Summary

Chapter 4 is entitled “Blockley Almshouse.” Between terms at medical school, Elizabeth gained practical experience by working as a medical assistant at Blockley Almshouse, which provided medical care to impoverished people in Philadelphia. Despite the fact that Blockley’s administration accepted Elizabeth as an employee, the medical staff largely ignored her, and much of her experience was based simply on attempting to covertly observe the doctors at work. Elizabeth found the practice of talking to patients rewarding, for even if she did not understand their symptoms, she could develop her presentation of medical authority. However, Elizabeth also gained a greater sense of the many limits/shortcomings of medical knowledge at the time. She viewed many of the doctors as incompetent, or as being overly confident in unproven methods. The book then digresses to comment on Elizabeth’s disapproval of women’s rights movements at the...