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NEW ÉDITIONS OF MR. CHAVASSE'S WORKS.

Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children,

and on the Treatment on the moment of some of their more pressing Illnesses and Accidents. Ninth Edition, with Notes and Annotations by Sir CHARLES Locock, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Advice to a Wife on the Management of Her Own Health, and on the Treatment of some of the Complaints incidental to Pregnancy, Labour, and Suckling; with an Introductory Chapter specially addressed to a Young Wife. Eighth Edition, fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. JOHN CHURCHILL and SONS, New Burlington-street.

Second Edition, Enlarged and thoroughly Revised, 8vo, cloth, 15s.

rs. Bucknill and Tuke's Manual of Psychological Medicine.

Drs.

JOHN CHURCHILL and SONS, New Burlington-street.

Fourth Edition, with Engravings, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 6s. 6d. owman's Medical Chemistry. Edited by CHARLES L. BLOXAM, Professor of Practical Chemistry in King's College, London.

Also, Fifth Edition, with Engravings, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 6s. 6d.

Practical Chemistry, including Analysis.

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JOHN CHURCHLL and SONS, New Burlington-street.

Third Edition, with 53 Engravings, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 5s.

Manual of Minor Surgery and Bandaging, for the Use of House Surgeons, Dressers, and Junior Practioners. By CHRISTOPHER HEATH, F.R.C.S., Assistant-Surgeon to University College Hospital, and Teacher of Operative Surgery at University College.

By the same Author, with 204 Engravings on Wood, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d.

Practical Anatomy: A Manual of Dissections.

JOHN CHURCHILL and SONS, New Burlington-street.

Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 58

utlines of Surgery: being an Epitome of the Lectures on

Outli

GROS CLARK, F.R.C.S., Surgeon to the Hospital, Examiner in Surgery at the University of London.

"There is an incalculable amount of Surgical matter in this small volume. . . . In its present form and dimensions we augur that it will prove of constant utility to the student, and we hope to see it pass through many editions."-Medico- Chirurgical Review.

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JOHN CHURCHILL and SONS, New Burlington-street.

Third Edition, carefully Revised, post 8vo, cloth, 9s.

Guide to the Practical Study of Diseases of the Eye. By

JAMES DIXON, Surgeon to the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital.

"A treatise that presents the student with a handy and intelligible account of the leading features of the more common ophthalmic diseases."-Medico-Chirurgical Review.

JOHN CHURCHILL and SONS, New Burlington-street.

All communications for the LONDON STUDENT should be addressed to the Editor, at MESSRS. CHURCHILL'S, New Burlington Street, London, W.

The LONDON STUDENT is published Monthly, and may be obtained of all Booksellers and Newsmen.

Order's sent direct to the Publishers must be accompanied by a remittance of the Annual Subscription, 13s.

No. IV. will be published on the 1st of July.

THE

LONDON STUDENT.

JUNE, 1868.

SPECIAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION FOR WOMEN. By EMILY DAVIES.

AMONG the controversies to which the movement for improving the education of women has given rise, there is one which presses for settlement. The question has arisen and must be answered-Is the improved education which, it is hoped, is about to be brought within reach of women, to be identical with that of men, or is it to be as good as possible, but in some way or other specifically feminine? The form in which the question practically first presents itself is-What shall be the standards of examination? For though there are still a not inconsiderable number of places of so-called education, into which no examiners from without are allowed to penetrate, the persons by whom these establishments are kept up are pretty certain to disapprove of any change in the existing practice, and are not likely to be troubled with perplexing questions as to the direction in which the reforming tendency should work. The controversy may therefore be assumed to be between two parties, each equally accepting examinations as "valuable and indispensable things" alike for women and for men-each equally admitting that "their use is limited," and that they may be abused.

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Of these two parties, one regards it as essential that the standards of examination for both sexes should be the same; the other holds that they may without harm-perhaps with advantage-be different. The controversy does not lie between those on the one hand who, believing men and women to be exactly alike, logically hold that all the conditions to which they may be subjected ought to be precisely similar, and those on the other who, regarding them as completely unlike, cannot believe

that anything which is good for one sex can be anything but bad for the other. No rational person takes either of these clearly-defined views; but between the two there is a kind of cloudland, in whose dimness it is not always easy to see the way to wise action. It may do something towards clearing away the haze to endeavour to give some answer to the questionsWhy do you ask for a common standard? Do you want to prove the intellectual equality of the sexes?-or their identity? If you desire to improve female education, why not strive after what is ideally best, instead of trying to get things for women which have produced results far short of perfection in men?

The abstract questions as to equality and identity may be quickly dismissed. The advocates of the "common" principle those who hold what may be called the humane theoryaltogether disclaim any ambition to assert either. As to what may be expected as the statistical result of comparison by a common standard, there may be much difference of opinion. If it should be to show a general average of somewhat inferior mental strength in women, a fact will have been discovered of some scientific interest perhaps, but surely of no very great importance. That complete similarity should be proved seems in the nature of things impossible, even if there could be reason for attempting it; for supposing it to be a fact, it is not the sort of fact which could be brought to light by the test of an examination. A comparison between male and female novelists, or male and female poets-if one may venture to apply such epithets to "the double-natured"-would be a better criterion, for those who are curious in such matters, than any which could be devised by examiners. In a discussion of practical policy, these considerations may be set aside as matters of chiefly speculative interest.

any

We come down, therefore, to the narrower and more hopeful inquiry-Which is best, to extend methods of education admitted to be imperfect, or to invent new ones presumably better?

The latter course is urged on the ground that there are differences between men and women which educational systems ought to recognise; or supposing this to be disputed, that at any rate the conditions of women's lives are special, and ought to be specially prepared for; or there is a latent feeling of repugnance to what may appear like an ungraceful, perhaps childish, attempt to grasp at masculine privileges—an idea which jars upon a refined taste. Considerations of this sort, resting mainly upon sentiment or prejudice, can scarcely be met by argument. It is usually admitted that we are as yet in the dark as to the specific differences between men and women—

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