England in its
attitude toward female practitioners. The case of Miss Sophia
Jex-Blake brought on the contest. She applied to the London University
for admission, and was informed that the charter of that institution
had been purposely framed to exclude women who sought medical degrees.
Returning to Edinburgh, she exhausted every legal resource in a combat
with the authorities, and was signally worsted. The plucky fight she
made won the admiration of Sir James Simpson, the dean of the medical
faculty, and others, but Professor Laycock observed to her that he
"could not imagine any decent woman wishing to study medicine; as
for any lady, that was out of the question." Success finally crowned
persistent endeavor, and, the University Court having passed a
resolution that "Women shall be admitted to the study of medicine
in the university," Miss Jex-Blake and four other ladies passed the
preliminary examinations for entrance. Other women soon entered the
open door; but the contest was not yet ended, for, after these ladies
had pursued their studies for three years and paid the fees, they were
informed by the University Court that no arrangement could be effected
by which they could continue their studies with a view to a degree,
instead of which they were offered certificates of proficiency; the
latter, however, would not be recognized by the Medical Act. They then
took legal measures to secure redress, and followed the matter up by
a bill in Parliament, which was lost. In 1876 another bill was
introduced to enable all British examining bodies to extend their
examinations and qualifications to women, and this became a law. A
number of colleges availed themselves of the privilege and opened
their doors to women, until at the present time there are medical
schools for women in a number of the principal cities in England,
Scotland, and Ireland.

The advance of women in the professions was in line with the general
widening of the educational horizon of the sex. Partly as the result
of her broader education, and partly as a cause of it, there was a
juster appreciation of the relative position of the sexes, and into
this there entered as well the new economic measure of value. Society
was no longer regarded as a congeries of individuals, but as an
organism, and an organism whose function was chiefly the creation
of wealth. This broader economic estimate of society could but be
favorable to women, whose valuation as a part of the