"7th, The Mussulmans, as a body, are not well disposed towards the British rule in India.
"8th, Their Zenanas are generally closed against the European female missionary, and, where exceptions to the contrary are met with, it is feared that they are explicable by the fact of the heads of the respective homes wishing to obtain favour with some missionary or Government official for selfish ends.
"9th, The Government Medical Dispensaries are not patronized by the females of India, in any due proportion to their numbers and wants.
"10th, The women of India are lamentably destitute of proper medical aid.
"11th, The hakims, or native doctors of India, know nothing of the diseases peculiar to women, and are seldom consulted in such cases.
"12th, The native nurses or midwives, who are virtually the only doctors of the women of India, are grossly ignorant of their work, very meddlesome in the discharge of their duties, and of most immoral character.
"13th, From the constitution of social life in India, neither European nor native gentlemen can exert a direct influence for good on the female portion of the community.
"These are some of the points which we have already touched, and the question now arises, Is there no other key but that of education with which to open the door to the inner social life of India? We think there is certainly one other such key, and that key is female medical missions. But what is meant by the phrase, female medical missions?
"A female medical mission may be defined to be the practice of medicine by a lady, for the purpose not merely of curing, but of Christianizing her patients. Now, it is not difficult to see, from what has been already said, how admirably suited such an agency is to the present condition and wants of the women of India. This is a key which may be said to fit every lock, for we believe, that there are few, if any, homes into which the lady medical missionary would not be heartily welcomed and blessed for her humane efforts. She would find an entrance where the educational missionary would find the door closed. She would soften bigotry, remove prejudice, dispel ignorance, drive away gloom, and unobtrusively, but nevertheless effectually, deposit the all-pervading leaven of the Gospel in numberless hearts and homes.