Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1896 — IF A QUEEN. WHY NOT A PHYSICIAN? [ARTICLE]

IF A QUEEN. WHY NOT A PHYSICIAN?

The British Royal College of Physicians had a lively debate over the proposition to admit women to the examinations and diplomas of the college, and then rejected it by a vote of 59 to 50. Some of lite arguments for tlie “opening wedge” were ingenious, Sir Benjamin Richardson, for instance, contending that when the college was founded no woman had ruled over England, but since then tlie nation had had four queens. And if a woman could lie a queen why could she not lie a physician? Dr. Payne said that the women examined for degrees at the University of London ranked as high as the men, and Sir William Broadbent reminded the committee that since women were bound to become doctors regardless of opposition, it would be better for the public that they should come under the jurisdiction of the College of Physicians.