The plan for employing female doctors in India, one of
the few thoroughly sensible plans recently started by philanthro- pists, seems likely to be a success. A sum of £4,000 has been raised in Bombay, to guarantee salaries for two or three years to English ladies—one of them is Miss Pechey, M.D., a most successful student, who fought through the great Edinburgh fight—and £20,000 to start a native hospital for women ; while in Madras, four ladies have been admitted to practise by the local Medical College. One of these is that remarkable woman, Mrs. Scharlieb, who came to England to perfect her medical . education, and distanced all competitors at the London Univer- sity. Lastly, Mr. Rivers Thompson, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal—and we may remark, the firmest opponent of the Ilbert Bill—in a Minute full of clear sense and sympathy for native suffering has over-ridden the opposition of the 'Council of the Medical College, and ordered the admission a female students, if qualified by general education. The number of entrances is certain to be large, and in a few years each of the Three Presidencies will have a staff of female doctors thoroughly familiar with the language and inured to the climate. They will reduce the sum of human misery far more than a dozen orders admitting lads with an English veneer on them to positions for which they are hopelessly disqualified. We are glad to notice also that the new doctors intend to make a business of their work, to claim fees from those who can pay, and to earn if they can good incomes for themselves. One for- tune made by a woman as a doctor in Calcutta will keep the supply more regular than any amount of philanthropy in individuals, who after a few years die out.
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