TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9280, 4 December 1895, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The advocates of the higher Female . education of wotneu iv several Education European countries are not on the likely to relax their efforts Continent, on account of the indifference of their opponents;'for the latter may be said to be "going very strong." Especially Is this the case in Vienna, where Court Couucillor Albert, the. surgeon of the Vienna University, has just published a pamphlet which; though'entitled " Women and the Study of Medicine," ia , said to be really "an attr.ck upon all women who attempt to develop their faculties in.the hope.of earning a living by them." The author recognises tlvat great social changes and advantages are hoped from the higher education of women and he, for one, feels bound to speak out against women atudyiug medicine, having " the innermost conviction " that they Are not qualified for the medical profession. He speaks out indeed. He opens by a panegyric of man. •'All human work," he reminda his readers, "that you see about you is the work of man." Hβ discourses on this text at some length :—" A glaaa manufactory, a printing office, * machine room, a r e all places where you must admire man's ingenuity, industry, and power. The mathematics, mechanics, and technology that have made ihem possible are all the inventions of men. All you buy, if you follow it to its origin, you will find was worked for by man. Railways, posts, telegraphs are the work of man. There ia no social order in the world which is not his work. I should like to assert, after calm reflection, that ainoe Paradise, throughout thousands of years, out of millions of women not oue has for a single day thought over the problem what the men have done for the world, and what the wemen. The women have never even tried to understand man." This may be very true, but it is not quite clear how it concerns the queetion of women studying medicine. The apparent irrelevance does not, however, affect our author who, after declaring that womea are in the world to become mothers, goes on to state hi* disbelief in the argument that if they are allowed to develop they will work as well as men. The belief that women have all the qualifications for being doctors is, be says, »'one of the n»ost uuconsidered opinions of the many that are held," and the arguments quoted in support of it only show this misogynist professor that women can be good nurses. It is impossible to muke scientific creatures out of women, even if, as girls, they had the tamo opportunities as boys. The idea that women should become specialists and settle in the large cities excites hie deepest wrath. "God protect us from them 1" he exclaims ; the " us," we presume, being the male' specialists, whose incomes might be reduced by feminine competition. Professor Albert, however, h not so ferocious ai one would at first gather. He would not mind women becoming nurees and midwives, and would even do violence to his feelings by letting them act as trained but uulearned doctors' assistants. He takes comfort of a grim sort in the thought that evea if women attempt more they, will fail. 4, 1f, after all/ he says, " there should be girls willing to attempt the study of medicine, happily those who will succeed are very few indeed. Let them be examined with all the severity possible on the part of the examiner. No indulgence of any kiad to them !" It is gratifying to find that Professor Albert has raised a horneta' nest about bis care, and that among the many protests which have been made against hie remarks are some from University Profeseors and medical men. The women, however, hardly need these chanv pions, their position is assured, and the Professor's attempt to check them in their progress through the medical schools ia pitifully like Mrs Partington engaging the Atlantic with a broom.

Coksidjebikq that they have Fair not got the franchise, and Petitioners, that therefore in the eyes of Ministers they may be sap posed to be nonentities, the ladies of the Queanbeyan dtetriot of New South Wales have a very pretty idea of their own importance and of the value the Government is likely to attach to their wieb.es. For many years the residents of a portion of the district referred to have been agitating for a road, which would be a short cut to the township. Up to the present the Works Department have successfully staved off their application, but it is doubtful whether they will be able to hold out much longer. The ladies have taken the matter up, and the first notice the Minister received of their activity was a petition in which appeals and threats of personal

violence woca deftly blended. The netf ,, tioners, who spoke of themselves ai t), " undermentioned membara of the fair get" pointed out thaS the road which the asked should be opened had been rnea«u r ji ten yeare ag-> but had never been p to . claimed, and if it was necesaary then it w» much more so bow. At present, they said most of them had to go about t\a]Ji miles out of their road to reach Queanbeyan, their market town. With pithotic simplicity they showed that this necessitated thoir remaining f O . the night, thus spsndiog the harri-earned shillings they had made by selling eco. butter and poultry, but were thid rn a( | opened moat of them could psrform the journey in a day. "As to our going to church, chapel, or kirk, it is almost out o f the question. Oar pastors are also put to much inconvenience in visiting us. •Jμ.. days of chivalry have long since fle.J, but we may hope that in your heart a trace oj it still lingers, and that your heart may be touched by this recital of our wrongs." g<, far they appealed directly to the better feelings, conjured him, aa it were, to remember than he had once had a mother. But then they struck a sterner note. From pleading their wrongs they turned to demanding their rights. " There are limits," they said, "even, to feminine endurance," and warning th* Minister to beware of rousing then indignation they left him to infer that those limits were nearly reached. " Broom stinks and other feminine weapons familiar to the married man," they added," are still common i a this country, and the next excursion train may bring an augry depute* don thus armed to interview voo unless our petition he grunted. But we trust and believe that your aeuse of justice aud gallantry will render U unnecessary for ua to have recourse to these extreme measures." Behold, then, this unfortunate statesman—exposed, if he still remains obdurate, to a visitation of angry settlers , wives, and conscious, if he gives way by giving them the way they ask for, than he will be a butt for the jibe 3of everyone who knows the circumstances of the case, and who will say that he w&a frightened into doing it. It is to be hoped that this style of petition will not came into general use. Our own Minister of Pnbiic Wocks would, we have no doubfc, be uninfluenced by sush argumeute, but aupposiug the various local bodies were approached in this manner! We fear the average member of a Road Board would exercise the better part of valour, even at the expensa of economy.