrated treatise in two volumes, in which she exhibits a wonderful knowledge of anatomy, physiology, surgery, pathology and therapeutics. It gave her a large following in Germany as well as in France, and there were not wanting distinguished German accoucheurs who followed Mme. Bovin's teachings to the letter.
The remarkable German and French women just named were all practically self-made women. They won fame as they had acquired knowledge—chiefly by courage, in spite of the countless obstacles that beset their paths. They owed nothing to schools or universities, nothing to government patronage or assistance, nothing to the medical fraternity as a whole. Universities would not admit them to their lecture rooms or laboratories, and the various medical faculties opposed them as intruders into their jealously guarded domain, and as competitors whose aspirations were to be frustrated, whatever the means employed. It is true that, when some of the women mentioned had won world-wide renown by their achievements, they were made the recipients of belated honors by certain universities and learned societies; but these societies and universities were then honoring themselves as much as the women who received their degrees and diplomas of membership.