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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8661, 2 September 1891, Page 4

A correspondent writes urging that something should be done to make the machinery that we have for the higher education increasingly useful. He mentions that it was lately stated that Professor Brown delivered a lecture on agriculture on a Saturday afternoon, but very few were present. We are quite sure that the fault does not lie with the Professors, who have all along shown an anxiety to make their knowledge widely available, and are only anxious for pupils. They have shown that they are quite willing to put aside any question of personal convenience, and to select the time most convenient for those who desire to attend. Within the last few weeks it has been proposed to commence a useful branch of training. Sir Maurice O'Rorke lately lamented that the project of commencing a medical school here had not been carried out owing to the rivalry of the Dunedin school and for other reasons. But in One direction something of the kind might be revived. Whether it would be a good thing that, in certain instances, women might complete a medical education, and practice as physicians, is a matter still in dispute, but there is little difference on the subject that it would be a good thing for women to have an acquaintance to some extent with physiology. They would be able to attend to their own bodily health, and when they became wives and mothers they would have a better knowledge of their responsibilities and duties. To acquire this knowledge most young women might well spare an hour or two in a week from their pianoforte practice. We learn that Professor Thomas, who was a demonstrator of anatomy at home, is willing to give to a class of ladies lectures of such a nature in anatomy and physiology as would lay the foundation for a competent and most useful knowledge. Dr. Mackellar is about to give lectures to the nurses at the Hospital, and perhaps he might be induced to give some teaching to such a class as we have referred to on the diseases of women and children. If this were precluded by his professional duties, perhaps the resident physician at the Hospital might be got to undertake the duty. It has always been a difficulty in the medical education of women that the knowledge has to be conveyed in classes with male fellowstudents but the plan proposed would entirely obviate any objection on that score. The experiment would be a most interesting one, and we hope that a fair trial will be made. Any person desirous of taking part in such a class may forward communications to the editor of the Herald, when these will be sent to the promoters of the project.