with almost every patient, after a fatiguing local treatment a kind of nervous relaxation ensues, which passes for a feeling of improvement. If it were more generally understood that this class of case can be more satisfactorily handled through other curative methods than through local treatment, then would those women adopting such other methods more rarely relapse and less frequently fall again into the hands of the physicians.

There may, of course, be diseases which are only approachable through some special local treatment, only manageable by this method. But this is emphatically not the case with the most of woman's ills, because, as otherwhere stated, sick women are very often not cured by operative treatment, who later find recovery through other remedial agents, among which I reckon the efficacy of springs, baths, and, especially, of Homœopathy. But to occupy herself with Homœopathy, after the Allopathic drill, would hardly occur to the woman physician, lest she fall into disrepute with the men doctors and be regarded as a quack. Yet this is the vital point on which the question of the woman doctor must split. Many a woman physician would be duly licensed and approved and would find ready work, if only in swelling the numbers of the medical proletariat, if she commanded nothing other and nothing better than man's physical advantage. If female physicians are not going to employ remedial agents which spare the nerve life of the woman, but are going to use methods exactly similar to those of most specialists for the diseases of women, sick women will have recourse to these latter, and, after the first shyness of modesty is over, would rather be treated by them. This view of mine has foundation in the physiolog

ical constitution of the woman. There exists between the sexes a power of attraction of a purely psychical kind. For this reason there are but few families in which the husband voices choice of the doctor; it is always the wife's decision. She will abide no unsympathetic physician, and if such an one is forced upon her acceptation, he may make himself sure that he will not be often needed.

Now, if women wish to become physicians, in spite of the brother colleague's physical vantage-ground, they must fortify their efforts with some curative agent better adapted to the impressionable sensibilities of a sick woman than Allopathy and Chirurgy. Such curative possibilities are pre-eminently offered in. Homœopathy. Supported by Homoeopathic remedies, the woman physician can well cope with men representatives, the rather that she is additionally recommended by those soothing and endearing qualities exemplified in every refined and kindly

woman.

The woman physician will find a wide and fruitful field for her activity and, if she be as knowing as her brother-doctor, her practice will not be long confined to diseases of women and children.

Not long since I read in these pages a prophecy to the effect that the time would come in which the man patient would seek the woman physician, and the woman patient, the man doctor, except, indeed, in the case of delicate diseases where one's natural preference would be for a physician of one's own sex. Such an idea struck me as paradoxical until I had read Bellamy's dreams of the future. If the woman physician but takes hold of her mission rightly, if she interweaves with her general medical knowledge a well-grounded knowledge of Homœopathy, in the onward march of medicine she may yet accomplish that which to-day

seems misty and impossible. But that accomplishment must be wrought out in other ways than those pursued by men physicians. Moreover, as a celebrated professor recently and publicly took occasion to say, she must not become the dupe of the chemists who are forever discovering new remedies whose effects have already been calculated. For the most of these fashionable remedies have proven themselves worthless after faithful trial by the whole army of physicians, and through not a few of such remedies countless patients have been permanently injured, even though they may have secured temporary alleviation of pain, induced sleep, etc.

Now, may worthier pens than mine not grow weary in pointing out this import ant situation which leaves the whole future of medicine in the hands of the women and which will bend a more liberal time fairly to the science of Homeopathy!

Legislative.

A LEGISLATIVE CONTEST IN

MARYLAND.

A SHARP contest is going on in the

legislature of Maryland in the field. of medical legislation. The old school introduced a "single board" bill and our State Society supplemented it with the following measure, which, we are informed, is the one meeting with favor and most likely to become the law of that State.

The JOURNAL presents it in full as follows:

A BILL

Entitled an act to repeal and re-enact with additions and amendments, sections 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47, of

Article 43, of the Code of Public Gener Laws, title Health," sub-title Pract tioners of Medicine."

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Gen eral Assembly of Maryland, That se tions 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 an i 47, of article 43. of the Code of Publ General Laws, title "Health." sub-title "Practitioners of Medicine," be and the same are hereby repealed and re-enact with amendments and additions, so the the said sub-title shall read at follows:

1

SEC. 39. Be it enacted, That every person, not now practicing medicine surgery who shall hereafter begin to practice medicine and surgery in any e its departments, except dentistry, in the State of Maryland, shall possess the ! qualifications required by this act.

SEC. 40. From and after the first Tues day in May, 1892, there shall be and continue to be two separate Boards of Medical Examiners for the State of Maryland, one representing the Medica and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland and one representing the Maryland State Homoeopathic Medical So ciety, of the State of Maryland. Each board shall consist of seven members. and each of said members shall serve for a term of four years or until their successors are appointed and qualified, each board to have exclusive right to examine, pass upon the qualifications of and license its own applicants, said members of the first or old school board to be appointed by the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, of which two shall be from the counties of the Eastern Shore, and five from the Western Shore, of which latter number two shall be from the counties west of the Blue Ridge Moun tains; and said second or Homœopath board to be composed of seven phys cians, appointed by the Maryland Stat Homoeopathic Medical Society, of wh

three shall be residents of Baltimore, and four of the state at large; the appointees shall be physicians actually engaged in the practice of medicine, and of recognized ability and honor; the term of office of each board shall commence on the first Tuesday in May, 1892, no member of any college or university, and no physician having a pecuniary interest in the trade of pharmacy shall be appointed to serve as a member of either of said boards; vacancies occurring in such for unexpired terms shall be filled by the board, in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section, and for expired terms in same manner as for first appointees.

SEC. 41. And be it further enacted, That each Board of Medical Examiners shall meet within thirty days after receiving official notice of their appointment. At the first meeting of each of the boards respectively, an organization shall be effected by the election, from their own membership, of a president and secretary. For the purpose of examining applicants for license each of said boards of medical examiners shall hold one or more stated or special meetings in each year, due notice of which shall be made public, at such times and places as may be determined by the members thereof respectively; at said stated or special meetings a majority of the members of a board shall constitute a quorum thereof. Each of said boards of Medical Examiners shall keep an official register of all applicants for examinations for a license to practice medicine and surgery in this state; said register for license shall show the name, age and last place of residence of each candidate, the school from which he or she may have graduated, and whether such applicant was rejected or licensed under this act, but such matters shall not be

written in said register or made public until after the examination.

SEC. 42. And be it further enacted, At the first meeting of an examining board, or at a stated or special meeting held subsequently, suitable provisions shall be made by each of the examining boards to prepare a schedule of written. examinations upon anatomy, physiology, chemistry, diagnosis, surgery, practice of medicine, materia medica and therapeutics, obstetrics, gynecology, pathology, medical jurisprudence and hygiene and shall require the same standard of excellence from all candidates. In the department of therapeutics and practice the questions shall be in harmony with the tenets of the school selected by the candidate; the standard of acquirements therein to be established by each board for itself. Whenever members of any board are necessarily absent from meetings held for the examination of applicants for license, suitable temporary provision shall be made for thorough examinations in each and all of the aforesaid subjects by the members present. The examination shall be fundamental in character and such as can be answered in common by all schools of practice. The votes of all the examiners present shall be "yes" or "no," written with their signatures upon the backs of the examination papers of each candidate for the respective branches.

SEC. 43. And be it further enacted, That all persons commencing the practice of medicine or surgery in any of its branches after the passage of this act by the General Assembly shall make a written application for license to the president of either board of Medical Examiners which said applicant may elect, together with satisfactory proof that the applicant is more than 21 years of age, is of good moral character, has obtained a

competent common school education, and has either received a diploma conferring the degree of doctor of medicine from some legally incorporated medical college in the United States, or a diploma or license conferring the full right to practice all the branches of medicine and surgery in some foreign country, and has also both studied medicine three years and attended three courses of lectures in different years in some legally incorporated medical college or colleges prior to the granting of said diploma or foreign license; provided that two courses of medical lectures, both of which shall be either begun or completed within the same calendar year, shall not satisfy the above requirement. Such proof shall be made if required, upon affidavit. Upon the inaking of said application and proof and payment of fee as provided, the president of the board to whom such application was made if satisfied with the same, shall direct the secretary thereof to issue to said applicant an order for examination, and when said applicant shall have passed an examination as to proficiency satisfactory to said board, the president shall grant to such applicant a license to practice medicine and surgery in the State of Maryland.

SEC. 44. And be it further enacted, That all examinations shall be conducted in such manner that the name, school of graduation and preparatory training of said applicant shall not be made known to the Board of Examiners until his examination papers have been graded. An applicant receiving a majority of the votes of the board before whom the applicant appears shall be considered to have passed a satisfactory examination and entitled to the license of said board.

SEC. 45. And be it further enacted, That a fee of ten dollars shall be paid to the secretary of the board before whom

the applicant appears before such exam ination is had, which said fee shall b applied by said board toward paying the expenses of said board.

SEC. 46. And be it further enacted. That the board shall refuse to grant a license to any applicant who may be radically deficient in his examination : any essential branch; provided that case of failure at any such examination the candidate after the expiration of one year from his rejection shall have the privilege of another examination by the board to which application was first made.

SEC. 47. And be it further enacted, That every license to practice medicine and surgery issued pursuant to the provisions of this act shall be subscribed by the president and secretary of the board before whom applicant passed, and by each medical examiner who reported the licentiate as having successfully passed said examinations. It shall also have affixed to it, by the person authorized to fix the same, the seal of said Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, or of the Maryland State Homœopathic Medical Society, as the license may re quire. Every such license shall be in the following form:

To All Whom It May Concern, Greeting. "Be it known that-on theday ofA. D.,- having offered to us satisfactory proof that was more than 21 years of age, and had received a proper preliminary education: that had attended three full courses of medical instruction, the last course a -in-in the years of

and

fully examined before our said board and found proficient and qualified to practice medicine and surgery by the examiners whose signatures are hereto attached. We, therefore, have granted to saidthis our license to practice medicine and surgery in the State of Maryland as a physician and surgeon, and have caused the names of the president and secretary of our board and said examiners to be subscribed, and the seal of our society to be affixed hereto, and have also caused this license to be recorded in bookof medical licenses, on page

WITNESS our hands and seal of our said society this day of D., 18

-A.

SEC. 48. And be it further enacted, That any person receiving a license from either of said boards shall file the same, or a certified copy thereof with the clerk of the circuit court of the county or city in which he or she may practice, and it shall be the duty of said clerk to register the name of such person, and the president of the board signing the same in a book kept for the purpose, as a part of the records of his office; and the number of the book and the page therein containing said recorded copy shall be noted in the body of the license. Said records shall be open to public inspection, under proper restrictions as to their safe-keeping, and in all legal proceedings shall have the same weight as evidence that is given to the record of the conveyences of land; the fee for each registration shall be $1, to be paid by the person whose license is registered.

SEC. 49. And be it further enacted, That this act shall not apply to commissioned surgeons of the United States army, navy or marine hospital service, to physicians or surgeons in actual consultation from other States, or to persons temporarily practicing under the supervision of an actual medical preceptor.

SEC. 50. And be it further enacted, That any person to whom the provisions of this act applies practicing or attempting to practice medicine or surgery in this State, without first having obtained. the license of one of said Boards of Medical Examiners, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall pay a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $200 for each offense, or in default of payment shall be confined in the city or county jail until the fines and costs are paid, and shall be debarred from recovering compensation for services rendered as such physician or surgeon.

SEC. 51. And be it further enacted, That all acts or parts of acts now existing not in accordance with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 52. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to any midwife or person who may render gratuitous services in cases of emergency.

SEC. 53. And be it further enacted, That it is provided that said boards shall make a written report to the medical and chirurgical faculty of Maryland and to the Maryland State Homœopathic Medical Society every two years.

SEC. 54. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from the date of its passage.

[Just why our friends should agree to consent to any medical examining board bill the JOURNAL fails to understand, but if a board law Maryland must have, then