Physiology A Study For Women

We take the following from the opening locture in tho Ladies' Courso on Physiology, at the Univorsity of Edinburgh, by Professor Bennott : I have long held the opinión that phytáologyf besides being essential to the medical, should be introduced as an clomentary subject of cducatiou in all our schools - should be taught to all classes of society. It is an aseertained fact that 100,000 individuals perish annuully in this country from causes which are oasily preventiblo, and that a large amount of misery is caused by an ignoranco of tho laws of health. Wornen, in all classes and degrees of society, have moro to do witk the preserVation and duration of human ïife,-even, than men. It has been argued tïiat, inasmuch as oven the brutos know instinctively how to take care of their young, so must wonien bo iblo to do tho same. But the hnman infant is tho most helpless of creatures, and nothing is more lamentable than to witness tho anxieties and agony of the younguiother as to how ghe should manage her first-born. In no systein of education are womeu taught the structure and ïequirementsof the offBpring whieh will bo committed to their charge ; and certninly no error can bo greater than to supposo that tho senses and instinct are sufficiont for teaching man as to his physical, vitul and intellectual wants. Tlio enormous loas of life smong infants has struck all who havo paid attention to the subject, and there is no questicn that this is mainly owing to negiect, want of proper food or clothing, ör cleanliness, or fresh air, and other proventible causes. Dr. Lankester tells us, whon ably writing on this topic, that, as coroner of Central Hiddlesex, he holds one hundred inquests annually on ehiklreu found suffocated in bed by the side of their mothers, and he calculates that in this way 3,000 infanta are destroyed annually, in Grcat Britain alone, attributable, in nine cases oufc of ton, to tho gross ignorance of those motliers of tho laws which govorn thu life of tho child. But women are tho regulatore of the domestic households. They also constituto tho greatness of our domestic servants. On them dependa the proper ventilation of the rooms, and especially the sleepiug rooms, in which all mankind, on an averago, spend onethird of their livos. Children are too ten sliut up ali day m erowdcu nurseries, and whcn ill, aro subjocted to nuniorous absurd remedios bofore medical assistanoü iö sent for. Their clothing is ofteu useless or neglectcd, the dictatioiis of fashion, rather than comfort and warmth, being too frequoatly attended to. The cleanliness of the house algo depends on womcn, and the reruoval of organic" matter trom furniture and linen, tho decomposition of whicli is so productivo ot' disease. Further, tho proper choic aad prepara tion of food are entrusted to theni. All these aro physiological subjects, the ignoranco of whi'jh in women leads to the intoiaperance and brutality of the men, from which origínate half the vice and crime known to our pólice oifiuers and court of justicc. Additional arguments for the study of physiology by womon may be derived from the considoration of - (1) tho offocts of fashionable clothing - tho tight lacing, naked slioulders, thin shoe?, high heeled boots - oi'ton subversive of health ; (2) tho great object of marriage- the production of healthy ofïspring - and all the foresight, care and provisión required, but too often neglected,- through ignorance, to the danger both of mother and child ; (.'{) the proper employnient of woinen, which should bc regulated with regard to their conformation and cons'itution ; and (4) nur siug the sick, which is one of the most holy occupations of women, and which would be moro intelligently done if t.hey possessed physiological knowledgo. Honce women in al] ranks of society should have physiology tanght them. It should be an essonti:il stibji.ct in their primary, sec ondary, and higher schools. So stroiifr aro my oonvictions on this subject that I asteem it a special duty to lecturo on phisiology to women, and -vvhenever I have done so have found them most attentivc and intcrested in the subject, posgessing, indeed, a peculiar aptitude for the study, and an instinctivo feeling, whether as servants or niistressos, wives or mothors, that this science contains for them, more than any other, tho elementa of real imd usoful knowledgo.