Southern Medical and Surgical Journal - Georgia Regents University

12 Wilson, 071 Female Medical Education. [January,giving the patient the benefit of timely medical aid. But the2nd, and great reason, why we think the education of femalesshould embrace the diseases peculiar to their sex, is this: Bcause, without this, the natural modesty of females would stillleave them exposed to all the evils of incurable disease, or malpractice,to which we alluded, while advocating obstetric education.And we must be allowed to declare our candid conviction,that the evils to which females are exposed, from neglecteddiseases of the genitalia, are far greater than those to whichthey are subjected in parturition—even in ignoranl hands; forthe latter is a physiological act. and it will terminate favorably,in the vast majority of cases, if only let alone ;while most of thefemale diseases referred to are progr and their end isirremediable disorganization and a lingering death. Again: itis a fact, which is generally known to the profession, that femalesare less averse to male attention in parturition, than tothe use of the speculum and other diagnostic and therapeuticmeasures which are necessary in the treatment of their diseases;because, in the former case, the mind is wholly occupied by theanxieties of the present, while this state of mind does no exist inthe latter: we have, then, in this case, not only a negativestate of mind, which is very unfavorable to passive submission,but conjoined with this, the unavoidable exposure is muchgreater than it would be in simple manual assistance.Having now, in a brief and imperfect manner, indicated thereasons why we favor the extension of female education—whilew r e at the same time oppose the granting of the Doctorate—itremains for us to reconcile the apparent inconsistency, byshowing that females can be qualified to treat all the "purelysexual" diseases, without giving their attention to every departmentof medicine. It has already been seen that we consider"extensive attainments" necessary to the successfulmanagement of this class of diseases:—the fundmental branchesof female medical education, then—the branches which wedeem essential, and at the same time sufficient, for the accomplishmentof all the objects indicated in this article, should, inour opinion, be these : 1st. Anatomy (excluding surgical andpathological anatomy) ; 2d. Human Physiology ; 3d. MedicalChemistrv ;4th. Materia Medica ; and 5th. Obstetrics, and the