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 were unanimously to the effect that while the idea was a valuable one it was impossible of accomplishment for many reasons. This verdict only served to intensify her determination to accomplish her purpose. After two years of private study she went to Philadelphia, which in those days, 1847, was considered the seat of medical learning in this country, and made application to the four medical colleges for admission as a regular student. But such a revolutionary idea was not to be entertained, and all the doors remained closed to her. One kindly Quaker adviser said to her: “Elizabeth, it is of no use trying. Thee cannot gain admission to these schools. Thee must go to Paris and don masculine attire to gain the necessary knowledge.”
It had now become a moral crusade with Miss Blackwell, and the justice and common sense of her undertaking seemed so supreme that she determined to push the warfare to the farthest limit. After similarly unsuccessful attempts in New York, she obtained a complete list of all the smaller institutions of the Northern States, examined their prospectuses, and sent applications for admission to twelve of the most promising. After long delay an answer came from the medical department of the small university at Geneva, in the western part of New York State. It seems that the faculty had submitted Miss Blackwell’s letter to the medical class, who adopted the following resolutions:
“Resolved—That one of the radical principles of a republican government is the universal education of both sexes; that to every branch of scientific education the door should be open equally to all; that the application of Elizabeth Blackwell to become a member of our class meets our entire approbation; and in extending our unanimous invitation we pledge ourselves that no conduct of ours shall cause her to regret her attendance at this institution.”
Their gallantry won the day, the faculty cordially opened the doors of the institution, and she began her studies there at once.
Being the first female student in the small place her appearance of course gave rise to many comments. Many people looked at this new woman in wonder; some even inclined to regard her as a lunatic, or a disorderly person. But her behavior and seriousness compelled respect, and when in 1849 she received her degree, the public press very generally commented upon the event in favorable terms and even in Europe some notice of it was taken. She found fewer obstacles in her path in her studies abroad, especially in Paris. After her return to America she began practice in New York City, and here again she had to do pioneer work. The medical fraternity stood aloof, refusing to consult with her, and society in general somewhat distrusted the innovation. But in time her work received just recognition and the status of women in the profession became fully established. In 1868 Dr. Blackwell founded the “Woman’s Medical College of New York.” The later years of her life were spent in England, where she also did much in moulding public opinion along the lines of philanthropy, especially in opening hospitals and dispensaries for women and children.
A few years after Miss Blackwell had received her diploma, another remarkable woman, Florence Nightingale, aroused world-wide admiration by her noble service during the Crimean war of 1853–56. Intensely devoted to the alleviation of suffering, she had since 1849 paid great attention to the sanitary conditions of civilian as well as military hospitals, which in many cases she found rather poor. In 1851 she went into training as a nurse, and when in 1853 war was declared with Russia, and the hospitals on the Bosphorus were soon crowded with the sick and wounded, she offered the English Government to go out and organize a nursing department at Scutari. Starting with a unit of thirty-seven nurses, she arrived at Constantinople when the mortality in the hospitals had become appalling. Seeing clearly the cause for this frightful state in the bad sanitary arrangements of the hospitals, Miss Nightingale devoted incessant labor to the removal of these causes, as well as to the mitigation of their effects, with such success, that in the English army the death-rate fell from 22¼% to only 2¼%.
After her return to England, in 1856, the Government as well as Queen Victoria and the public were not slow to acknowledge her splendid services. While the Queen presented her with a cross set with diamonds, the people subscribed a fund of several hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of enabling her to found an institution for the training of a superior order of nurses in connection with the St. Thomas’s and King’s College Hospitals. Miss Nightingale also enriched the medical literature by two valuable books, “Notes on Nursing” and “Notes on Hospitals,” in which she gave the results of her lifelong observations.
The example of Miss Nightingale had much to do with calling forth the exertions of American women during the Civil War. As soon as there were wounded soldiers to heal, and military hospitals to serve, the patriotic and benevolent women of America remembered the great work of Florence Nightingale, and hastened to the front. As A. W. Calhoun states in his “Social History of the American Family,” by 1864 there were busy in the North 250 women physicians. Women planned and organized also the “U. S. Sanitary Commission,” for the alleviation of the sufferings of the battlefield. Its pre-eminent utility was universally recognized. It caused likewise several great charity fairs, the last two of which were held in New York and Philadelphia and yielded $1,000,000 and $1,200,000 respectively.
Among the female physicians, who did service during the Civil War, the most noteworthy was Dr. Mary E. Walker. Having studied medicine at the Medical College in Syracuse, N. Y., she was the first woman commissioned to serve on the surgical staff of any army in time of war. On assuming her duties as surgeon in the war, she found hospital efficiency and hoopskirts incompatible; so she sacrificed the skirt and donned a man’s coat and trousers. In recognition of her able services Congress not only awarded her a Medal of Honor, but also allowed her—the only instance in history—by a special act to continue to wear male attire. Dr. Walker declared many times that her sole reason for advocating dress reform for women were hygienic ones. A real pioneer in her profession, she also maintained for many years a farm for sufferers from tuberculosis and carried on a school for prevention of that disease modelled after a plan of her own.
Among the women, whose names appear in the history of the Civil War, one of the most brilliant was Miss Clara Barton. Devoting herself to the care of the wounded soldiers, she won for herself as superintendent of the hospitals in the army of the James the surname “the Florence Nightingale of America.” During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 she joined the German branch of the Red Cross Society, that noble institution, which in 1859 had been founded by Henry Durant, a citizen of Geneva, Switzerland.