In comparatively recent times, Bologna was remarkable as ever for its liberal encouragement of learned women, and about the middle of the last century the Chair of Anatomy at that University was filled by Anna Morandi Mazzolini, whose exquisitely delicate anatomical models, executed in wax, became the pride of the Museum at Bologna. She first became interested in the study of Anatomy in consequence of her wish to help her husband, who was a distinguished anatomist, and a maker of anatomical designs and models. He fell into ill-health and mental despondency, and therefore “his wife, loving him dearly, and fearing that he would desist from his work, gave herself up to his comfort; and for this purpose became herself an anatomical sculptor, reading works of anatomy, consulting anatomical tables and preparations, taking theoretical and practical lessons from her husband, and, marvellous to say, even dissecting dead bodies with resolute mind, and with incredible perseverance.... Too long to describe are the works executed in wax by the able hands of this illustrious woman. They were collected in five elegant cases in our Anatomical Museum.... The fourth case encloses delicate illustrations of all the parts belonging to the senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch—stupendous works in which she surpassed herself, and also her husband, and his colleague, Ercole Lelli.... These models were for some time kept in her own house, and each one who saw them spread her renown, so that through distant countries was spread the fame of her works, so that every learned and distinguished person passing through Bologna was solicitous to visit and know personally the maker of these wonders.”[30] Signora Mazzolini also made original discoveries in anatomical science, which obtained for her many marks of distinction from the learned colleges and societies of the day. She was offered a Chair at Milan, with increased revenues, but preferred to remain at Bologna, where she lived till her death in 1774. Medici, in his records of the Anatomical School of Bologna, speaks of this lady with profound respect, as distinguished alike by “rare powers, great erudition, gracious manners, and delicate and gentle temperament,” and relates that her fame reached the ears of the Emperor Joseph II., who visited her in 1769, and “having seen her works and heard her conversation,” loaded her with public honours. Her example seems to have inspired others of her countrywomen to follow in the steps of one so honoured, alike in the stern duties of her profession, and in the sanctities of household life; for in the course of the next half century several Italian women availed themselves of the thorough medical education which the Italian Universities never refused.
In 1788 Maria Petraccini[31] took a degree in medicine at Florence, and we find her, a little later, lecturing on anatomy at Ferrara, in presence of the medical professors. She married Signor Feretti, and has left several works on the physical education of children.
Her daughter, Zaffira Feretti, seems to have inherited her mother’s talents, for she studied Surgery in the University of Bologna, and there received a medical degree[32] in May 1800. She obtained an appointment under the Italian Government, and for some time lived in Ancona acting as Director-General of the midwives in all parts of the country. She afterwards went to Turkey, and died at Patras in 1817.
Maria Mastellari seems also to have been a woman of unusual talent, and “progressed diligently in the most rigid sciences.” She obtained a medical degree at Bologna in 1799. She subsequently became the wife of Signor Collizoli-Sega, and is described as possessing a “sweet and gentle temperament, with special love of silence and quiet. She centred her interests in her family, which she managed admirably.”[33]
Still more distinguished in the annals of medicine was Maria delle Donne, who also studied in the University of Bologna, and “received the doctoral laurel” in 1806.[34] She “constantly practised both Medicine and Surgery,” and was appointed by Napoleon Bonaparte to the Chair of Midwifery at Bologna. The Gazette Medicale, quoting from the “Raccoglitore Medico,” gives the following account of her:—“Anna Maria delle Donne, docteur en médecine, auteur d’élégants vers latins, professeur d’obstetrique, à l’Université de Bologna, membre de l’Academie, bénédictine, &c., est décedée le 9 Janvier, 1842. Cette femme distinguée qui a succedé à Madame Mazzolini et à Madame Bassi, est une des gloires scientifiques de Bologna. Elle soutint en 1800, avec un très grand succès, une thèse de Philosophie, de Chirurgie, and de Medicine. Peu après, à la suite d’un examen public, on lui conféra le grade de docteur et de consultant. Napoleon en passant à Bologne fut frappé du savoir de cette dame, et institua pour elle une Chaire d’Obstetrique, où elle se fit une grande renommée.”[35]
Nor was Italy alone noted as the birthplace of women skilled in Medicine. In Germany, early in this century, Frau von Siebold so greatly distinguished herself in the practice of midwifery that the degree of M.D. was conferred on her by the University of Giessen;[36] and her daughter Marianne, afterwards Frau von Heidenreich, studied in the Universities of both Göttingen and Giessen, and took her degree in the regular way in 1817. She is spoken of as “one of the most famed and eminent female scholars of Germany,” and as being “universally honoured as one of the first living authorities in her special branch of science.”[37] She died only in 1859.
In France, the name of Madame Lachapelle[38] was known and honoured as that of one of the ablest teachers of Midwifery during the latter part of the last century. She has left several valuable works on subjects connected with her specialty. Her funeral in 1821 was followed by all the chief physicians of Paris. Her pupil and successor, Madame Boivin,[39] was still more distinguished for her medical knowledge and skill, and for her contributions to anatomical science. Her “Memoire de l’art des Accouchements” was approved by the highest medical authority, and was appointed as the text-book for students and midwives by the Minister of the Interior. She was invested with an Order of Merit by the King of Prussia in 1814, and in the same year was appointed co-director (with the Marquis de Belloy) of the General Hospital for Seine and Oise, and in 1815 was entrusted with the direction of a temporary Military Hospital, for her services in which latter capacity she received a public vote of thanks. She was also entrusted with the direction of the Hospice de la Maternité, and of the Maison Royale de Santé, and was one of the most distinguished practitioners of the time. She made original discoveries in Anatomy, invented various surgical instruments, and obtained prizes for medical theses from the Société de Medicine.
Her medical writings were distinguished by “precision et clarté, jugement sain, erudition choisie, et savoir solide.” In 1846 one of her books was eulogized by Jourdan as “ouvrage éminemment pratique, et le meilleur que nous possedions encore sur ce sujet,” with the additional remark that “tout se réunit pour lui mériter une des premières places parmi les productions de la littérature medicale moderne.” She was a member of the Medical Societies of Paris, Bordeaux, Berlin, Brussels, and Bruges, and was honoured with the degree of M.D. from the University of Marbourg. She died in 1841.
These numerous instances of the successful practice of Medicine by women seem to have been little known, or else forgotten, to judge by the surprise expressed when, after surmounting many difficulties, an English lady, named Elizabeth Blackwell, succeeded in obtaining medical education and the degree of M.D. from a medical school in America in 1849. The novelty, in truth, was not in the granting of the medical degree to a woman, but in its being received by an Englishwoman, for it is hardly gratifying to one’s national pride to find that England never has accorded such encouragement to female learning as was found in Italy, Germany, and France; and it is still more painful to realize that this country, almost alone, stands still aloof from the movement of liberal wisdom that has now in all these lands, as well as in Switzerland, and even in Russia, granted to woman the advantage of University education and degrees. English women are not behind others in desiring knowledge, but as yet they are forced to seek it on foreign shores, for hitherto no British University has ever fully admitted women to its educational advantages; and a few years ago, that of London, with all its professions of liberality, refused a woman’s petition even for examination for the degree of M.D.!