1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So this is part 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: two of our two parter on Sofia Jex Blake, and 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 1: in part one we talked about her work in education 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: and how traveling to Boston led her to meet doctor 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: Lucy Sewell and thus become interested in medicine, and then 8 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: after trying to get into Harvard and meeting rejection after rejection, 9 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: she went to New York to study medicine with doctor 10 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Blackwell. But then her father, Thomas's death prompted her 11 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: to leave the United States after several years and move 12 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: home to be close to her mother. Transitioning back to 13 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: life in Brighton in East Sussex was naturally difficult for 14 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: Sofia Jax Blake. Her grief was on a delay compared 15 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: to the rest of her families. She had learned of 16 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 1: her father's death several weeks after it had actually happened, 17 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:07,840 Speaker 1: so while they were all figuring out how to return 18 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: to something like a normal life, she was in the 19 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: very early stages of feeling like there would never be 20 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: anything like a normal life again. She also started to 21 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: realize that her quick decision to leave New York and 22 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: her friends in Boston had once again totally changed the 23 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: course of her life. There was also a little bit 24 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: of culture shock in the mix. I mean, she had 25 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: grown up in the UK, but now for several years 26 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: she had been living in two of the busiest cities 27 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: in the United States, and now she was back in 28 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: the seaside resort town, which was a much different place 29 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: and a very different way of life. She missed Lucy sewell, 30 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: and she felt out of place at home, writing to 31 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 1: Lucy quote, it's hard for me to fit in anywhere, 32 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: and of course everybody's feeling more or less sad and 33 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: pained doesn't make matters smoother, Oh Lucy, Dear, I do 34 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: think it's too bad to be expected to go on 35 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: with medicine and not have you to help and interest 36 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: me in it. If I didn't believe you would, after 37 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: all come and start me in practice. When I do 38 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: get through, I don't think I should have any heart 39 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: to go on at all. But we will be together 40 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: again someday, old lady, won't we, Oh Dear, I am 41 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: getting so tired of living and fighting and hoping. As 42 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: soon as one hopes one got a little foothold, it 43 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: is all knocked away from under me. The first few 44 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: weeks were especially rough, but then she went to the 45 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: local hospital and asked one of the doctors to read 46 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: medical texts with her as a study, which he agreed 47 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: to do. It wasn't medical school, but at a time 48 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: when she worried she might not ever be able to 49 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: return to a true medical education, it was at least something. 50 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: Then she got an introduction to activist Josephine Butler, who 51 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: was working on a book of essays about women's professions 52 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: that was published in eighteen sixty nine under the title 53 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: Work in Women's Culture. Sepia contributed one of the essays 54 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: to this book, called Medicine as a Profession for Women. 55 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: Despite the doldrums of her first weeks back home, jex 56 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: Blake had no intention of actually leaving behind her medical studies. 57 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: She ran into difficulties finding an opportunity in England to continue, 58 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: though both Josephine Butler and Sepia's brother, Thomas William jex 59 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: Blake supported her in this. In the case of her brother, 60 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: who they called tw this was a little bit of 61 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: a turnaround, because he had not always believed in her 62 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: plan to go into medicine. There's a lot of writing 63 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: in a particular biography of her that makes it sound 64 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: like he was a little embarrassed by his rambunctious younger sister, 65 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: even once they were both adults, and so for him 66 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: to suddenly be supported was a big deal. Through Butler 67 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: and her brother, queries were sent to very educators about 68 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: Sophia's plans. The responses were often sympathetic, but not all 69 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: that encouraging. Cambridge was called out as unlikely to bend 70 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: at all and admit her, but the University of London, 71 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: it was suggested, might offer a little more hope, but 72 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: also was going to be difficult. A professor from the 73 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: University of Edinburgh wrote to Josephine Butler that some of 74 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: the staff there would be happy to meet miss jex Blake, 75 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: but that they weren't confident the school would admit her 76 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: or any woman. But several of these responses did suggest 77 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: that she try anyway at just about any of the institutions. 78 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: And there's a subtext when you're reading these letters that 79 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: make it seem like these professionals feel like having women 80 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: applicants might at least open a pretty worthy and interesting discussion, 81 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: even if she doesn't benefit directly. Henry Sidgwick, who was 82 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: a professor of philosophy at Cambridge, wrote to Sophia, quote, 83 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: my instinct is to tell you to come, but that 84 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: is because I like a fight. My soberer judgment is 85 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: the other way. Ultimately, Sophia applied to the University of 86 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: London and was denied entry. It was explained to her 87 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 1: that the charter of the school clearly excluded giving women 88 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,599 Speaker 1: medical degrees and that it simply could not be changed. 89 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: She next turned her sites to the University of Edinburgh, 90 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,839 Speaker 1: hoping for a better reception there. Some of the school's 91 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:27,359 Speaker 1: faculty seemed open to the idea, but others, unsurprisingly were not. 92 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: One professor flat out told her that he could not 93 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: envision quote any decent woman trying to do what she 94 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: was doing. In every letter she wrote, Jex Blake made 95 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: it clear that she was ready to abide by whatever 96 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: terms or conditions had to be set in place to 97 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,359 Speaker 1: make a school accept women as students. She was so 98 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: polite in all of her dealings with all of these people, 99 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:55,160 Speaker 1: even the ones that were really kind of curt and 100 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: unkind to her. I admire and cannot identify with that. 101 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: But despite all of this condescending pushback from a few professors, 102 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: the odds were still better in Edinburgh than they had 103 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: been in London, and Sofia persisted until the university took 104 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: action in her favor. David Masson, who was a historian 105 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: and academic who was then teaching at the University of Edinburgh, 106 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: wrote letters on her behalf to the medical faculty of 107 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: the university. We mentioned in Part one the work of 108 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,479 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Garrett, who had gotten around the obstacles to a 109 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: medical license by first becoming an apothecary. She eventually got 110 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,040 Speaker 1: her MD after passing an exam in Paris for it. 111 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,280 Speaker 1: And while she and Sepia were at odds regarding how 112 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: to advance the position of women in education for medical careers, 113 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,359 Speaker 1: jax Blake did not hesitate to use Garrett as an 114 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: example in her arguments to the school of a woman 115 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: who had become a very successful practicing physician, noting that 116 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:57,600 Speaker 1: among her patients were very happy European royals. It's worth 117 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: noting in the midst of all this that Jack's Blake 118 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: was well known at the various medical colleges and medical 119 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: schools in Paris and Zurich had started admitting women. So 120 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: as these efforts were playing out, there was a real 121 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: awareness that whatever any school did would probably garner press. 122 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: Saphire wrote in her journal quote, if I can be 123 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: the first woman to open a British university, then Shirley I, 124 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: like Charlotte Bronte, shall have served my heart and eye, 125 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: even if I die straight away. There was a vote 126 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: at the University of Edinburgh's leadership and the outcome was 127 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: that women would be allowed to study medicine there. This 128 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: came with the stipulation that such classes would only include women, 129 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: though there would be no co ed medical education. Then 130 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: another stumbling block. The university decided it couldn't make all 131 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: of these arrangements just for one woman. It wasn't reasonable, 132 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: and professors bulked at having to double their teaching load 133 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: when half of the time they would be lecturing to 134 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: a single person. At least one of the professors threatened 135 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: to resign, a mister Christison, who became a little bit 136 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: of a villain in her story. Sophia found this out 137 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: because mister Christensen's wife told her and also conveyed that 138 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: she thought that Sophia was not being treated fairly. Additionally, 139 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: male students complained at the possibility of a woman getting 140 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: personalized instruction. This entire back and forth had been covered 141 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: in the press, especially the Scotsman, and Sephia had told 142 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: the Scotsman that if there were more women interested in 143 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: pursuing a medical degree, things might be different. Several days 144 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: later she got a letter. Part of it reads quote, 145 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: I should be glad if you renew your application to 146 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:46,959 Speaker 1: join you in doing so, and I believe I know 147 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: two or three other ladies who would be willing to 148 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: do the same. This was signed by Isabel Thorne. Soon 149 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: there was another letter, this one from Edith Petchi, who 150 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: wrote quote, before deciding finally to enter the medical profession, 151 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,719 Speaker 1: I should like to feel sure of success, not on 152 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: my own account, but I feel that failure now would 153 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: do harm to the cause. Petty thought that if they 154 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: stood a chance, they had to be not equal to 155 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: their male peers, but better. Four more women soon made 156 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: themselves known to Jex Blake as willing to join her 157 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: in applying once again to the University of Edinburgh. They 158 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: were Matilda Chaplain, Helen Evans, Mary Anderson, and Emily Buvell. 159 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: On October twenty ninth, eighteen sixty nine, the university drew 160 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,559 Speaker 1: up a list of regulations regarding women's students which had 161 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,280 Speaker 1: to be tipped into the eighteen sixty nine eighteen seventy 162 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: school year calendar. Were paraphrasing for brevity, but these rules 163 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,079 Speaker 1: stated that one women would be admitted into the university 164 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:53,439 Speaker 1: medical program. Two women would be in women only classes. 165 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: Three professors would be allowed to teach separate classes for women. 166 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: For women who didn't want to pursue medicine as a 167 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 1: career could still take these classes if the university approved them. 168 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: Five classes would cost four guineas unless the class was 169 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: too small, and then students could pay more to make 170 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:15,920 Speaker 1: up the gap. That was something they were going to 171 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: have to arrange with each individual professor. Six, All women 172 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: taking classes were subject to school regulations current and future, 173 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,560 Speaker 1: and seven. These new regulations were in effect beginning in 174 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: the eighteen sixty nine autumn session. There was also yet 175 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:36,800 Speaker 1: another hurdle in view. To be accepted to the program perspective, 176 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: students had to pass a matriculation exam To qualify. This 177 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:45,320 Speaker 1: exam had three mandatory subjects which were math, English and Latin, 178 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,960 Speaker 1: and two subjects of the applicants choosing, which had to 179 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: be selected from a pool of foreign languages, Advanced math, Logic, 180 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: natural philosophy or moral philosophy. They took this exam on 181 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 1: October nineteenth and all of them past, and there were 182 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: four of them who placed in the top seven students 183 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: overall of all of the applicants. Notes of congratulations from 184 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 1: Sophia as many supporters rolled in, including from Elizabeth Blackwell, 185 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: who wrote, quote, it seems to me the grandest success 186 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: that women have yet achieved in England. In the fall 187 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty nine, Sepia jex Blake began her schooling 188 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,800 Speaker 1: at the University of Edinburgh along with the other six women. 189 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: She and Edith Petchy rented a place together and that 190 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: sort of became the hub for the group to meet 191 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: and study. But though they had gotten over the hurdle 192 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,680 Speaker 1: of admittance and were generally thriving academically and really succeeding 193 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: in their studies, there were a lot more obstacles to come. 194 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: For example, the students who had the strongest academic performance 195 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: in chemistry at the end of the winter session were 196 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 1: given small scholarships. Edith Petchy ranked third in the school. 197 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 1: She was only behind two male upperclassmen who had already 198 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:00,040 Speaker 1: taken the class before, but she did not get the 199 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: scholarship which would have entitled her free use of the 200 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: school's laboratory. That scholarship went instead to a man who 201 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: had not done as well as her. This was in 202 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,559 Speaker 1: contradiction to the fact that she was awarded a bronze 203 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: medal recognizing that she had placed third, and the logic 204 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:20,600 Speaker 1: of this decision was that the women's students were not 205 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:24,440 Speaker 1: truly considered members of the chemistry class, even though they 206 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: were doing the exact same coursework. This incident got a 207 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 1: lot of press and attention, including a write up in 208 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,080 Speaker 1: the British Medical Journal that right up is interesting because 209 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: the British Medical Journal is like, okay, whether or not 210 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: we think that women should even be in medical school, 211 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: we can't see that these numbers are screwy. It's kind 212 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: of a like out of both sides of their mouth 213 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: kind of write up, and a lot of supporters were 214 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:51,679 Speaker 1: encouraging the Edinburgh Seven to fight the decision, but Petchy, 215 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 1: who felt that the award situation was more of a 216 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: blunder than a wilful insult wanted to just drop the 217 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:02,479 Speaker 1: whole thing. The other problem was that although the university's 218 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: governing body had voted to create medical courses for women, 219 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,840 Speaker 1: that didn't mean there were instructors who were willing to 220 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: teach those courses, and even if they did, the women 221 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,199 Speaker 1: had to pay a higher course fee to get them 222 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:20,320 Speaker 1: to accommodate their small class. On occasions where this happened, 223 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: Safaia often paid about a third of the group's total 224 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,840 Speaker 1: cost because she knew she had more than many of 225 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,679 Speaker 1: her colleagues did, and she also felt this was a 226 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: good investment of her resources. Anatomy was particularly problematic in 227 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,960 Speaker 1: this regard. Eventually, a teacher from outside the school ended 228 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: up agreeing to let the women attend his regular class, 229 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: and then the school accepted that as its coursework. Yeah, 230 00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:49,559 Speaker 1: they were in this unique position where they were one 231 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: having to handle their tuition on their own through side 232 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,679 Speaker 1: deals with professors, but then two having to set up 233 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:01,079 Speaker 1: their own curriculum in some cases where other teachers who 234 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 1: weren't affiliated with the university were the only ones willing 235 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: to take that money. Yet another problem was about to 236 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: arise for the women of the University of Edinburgh. Several 237 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: more problems actually, and we will talk about those after 238 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. The next issue for the Edinburgh Seven 239 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: was access to the Royal Infirmary. The Royal Infirmary of 240 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: Edinburgh was and still is a teaching hospital. To acquire 241 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: a medical degree, any student had to study there, essentially 242 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: doing clinical rotations to work hands on with actual patients 243 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: instead of just learning from books and in the lab. 244 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 1: This was the kind of work that Sophia was already 245 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: accustomed to. It was that kind of stuff that made 246 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: her fall in love with the medical profession during her 247 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: time in Boston. But the Royal Infirmary would not allow 248 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: women in, as they had done every other time such 249 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: an issue had come up. Seven women students tried to 250 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: get the policy changed, but this round got really incendiary 251 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: for some reason. In particular, male students at the university 252 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: got really mad at the prospect that women who had 253 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: been doing the same coursework as them might actually get 254 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: medical degrees. They started being openly hostile to Sophia and 255 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:26,240 Speaker 1: her classmates. According to rex Blake's account quote, a certain 256 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: proportion of the students with whom we worked became markedly 257 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: offensive and insolent, and took every opportunity of practicing the 258 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: petty annoyances that occur to thoroughly ill bred lads, such 259 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: as shutting doors in our faces, ostentatiously crowding into the 260 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: seats we usually occupied, bursting into horse laughs and howls 261 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 1: when we approached, as if a conspiracy had been formed 262 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: to make our position as uncomfortable as might be. In 263 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: addition to just being jerks in every interaction with their 264 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: women classmates, some of the men of the school also 265 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: started a petition to get them banned from the Royal Infirmary. 266 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: Five hundred students signed it. The agitation of the male 267 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 1: students continued to build, and then one day it reached 268 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:18,040 Speaker 1: its apex. There had been several days of male students 269 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: trying to block women students from entering classrooms, but there 270 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: weren't a lot of them, and the women were able 271 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 1: to basically brush right past them. But then there was 272 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 1: a day when things escalated. An estimated two hundred students 273 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: stood outside the gate leading to Surgeons Hall, which is 274 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: the building where the classes were held. This was a 275 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: raucous crowd and noisy, including singing. Protest songs. When Jex 276 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: Blake and the other women approached a little before four pm, 277 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: this crowd started yelling, but the women continued forward as 278 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: though they didn't see or hear their detractors. But as 279 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: they got to the gate, somebody slammed it before they 280 00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: could enter. A janitor opened the gate partially so the 281 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: women could still pass through. They had been shoved around 282 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: and hit with mud, and they still wanted to go 283 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 1: to class. But when they got to their classroom, which 284 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: was for an anatomy lecture, the room was full full 285 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: beyond capacity, and packed with students who were not part 286 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:21,399 Speaker 1: of the class. The professor, doctor Handyside, ordered the people 287 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:24,480 Speaker 1: that were not there for class to leave, but once 288 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: he had gotten them out and class had started, someone 289 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: led a sheep into the room, creating a whole new 290 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,399 Speaker 1: wave of chaos, and according to Sefaia's journal, when the 291 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:35,439 Speaker 1: women went home at the end of the class, they 292 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: were quote escorted by a gallant cavaliers, b police, c 293 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: general mob d all boys and girls of the town. 294 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,240 Speaker 1: They made it home safe that day, which was a Friday. 295 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: On Monday, the women were warned that a more serious 296 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:56,159 Speaker 1: demonstration was planned The Irish brigade was called. This is 297 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: a group of students who formed kind of an ad 298 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,920 Speaker 1: hoc security group, but the day was rainy, nobody really 299 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,439 Speaker 1: showed up to protest. Tuesday the twenty second, there were 300 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:09,120 Speaker 1: enough agitated protesters that the brigade, which is about thirty men, 301 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: had to walk the women to the lecture hall and 302 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: then home after class. This Surgeon's Hall riot, as it 303 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:18,919 Speaker 1: came to be called, makes it clear that had the 304 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: women not had the support of some of their peers, 305 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: things could have really escalated. In any case, it was 306 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:27,439 Speaker 1: made very clear to them that a lot of people 307 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: did not think they should be studying medicine. Yeah, there 308 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: were definitely some of their classmates that were supportive of them. 309 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:37,879 Speaker 1: That is how they got warned that things might get worse, 310 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,439 Speaker 1: and that is those are the people that actually were like, hey, 311 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: let's get the Irish brigate involved. But had those people 312 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: not stood up, there could have been violence. This riot 313 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: had significant fallout, and it was probably not the kind 314 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,200 Speaker 1: that the instigators had hoped for. It did not magically 315 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: fix anything for Sofia or the other women's students, but 316 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,159 Speaker 1: it did bring to light the ways that they had 317 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:05,879 Speaker 1: been treated. The withheld scholarship. The anatomy classes problems the 318 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:09,160 Speaker 1: impossibility of completing their degrees due to being barred from 319 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,640 Speaker 1: the physical places that they needed to go to complete 320 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: those studies. All of this was reported in the press 321 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: along with news of the riot, and the public reaction 322 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: was largely in favor of the women's students, who had 323 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: done all of the same coursework as the men in 324 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: far more challenging circumstances. Additionally, all of the women started 325 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:32,760 Speaker 1: receiving hate mail. Friends and families started asking very seriously 326 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,480 Speaker 1: if these women were really going to be okay if 327 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,359 Speaker 1: they continued in an environment of such hostility. One of 328 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,240 Speaker 1: the high notes during this time was a petition signed 329 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: by nine hundred and fifty six women of Edinburgh urging 330 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,679 Speaker 1: that all medical facilities be opened to the women for 331 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: their studies as needed. This was not the only show 332 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 1: of support from the women of the city. A well 333 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 1: respected woman named missus Nickel appeared at a meeting of 334 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,400 Speaker 1: school leaders and noted that the women of Scotland were 335 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,679 Speaker 1: watching the events at the school to consider what the 336 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: next generation of doctors would be, asking how they could 337 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 1: be trusted to work with female patients. Zaphia jax Blake 338 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:17,679 Speaker 1: was booed and pelted with peas, yes, peas at that 339 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,639 Speaker 1: same meeting when she rose to speak. She continued to 340 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: get supportive letters though from women throughout the UK. Sofia 341 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,719 Speaker 1: had noticed during the riot that an assistant to one 342 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: of the professors, the doctor Christisen that we mentioned earlier, 343 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: was one of the main instigators the day that the 344 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: women had gotten the gate slammed on them. She believed 345 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: that Christensen's assistant had been an instigator of the entire riot, 346 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: and she said so publicly. In response that assistant sued 347 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: her for libel because he said that she claimed he 348 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: was drunk at the riot. She had not to be 349 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,879 Speaker 1: clear done that she had said that someone had told 350 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: her that he was drunk. This case went to court 351 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,680 Speaker 1: and it took two days there and it was crowded 352 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: with spectators throughout. The outcome was not a judgment in 353 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: her favor. It was that she had to pay one 354 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:13,160 Speaker 1: farthing quote for her rash and libelous statements. Though everyone 355 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:16,080 Speaker 1: also noted that mister c the man who brought the suit, 356 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,160 Speaker 1: had refused to ever deny that he had been part 357 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,639 Speaker 1: of the riot. Sofia was also deemed responsible for the 358 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,360 Speaker 1: cost of the case. Those costs were more than nine 359 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: hundred pounds. Her brother very quickly stepped into pay half 360 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: of that, but Sofia's supporters raised more than enough and 361 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,879 Speaker 1: his contribution was returned. Jury members were later quoted in 362 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: the press as saying that they thought no monetary expense 363 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: should have been awarded to the pursuer, even though it 364 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 1: was just a farthing. Lucy Sewell and Sophia, of course, 365 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,080 Speaker 1: had been living on two different continents, but they were 366 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:53,440 Speaker 1: still emotionally closed through all of this, and Suwell did 367 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:57,200 Speaker 1: make a visit in eighteen seventy one. This holiday was 368 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,440 Speaker 1: a good one, and it made both of them consider 369 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: whether they might be able to practice medicine together one day. 370 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: But there was about to be yet another obstacle. Even 371 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,920 Speaker 1: though the public had grown relatively sympathetic to the difficulties 372 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: that the women medical students were dealing with, the university 373 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: did not make anything easier for them. Some lecturers had 374 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: started allowing the women to attend their regular classes i e. 375 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 1: Not women's specific classes, in an effort to get them 376 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: ready to graduate, but the university found out and put 377 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: an end to that. Additionally, the women were not going 378 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: to be allowed to sit for their final exam, which 379 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 1: would have conferred upon them their MD if they had passed. 380 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: In January eighteen seventy two, the university made it abundantly 381 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: clear that it just didn't think there was a way 382 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: to credential the women's students with medical degrees. Safaia wrote 383 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 1: of their determination quote On January eighth, the university court 384 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: declared that they could not make any arrangements to enable 385 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 1: us to pursue our studies with a view to a degree, 386 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: but that if we would altogether give up the question 387 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: of graduation and be content with certificates of proficiency, they 388 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:12,440 Speaker 1: would try to meet our views. Certificates of proficiency were 389 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: not an acceptable compromise. The women sued the school for 390 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,720 Speaker 1: a breach of contract. As this legal battle was playing out, 391 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: so Fi appenned Medical Women, which contained two essays. The first, 392 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,000 Speaker 1: Medicine as a Profession for Women, was what she had 393 00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 1: written for Josephine Butler's Anthology. The other was Medical Education 394 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 1: for Women. That writing, which is dedicated to doctor Lucy Sewell, 395 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: examines why exactly women hadn't been admitted to the medical community, 396 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,159 Speaker 1: and it includes an opening argument quote in the first place, 397 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: let us take the testimony of nature in the matter. 398 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 1: If we go back to primeval times and try to 399 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 1: imagine the first sickness or the first injury suffered by humanity, 400 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: does one instinctively feel that it must have been the 401 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,160 Speaker 1: man's business to seek the means of healing, to try 402 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 1: the virtues of various herbs, or to apply such rude 403 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:09,920 Speaker 1: remedies as might occur to one unused to the strange 404 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:14,200 Speaker 1: spectacle of human suffering. I think that few would maintain 405 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,840 Speaker 1: that such ministry would come most naturally to the man, 406 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 1: and be instinctively avoided by the woman. Indeed, I fancy 407 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,160 Speaker 1: that the presumption would be rather in the other direction. 408 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: And what is such ministration but the germ of the 409 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 1: future profession of medicine. There were also, at this time 410 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 1: some women who were going really hard in the opposite 411 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,640 Speaker 1: direction of the status quo, and suggesting that men were 412 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 1: the ones who should not be allowed to become doctors, 413 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:47,199 Speaker 1: because they were not as inherently nurturing as women. But 414 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,720 Speaker 1: Sophia stated plainly that she thought this was not a 415 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: good position either, writing quote in my own experience as 416 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: a medical student, I have had far too much reason 417 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: to acknowledge the honor and delicacy of feeling habitually shown 418 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,680 Speaker 1: by the general of the medical profession, not to protest 419 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:07,399 Speaker 1: warmly against any such injurious imputation. I am very sure 420 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: that in the vast majority of cases, the motives and 421 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,560 Speaker 1: conduct of medical men in this respect are altogether above question, 422 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,879 Speaker 1: and that every physician who is also a gentleman is 423 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 1: thoroughly able, when consulted by a patient in any case whatever, 424 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: to remember only the human suffering brought before him, and 425 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: the scientific bearing of its details. But she does also 426 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: kind of throw women under the bus a little bit 427 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:34,919 Speaker 1: later in that paragraph, writing quote, the medical man is 428 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 1: only one of the parties concerned, and that it is 429 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,639 Speaker 1: possible that a difficulty which may be of no importance 430 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: from his scientific perspective, may yet be very formidable, indeed 431 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: to the far more sensitive and delicately organized feelings of 432 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: his patient, who has no such armor of proof as 433 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:54,399 Speaker 1: his own, and whose very condition of suffering may entail 434 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: an even exaggerated condition of nervous susceptibility on such points. 435 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: This issue ended up in Scotland's Court of Session, and 436 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,640 Speaker 1: things did not go well there. For Sofia and her 437 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:09,840 Speaker 1: women colleagues. Not only was the school deemed able to 438 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 1: refuse medical degrees to women if it so chose, it 439 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,400 Speaker 1: was also ruled that the school should never have started 440 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 1: taking women as medical students at all. Jax Blake and 441 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: her fellow litigants appealed the decision to Parliament. We're going 442 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:27,879 Speaker 1: to talk about how things played out there after we 443 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 1: hear from the sponsors who keep the show going. When 444 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: the issue of women's university education moved to London, so 445 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: did Sofia, so that she could continue to work for 446 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,840 Speaker 1: educational equity there. As the legal babble over women in 447 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,960 Speaker 1: medical schools was waged in eighteen seventy four, jax Blake 448 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,360 Speaker 1: made a path around the problem for the women who 449 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 1: followed her. She helped found the London's School of Medicine 450 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:05,119 Speaker 1: for women. The professors, though, were still men. Jex Blake 451 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: worked on this project with Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and the 452 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: two women were so very different. As you'll recall, Elizabeth 453 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: Garrett had found the way around getting her practicing license 454 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: by becoming an apothecary, and though these two women were 455 00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: very close friends and collaborators, according to reports, there were 456 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,119 Speaker 1: a lot of arguments between them about how to go 457 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:27,640 Speaker 1: about things setting up the school. Though they didn't succeed 458 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,920 Speaker 1: in getting their medical degrees from Edinburgh, the battle had 459 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: gained a lot of attention and sympathizers, and as a result, 460 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy six, the Medical Act was passed, also 461 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,639 Speaker 1: known as the Russell Gurney Enabling Act. This didn't open 462 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,600 Speaker 1: the doors of medical schools to women. It just created 463 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: a law that said that universities could do that if 464 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: they wanted to. More importantly, the Act established that women 465 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:57,199 Speaker 1: doctors who had trained in other countries could become registered 466 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: to practice medicine in Britain. Yeah, for clarity, the reason 467 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:02,480 Speaker 1: why there had to be a law that said you 468 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,360 Speaker 1: can take women if you want is that a lot 469 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,120 Speaker 1: of these schools had charters that specified men, and if 470 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:12,479 Speaker 1: they had changed their admission policies, that charter would then 471 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: come into question and could be litigated. That was why 472 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: that was such a weird and strange but necessary step. 473 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: As a consequence of all of this, Safia, Jex Blake 474 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: and Edith Pecchi were able to get their graduations from 475 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:27,919 Speaker 1: a medical school in Switzerland and then they sat for 476 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: their exams in Dublin at the College of Physicians there 477 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: to get their mds and their license. Starting in eighteen 478 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: seventy eight, she was finally able to practice medicine in 479 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: a practice that she set up in Edinburgh. That practice 480 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 1: was active until eighteen ninety nine, and during her time 481 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: in that practice she also founded the Edinburgh Women's Hospital 482 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty five in the Edinburgh School of Medicine 483 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: for Women in eighteen eighty six. Sephia also experienced two 484 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 1: significant losses in the middle of her triumphant career in Scotland. First, 485 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: her mother died in July of eighteen eighty one. This 486 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: is one of the few events in her life which 487 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,480 Speaker 1: she wrote very little about in her journal. The other 488 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: is that while Sepia and Lucy Sewell had often fantasized 489 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,920 Speaker 1: about starting a practice together and living together, probably as 490 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: a couple, each of them was so strongly tied to 491 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:28,040 Speaker 1: their own communities that this never happened. Lucy Sewell died 492 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,640 Speaker 1: in February of eighteen ninety which was a huge blow 493 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 1: to Sephia. It is a little bit unclear precisely when 494 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: Sefiah met Margaret Todd. Todd was born in eighteen fifty nine, 495 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:43,920 Speaker 1: so she was nineteen years younger than Sefaia jex Blake, 496 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 1: and she had enrolled in the Edinburgh School of Medicine 497 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: for Women almost as soon as it was founded. She 498 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,960 Speaker 1: was one of its first students, so presumably the two 499 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:56,000 Speaker 1: of them met around that time. Margaret was also a writer. 500 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: She wrote several novels under the name Graham Travers, and 501 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: her work in literature meant that she took a longer 502 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: time than usual to complete her medical degree took her 503 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 1: eight years. After sitting for a medical examine Brussels in 504 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety four, she became assistant medical officer at Edinburgh 505 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children, but her medical 506 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: career lasted just five years, most likely because of her 507 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: relationship with Sophia. When Sophia retired in eighteen ninety nine, 508 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: in part because she had developed issues with her heart, 509 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:32,600 Speaker 1: Margaret retired too and left Edinburgh with her. Sofia had 510 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: decided she wanted to try farming in retirement on an 511 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:40,040 Speaker 1: estate named Wendadeine in East Sussex, and she did. She 512 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:44,120 Speaker 1: planted figs, peaches, apricots and other fruits and had a 513 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:48,280 Speaker 1: small dairy. She threw big dinners full of fresh food. 514 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 1: Her door was always open to any of the women 515 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 1: she knew through her work in medicine and education, and 516 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: some that she didn't know but were students of the 517 00:30:57,320 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 1: school that she would just let come and visit, which 518 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: I love. Sophia died at Wendeddine on January seventh, nineteen twelve. 519 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,880 Speaker 1: Following her death, Margaret Todd wrote a biography of her 520 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:11,560 Speaker 1: titled The Life of Doctor Sephia jax Blake. This was 521 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: published in nineteen eighteen. Todd seemed to have access to 522 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: pretty much all of jax Blake's personal papers, right down 523 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 1: to drawings she had made as a child and poetry 524 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: she'd written in her early years. The portrait of jax 525 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:29,040 Speaker 1: Blake in the biography is a very loving one, although 526 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: Margaret did not mention herself in it even once. Nope. 527 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: It's it's very sweet because she does acknowledge various faults 528 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: in her character, but it's always like yes, but she 529 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: was also amazing. It's really a sweet biography. One of 530 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: Sephia's favorite sayings, according to Todd's biography, was not me 531 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:50,520 Speaker 1: but us, meaning that she believed in people working together 532 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: for each other and the other women of the Edinburgh 533 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 1: Seven went on, like Sophia, to practice medicine, although all 534 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: in very different ways. Edith pet She worked in England 535 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 1: before leaving for Bombay, where she worked at the Kamma 536 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:08,600 Speaker 1: Hospital for Women and Children. Isabel Thorne did not pursue 537 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,840 Speaker 1: her MD, but became the Honorary Secretary for the London 538 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: School of Medicine for Women. Emily Bubble worked in London's 539 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 1: New Hospital for Women before moving to Nice and working 540 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: on tuberculosis research. Matilda Chaplin founded a school for midwiffery 541 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 1: in Tokyo, then returned to Britain and had a private practice. 542 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 1: Helen Evans took time away for medicine to raise a family, 543 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,719 Speaker 1: then joined the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women's executive committee. 544 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,240 Speaker 1: And Mary Anderson worked with Emily Bubble at the New 545 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,920 Speaker 1: Hospital for Women until eighteen ninety five, when she retired 546 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: for health reasons. In twenty nineteen, the Edinburgh Seven finally 547 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: received their posthumous degrees from the University of Edinburgh. Yeah. 548 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:58,239 Speaker 1: That's Safia Jex Blake, who I adore. Yeah, she's one 549 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,560 Speaker 1: of my favorites that I have research to the time. 550 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: I have two pieces of listener mail, in fact cool 551 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:10,800 Speaker 1: one is very short, which is about something that I 552 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:12,880 Speaker 1: said on the podcast in a behind the scenes MANI. 553 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,680 Speaker 1: It is from our listener Chad, who writes y'all suggested 554 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: that instead of the brutal capitalism of monopoly, it would 555 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 1: be nice to play a game where the person who 556 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: adopts the most cats wins. There is such a game. 557 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:25,600 Speaker 1: I played it with my niece once. It's called Here 558 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:27,600 Speaker 1: Kitty Kitty, and it comes with a bunch of cute 559 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 1: little black, gray, white, and orange cat figurines. Chad, Thank you, Chad. 560 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: I'm gonna be looking for that one. There's another that 561 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:36,000 Speaker 1: someone else mentioned. Yeah, I couldn't find that one. I'm 562 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: absolutely willing to bet that there are many game And 563 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: the reason I've come to this conclusion is that a 564 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: friend of mine recently asked my spouse what was that 565 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: game we were playing where we were trying to grab 566 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: little sushies out of a bowl with chopsticks? And I 567 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 1: went to try to find the answer and found at 568 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,520 Speaker 1: least six different games by different publishers that were all 569 00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: about grabbing little sushi bits out of a bowl with 570 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: I love it. Listen many people can have the same 571 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,640 Speaker 1: great idea. Yes. My next one is from our listener 572 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 1: rose Mary, who writes, Hi, Holly and Tracy. I'm a 573 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: longtime listener and I love to play your podcast while 574 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,759 Speaker 1: working on my cosplays, sewing for craft fares and crocheting. 575 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,800 Speaker 1: I've always wanted to write in and finally I have something. 576 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:22,279 Speaker 1: I was listening to the Spring twenty twenty four on 577 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 1: Earthed episodes and you mentioned ancient lipstick from Iran. Recently, 578 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 1: I saw instagrammer Aaron Parsons recreate this very lipstick on 579 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 1: her page and it was such a pretty reddish brown. 580 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 1: Here's the link if you want to check it out. 581 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,240 Speaker 1: I wanted to read this because I also follow Aaron Parsons, 582 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:40,400 Speaker 1: who does a lot of historical makeup deep dives like 583 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: she does. Do you follow her? No, but a friend 584 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: of mine sent me the same video. She does like 585 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: stuff where she will. At one point she kind of 586 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: cold called the person who used to do Marilyn Monroe's 587 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,840 Speaker 1: makeup to get information on what exact products she used 588 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,319 Speaker 1: on some of her classic looks like she very respectfully 589 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: she had a contact that gave her that info. She 590 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: didn't just like call out of the Blue and she 591 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:07,640 Speaker 1: does things like this. She's a really really interesting makeup 592 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 1: artist who also is just obsessed with the history of makeups. 593 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 1: Going back to this email, Rosemary writes, I also was 594 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,279 Speaker 1: listening to Behind the Scenes and Holly was talking about 595 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: how she cried during the bobs Burgers episode of Louise 596 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,239 Speaker 1: doing a shadow puppet presentation on Amelia Earhart. I just 597 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,480 Speaker 1: want to let you know you were not alone. I 598 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:28,600 Speaker 1: cried too. I'm so glad it was such a moving episode. 599 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:30,920 Speaker 1: I tear up just writing about it. Just talking about 600 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 1: this brings me to tears. It's such a good show. 601 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,080 Speaker 1: I attached the mandatory pet tax. These are my three cats, 602 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:40,440 Speaker 1: Fry who is black, doctor Pants a tuxi, and Tina, 603 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 1: Gray forever Kitten. Yes, they are named after my favorite shows. 604 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,920 Speaker 1: Fry is our oldest and most stoic, Doctor Pants is 605 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:50,040 Speaker 1: the friendliest an FIP survivor, and Tina is the silliest 606 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:54,719 Speaker 1: epitome of a gray cat. Here's what I want to know, Rosemary, 607 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:58,240 Speaker 1: is doctor Pants named after mister Pants from Home Movies, 608 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,279 Speaker 1: which is all so created by the same person that 609 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,799 Speaker 1: does Bob's Burgers. So I feel like the DNA of 610 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: your taste is all in here. His name is mister Pants. 611 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:11,200 Speaker 1: He's a kitty catman. I had a cat I used 612 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,399 Speaker 1: to call mister Pants. That was not his actual name, 613 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:16,239 Speaker 1: but I called him that anyway. These cats are adorable 614 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 1: and she caught them all in one picture where they 615 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,000 Speaker 1: look like a gang that's coming to get you in 616 00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:25,160 Speaker 1: the best way possible. They are so cute, little cuddle monkeys. 617 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,520 Speaker 1: The sweetest, sweetest, sweetest Rosemary, thank you for this email. 618 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,640 Speaker 1: It was so sweet. You feel like a kindred spirit. 619 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:33,839 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us and maybe 620 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:36,480 Speaker 1: make me cry by mentioning Bob's Burger's episodes that are 621 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,759 Speaker 1: very moving, you can do that at History Podcast at 622 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,520 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com. If you have not yet subscribed to 623 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,000 Speaker 1: the show, it is so easy. You can do that 624 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,440 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you listen to your 625 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: favorite shows. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 626 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:58,520 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 627 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:02,800 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.