With regard to the opportunities for post-graduate study:—­At first all the men’s medical societies were closed to women, the provincial societies being among the first to recognise their women medical colleagues.  London, being in this as in all things conservative, took many years to move, and did so very grudgingly; but now nearly all the important medical societies admit women, in this falling into line with the learned professions generally.  The Royal Medical Society, London, at first admitted women to its separate sections only, while denying them the Fellowship, with which would have gone that mysterious power which men so deeply resent our possessing—­the power to vote on matters of its internal economy.  The authorities of this society have, however, recently admitted medical women on perfectly equal terms with men to their Fellowship—­a privilege for which we are deeply grateful, as post-graduate knowledge of recent investigations is absolutely essential to good work.

In conclusion, the general position of medical women at present may be shortly summarised as follows:—­

Their legal status is absolutely identical with that of men in every respect, by which is meant that by being placed upon the Medical Register they have every privilege, duty, and responsibility which they would have if they were men.  In obtaining this and allowing many other things to be settled by their successors our pioneers showed their tremendous wisdom.

We have in the medical profession, what women are now claiming in the State, the abolition of legal sex disqualification.  With this firm platform upon which to stand, it entirely depends upon medical women themselves what position they will gain in their profession.  All other disabilities and disqualifications are minor and remediable.

This absolute equality of medical men and women before the law includes the rights to

  (1) Practise in any department of medicine in
  which their services may be demanded.

  (2) Recover fees if necessary.

  (3) Sign death certificates.

  (4) Sign any certificates for which a medical
  signature is essential.

Under this latter heading a curious anomaly arises.  If a man is signed up as a lunatic, he is, for so long as he remains a lunatic, debarred from using his Parliamentary vote, and, as may be seen from the above, a medical woman’s signature is as valid as that of a man for this disfranchising certificate of lunacy.  The State, therefore, at the present time allows that a medical woman may be sufficiently learned and reliable to disfranchise a man, though she be not sufficiently learned and reliable to vote herself.

The Insurance Act concerned medical women only in the same way that it affected their men colleagues.  The sole reason, therefore, for mentioning it in this paper is that it affords an indication of two things:—­

(1)that the Government therein makes no sex distinction in the profession;