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CHAPTER IV. MEDICINE AS A PROFESSION FOR WOMEN
Ladies wishing to enter the medical profession can receive the necessary instruction at the London School of Medicine for Women, 30, Henrietta Street, Brunswick Square. It is desirable that they should have private means, as, unless they go to India, where there is a considerable opening for medical women, it would probably be some time before their practice would be sufficiently remunerative. Ladies desiring to prepare for the medical profession must pass one of the examinations in Arts recognised by the General Medical Council, such an examination being compulsory before registration as a medical student.

Among these examinations are:—

I. The Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations, Senior and Junior.

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II. The Senior Local Examinations for Honorary Certificates, and the ordinary Local Examination of the University of Edinburgh.

III. The Local Examination for Honours Certificates of the University of St. Andrews.

IV. The Examination in Arts of the Society of Apothecaries in London.

V. The examinations for a first-class certificate of the Royal College of Preceptors.

VI. The Local Examinations of the Queen's University in Ireland.

VII. The Matriculation Examination of the University of London.

Certificates must in all cases include English literature, Latin, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and also one of the following optional subjects:—

Greek, French, German, or natural philosophy.

Four years is considered the necessary time of study to obtain a license to practise from the King's and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland; and the expense, including examiners' fees, hospital practice, books, and instruments, is slightly under £200. This, of course, does not include board and lodging.

An M.D. degree from the University of London is more difficult to obtain, and necessitates additional study of a year, or possibly more. There are at present thirty-six pupils in the school. No one is70 admitted under the age of eighteen. An entrance scholarship of the value of £30 is competed for annually in September.

All persons requiring further information on subjects connected with the medical education of women, with the residence of students in the neighbourhood of the school, or respecting scholarships, are invited to apply to Mrs. Thorne, hon. secretary, 30, Henrietta Street, Brunswick Square, London.

Pharmaceutical Chemists.—As the Pharmaceutical Society has now thrown its examinations open to women, there is nothing to prevent them from setting up in business as chemists. It is an occupation peculiarly adapted to women, and returns a better interest on invested capital than most other trades.

A preliminary examination in Latin, Arithmetic, and English, has to be passed, unless the candidate can produce a certificate of having passed the Local Examinations of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, or Edinburgh, the Examination of the College of Preceptors, or those of any legally constituted examining body previously approved by the Council, provided Latin and arithmetic be included in the subjects.

Before going up for the other examinations each candidate must produce a certified declaration that for71 three years she has been registered and employed as an apprentice or student, or has otherwise for three years been practically engaged in the translation and dispensing of prescriptions.

The cost of passing the three examinations necessary to become a pharmaceutical chemist, including tuition, examiner's fees, books, chemicals, apparatus, &c., is from £80 to £100, and the time required for study after the apprenticeship would be from a year to eighteen months.

Miss Isabella S. Clarke, a pharmaceutical chemist, in Spring Street, Paddington, is willing to take outdoor apprentices for three years at a premium of £100.

The capital required to start in business with a reasonable prospect of success is from £500 to £1,000; the nearer it is to £1,000 the better. The stores have done much to injure chemists' business by selling patent medicines, hair-washes, soap, scents, &c., at much lower prices than private traders can afford to adopt.

Dispensers.—I understand that many doctors who prepare their own medicines are willing to employ ladies to dispense them, at salaries ranging from £30 to £50. The necessary knowledge can be acquired at the New Hospital for Women, Marylebone Road, where they are willing to take girls and teach them72 dispensing for six months for a premium of £5. It is necessary that candidates should have a slight knowledge of Latin, and an intimate acquaintance with arithmetic, especially fractions; and desirable that they should be of studious habits, as they are expected to read various books recommended them by the authorities. Employment can also occasionally be obtained at hospitals, especially by ladies who can undertake bookkeeping as well as dispensing.

Hospital Nurses.—Hospital nursing affords certain employment to capable women, and, although the salaries are low, it must be remembered that liberal board, comfortable bed-rooms, and washing, are always included. Trained nurses' salaries usually commence at £20, rising, according to experience and responsibilities, to £30. Chief nurses of wards, usually called ward sisters, obtain in the chief London hospitals from £35 to £50. Matrons and lady superintendents of nursing receive from £50 to £100. Nearly all the London hospitals train nurses.

I give the rules of the Nightingale Fund and of the Westminster Training School, as I believe these will be found fair specimens of the rest.

At St. Thomas's two classes of probationers are received. The rules for special probationers are as follows:—

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The committee of the Nightingale Fund have made arrangements for the admission to their school at St. Thomas's Hospital of a limited number of gentlewomen who may desire to qualify themselves in the practice of hospital nursing, with the express object of entering upon this profession permanently, by eventually filling superior situations in public hospitals and infirmaries.

These probationers will be required to pay towards the cost of maintenance during their year of training the sum of £30, and to give an undertaking to continue in the work for three years after leaving the school; but, upon payment of a higher sum of £52, to cover the cost of maintenance and also partly of instruction, &c., the undertaking will be limited to one year after leaving the school.

Occasional vacancies occur for the admission of gentlewomen free of expense, together with, in some cases, a small salary during the year of training. These advantages will be strictly limited to those whose circumstances require such aid.

Candidates desirous of receiving this course of training should apply to Mrs. Wardroper, the Matron, at St. Thomas's Hospital, subject to whose selection they will be received into the hospital as probationers. The age considered desirable for these probationers is from twenty-seven to thirty-seven, single or widows;74 a certificate of age and other information will be required. Should opportunities occur for affording instruction in some of the duties of supervision, they will be expected to remain for that purpose for a further period of two or three months, but in that case no further payment will be required. Payment will be required by two equal instalments in advance, viz., half on admittance, and half at the end of six months. No part of the paid instalment will be returned in the event of the probationer leaving from any cause.

The probationers will receive instruction from the medical instructor and the hospital "sisters," and will serve as assistant nurses in the wards of the hospital.

The names of the probationers will be entered in a register, in which a record will be kept of their qualifications. At the end of a year those whom the Committee find to have passed satisfactorily through the course of instruction and training will be entered in the register as certified nurses.

On completion of their training they must be prepared to take employment on the nursing staff of some public hospital or infirmary wherever offered to them by the Committee, and to continue in similar employment for a period of three years at least, this period being limited to one year in the case only of those who have paid at the higher rate. As a step75 to superior situations, they will be expected, if required, to accept an engagement as nurse (day or night), at the usual salary, for the whole or a portion of the first year after leaving the training school. Engagements, whether as nurse or in a superior situation, will from time to time, during the above period, be made through the Committee with the managers of the institution, by whom the certified probationer is to be employed. Her salary will be paid to her by such managers, but it is expected that she will not terminate any engagement without due notice to the Committee.

Withdrawal from the service may be allowed upon special grounds—family circumstances or otherwise—to be approved by the Committee.

Probationers will not be expected to go out of Great Britain unless at their own request.

The Committee desire, in ever............
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