In regard to those at present in the Literary Department, it is
impossible to get at any statistics as to excused absences, which will
show the average attendance of one sex as compared with that of the
other, and from which inferences can be deduced in regard to the health
of the women-students; for the university authorities--not having
dreamed that there was a "new natural law" to be revealed, which should
assert that the course of "identical co-education" is conducive to
health and usefulness for the one sex, and to premature decay and the
hospital or cemetery for the other--have not preserved the records of
excused absences. The professors assert that non-attendance upon
recitations, on account of ill-health, has been no greater on the part
of the young women than of the young men, and that in many cases, the
attendance of the former has been better than that of the latter; yet
there is nothing, perhaps, except personal acquaintance and observation,
which can reveal the true condition of the present health of the women
of the Literary Department of Michigan University, and the manner in
which it has been affected by the intellectual labors they have
undergone.

In the present graduating class, there are eight women who have been,
at all times during the college course, as well as an equal number of
their classmates, or the same number of women in any pursuit in life.
One of these, who is not only the 'picture of health,' but who is
perfectly healthy, was only sixteen years of age when she entered. Two
other young women, who have ranked with the first of their class in
scholarship, and who have been in excellent health during the entire
course, with the exception of slight illnesses in their freshman
year--not caused by study--who are now among the most healthy of their
class, have, in addition to their college work, nearly defrayed their
expenses by teaching during the vacations, by giving private instruction
after study hours, and by working in various other ways. They have not,
in this fourth year of almost double duty, any lurking disease which
threatens to impair or to destroy their usefulness in the future, and
they are as strong, ambitious, and happy as when they entered.

One who entered the class in its sophomore year, and who intended to
graduate with it, was obliged to withdraw on account of her health; but
those who know her best cannot assert that this was caused, either
directly or indirectly, by h