IN the September number of Macmillan's Magazine it was stated that Zürich was at present the only place where women could receive a complete medical education and a university degree. Since the publication of the article which contained this assertion, it has been announced that the same facilities will also be granted in Paris. An American woman has, within the last few weeks, been admitted to the first of the series of medical examinations which students are required to pass in Paris, and it has been authoritatively announced that permission to do the same will be granted to Englishwomen. It cannot be denied that in most cases it would be both more pleasant and more convenient to study in London than to spend four or five years in studying at Paris. To many students, also, the additional expense involved in going to Paris would be a serious difficulty. But these drawbacks are inconsiderable when compared with the advantage to be gained by going where the students will be admitted to all the hospitals, to every branch of medical instruction, to the five medical and surgical examinations, and where the degree will be conferred on all who pass these examinations. If but a few women holding the Paris diploma practise as physicians in London, and gain high professional reputations, it is certain that all else that is wanted in this country will speedily be obtained.

The English examining bodies will not long compel their countrywomen to study and graduate abroad, and it will in time become possible to provide for female students a complete course of medical instruction in their own country. It is therefore to be hoped that every woman who desires to enter the medical

profession will decide to do so by the honourable road now open to her. She must, however, be prepared to find it a road of no ordinary difficulty. The Paris diploma would not have its present value if it could be easily obtained, and, as a consequence, the demands made upon the students are unusually great. Before beginning the study of medicine the student is required to possess the diploma of Bachelier-ès-lettres, and during his first two years of study he must also obtain the diploma of Bachelier-ès-sciences. The examination for this diploma is slightly modified for medical students. The medical course extends over four years and includes five examinations, besides the thesis which the student has to read and defend before the Faculty of Medicine on receiving a diploma as doctor of medicine.

Details relating to the education and examination for the three diplomas of letters, science, and medicine, can best be learnt from the official programmes.1

It should be observed that it has not been thought necessary, in Paris, to frame special regulations for the benefit of the students now to be admitted. No attempt has been made to adapt either the education or the examinations to the peculiarities of the female mind. It is therefore to be presumed that these examinations are considered sufficiently severe to prevent any one in whom peculiarity amounts to a defect from obtaining the diploma as a physician.

1 Programme de l'examen du Baccalauréatès-Lettres. 30 c.

Programme de l'examen du Baccalauréatès-Sciences restrient pour la partie mathématique. 30 c.

Programme des conditions d'admission aux Écoles de Médecine. 30 c.

Published by Jules Delalain et Fils, Rue des Écoles. Paris.