The Hastings Standard Published Daily. TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1896. LADY DOCTORS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 14, 12 May 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1896. LADY DOCTORS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The innovation of appointing two lady doctors as resident medical officers is causing widespread interest in Australia, and the general opinion appears to be in sympathy with the innovation. Having admitted women to the universities to study medicine and take their medical degrees, it follows as a natural consequence that they must be allowed to obtain that practical experience which is to be secured by " walking " a public hospital. The chief objection, if we may call it such, to lady doctors, lies in the belief that women are deficient in that firmness and strength which gives to a patient the sense of confidence which helps so powerfully towards recovery. This, no doubt, is true, but then there are certain people who will prefer to be treated by one of their own sex, as

here are others who, through want of confidence in lady doctors, will prefer to be treated by male doctors in preference to practitioners of their own sex ; but these considerations will help to preserve a due proportion of the sexes in the profession. Miss Gamble and Miss Greig. the lady doctors appointed to the Melbourne Hospital, have done their sex a service in 'pressing their claims on the hospital committee, and from a detailed report of the work performed by these ladies, it is evident they have set to with a determination to prove that they are fit in every respect for their duties. Thus we are told that " "Miss Greig came on at midnight and took sole charge of all the casualties that came in during the night, being assisted by a male dresser. Miss Greig had a busy night for her lirst experience of the work, and cases kept coming in so frequently that she never got more than an hour or two of sleep without being summoned to attend a patient. Among the earliest arrivals was an intoxicated woman, who had been fighting, and was suffering from the particular injury known as a ' cut head.' A ' cut head ' is to the hospital what insulting behaviour is to the police. It is a convenient. compendious, and elastic term coveriii.'j anything from a superficial sera ieli IO a t'l'ael nr.- of 1 In- --knll. II! this ca.-e ii represented a tolerably severe gash, and alter the patient's hair had been cut by the dresser, Miss Greig put in the necessary stitches, and administered a dose of the mixture which science has prescribed and custom has ratified for use in such cases. Miss Greig had hardly finished attending to this wounded amazon when another female visitor in a similar plight was ushered into the room by a powerfully-built constable. The new comer was in a very advanced stage of ale-holism, and was also suffering from a cut head. Her lungs, however, were quiet sound, and she appeared to be in good bodily health, for she yelled, cursed, screamed, kicked, and bit with such vigour that Miss Greig found it difficult to approach her. However, while the constable and the dresser between them held the patient down, Miss Greig managed to attend to her wounds and even to force down her throat a modicum of the invaluable mixture from the bottle which had been already brought into requisition for the previous case. A male prisoner suflering from asthma was next brought up from the watchbouse and treated, after which Miss Greig dealt with an unknown man who was admitted in a battered condition, and who subsequently died during the afternoon. Miss Gamble attended to the medical cases in the casualty ward, and among them she dealt with a powerfully-built man who was brought in suffering from alcoholism. He was so noisy and violent that Miss Gamble was obliged to steady him with the electricbattery, which speedily brought him to his senses. Among the other cases Miss Gamide dealt with a male patient suffering from pain over the cardiac region, due possibly to trouble in the pericardial sac." The novelty of seeing lady doctors in the Hospital will soon wear off, but the precedent established by Misses Gamble and Greig will remain, and will be a powerful argument for the extension of the system throughout the colonies.