ontague's discovery of a check to the
small-pox, Madam Boivin's discovery of the hidden cause of certain
hemorrhages, Madam de Condray's invention of the manikin, are among
the notable steps which opened the way to the modern Elizabeth
Blackwell, Harriot K. Hunt, Clemence S. Lozier, Ann Preston, Hannah
Longshore, Marie Jackson, Laura Ross Wolcott, Marie Zakrzewska, and
Mary Putnam Jacobi, who are some of the earlier distinguished American
examples of woman's skill in the healing art.

Mary Gove Nichols gave public lectures upon anatomy in the United
States in 1838. Paulina Wright (Davis) followed her upon physiology in
1844, using a manikin in her illustrations.[1] Mariana Johnson
followed Mrs. Davis, but it was 1848 before Elizabeth Blackwell--the
first woman to pass through the regular course of medical
study--received her diploma at Geneva.[2] In 1845-6, preceding Miss
Blackwell's course of study, Dr. Samuel Gregory and his brother George
issued pamphlets advocating the education and employment of
women-physicians, and, in 1847, Dr. Gregory delivered a series of
lectures in Boston upon that subject, followed in 1848 by a school
numbering twelve ladies, and an association entitled the "American
Female Medical Education Society." In 1832, Lydia Maria Child
published her "History of Woman," which was the first American
storehouse of information upon the whole question, and undoubtedly
increased the agitation. In 1836, Ernestine L. Rose, a Polish
lady--banished from her native country by the Austrian tyrant, Francis
Joseph, for her love of liberty--came to America, lecturing in the
large cities North and South upon the "Science of Government." She
advocated the enfranchisement of woman. Her beauty, wit, and eloquence
drew crowded houses. About this period Judge Hurlbut, of New York, a
leading member of the Bar, wrote a vigorous work on "Human Rights,"[3]
in which he advocated political equality for women. This work
attracted the attention of many legal minds throughout that State. In
the winter of 1836, a bill was introduced into the New York
Legislature by Judge Hertell, to secure to married women their rights
of property. This bill was drawn up under the direction of Hon. John
Savage, Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, and Hon. John C. Spencer,
one of the revisers of the statutes of New York. It was in furtherance
of this bill that Ernestine L. Rose and Paulina Wright at that early
day circulated petitions. The very