SPRING HATS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 598, 28 August 1909, Page 11

SPRING HATS.

Everyone dikes 'to believe that his doctor— his special doctor—?is: gifted far l above the ordinary -run' of. mortals,' that, he is also infinitely '• cleverer "f .than';thb\;' neighbouring doctors, and a distinguished academic' record is: the first essential for a goodi start : in ■ medical .practice. ■ .Thia. applies still moro to the:,woman who. adopts. medicine as a career. She ia expected to bo extraordinarily clever.; it" is,her. excuse: for-adopting, the profession. After a glance through .the. medical;school; the; visitorus). impressedwith • the ■ fact: that the nature of the studies iwhich; she .will have to.:pursue furnifihes, another /great: bar .to.,' the' average womin; undergraduate'si choice,;. of the/medical ,sch<Sol.;fis.'ler,»fi.ye years! home. Utey.Vsay :• that: the medical students very quickly become'. iriured y /to':,tie sights l they nave '; .toi jseej I 'and; .tie' investigations:.. they havojto make,.but, in the jaind of..the. out-. sider, : ? > tho : diasectirig-room;; tbo • hospital wards,;, and.: the. pathological \ specimens ~ poseeaaia.horror tiat it ia• diffibwt to thinlr;of .v' : ; ' •.', Permission .was. ; given. ,td j : > thevisitor! to visit.tho :dissecting-room; btri~ ii:iacot , a pktoe that; the outsider wishes :£o go; through. Quite ;clean,;. ; weU : , lighted; ; jyell- / ventilated, but ■ small; and very workmanlike, .the: dis-sectibg-room is', : strictly a,v.placo;. for.. the medioal; student'. \ It,;ig, absolutely,' .'necessary that^e;should spend; a : large'portion I ,of-'her. time there—as, a. matter of: fact, .• f6r months at» aftime. tbrough; hor : second and. - - th ird year she spends two; hours each. ; afteraoon ; in tho .room, working; at .a. table in oompalny | with another .woman. stuiiett : ,The.' first- afternoon - is a terrible one" to "her, but sbo bobs s in time ;become ,ii£ed ; to . it,, and soon grows , absorbed in the interest of . .the , work. Very near tho-dissecting-rpomis.a,large room. quite filled with the beautifullymade .anatomical models;. tho .riibst beautiful one :of all being the 'model-of the head, which shows tho delicate traoery ' of the n'ervee. Copies of -famous classical' etatues areplaood near for purposes dno' of them (tte Hercules) beine' altered almost; boyond;' recognition, with ' brilliant stained 'patches of red and green,' and yellow and. blue, which, illustrate 'some 'sjistom that iHercuks oertainly know - very little about; The students use -.this .room ' for reference ; during their dissecting iwork. 7 ' Near it' i 8 a : roomVth'at 'tho-stranger will, do';well to go throughwith'downcast,..'.eyes,.' unless' she desires to have the •horrors, for.' specimens cf diseased tissues ore kept here, and tie less . .Hea

again one pities the medical student, and hopes tliat. scientific 'interest is "Strong enough' to obliterate tie personal aspect of the studies. . The room' next' door, is much more agreeable, • for it is filled with more normal specimens, and* here one may &ee skeletons and skulls just as they should be. Other rooms are of more ordinary character, and there ib little to .interest the visitor in .the mere sight of cultures ■ and drug' specimens.-

' A great ' part of 1 tho medioal- student'B tiirie is spent at the hospital, ..and from the summer of her first year till her last she must spend'at v least two hours a'day tiiere, generally iti.the wards,..The3'omen students Have of their own at the hos'pifyal,! and it is. much , morp coriifortably fitted .up , : than tlifl ' generality'■ of common rooms. There they prepare their'work, and rest between different courses, though there is - little-time for rest. • Tlie-medical students Bave to take 'a special course, through .each slimmer.- Right through their'course their ;WOik ' is.veiy heav£,' and their ■ holidays / are 'much .shorter thaii those of ordinary students in. fact. ■ ' v ■ ■

. Afc. tho beginning of their • hospital .work .they learn to do surgical dressings, : to put on-, bondages, : -'aod;treat''fractures'.-' Nine to eleven each-, morning- is, spent -in . this way. A. good many Dunedin- 1 people think' that they .would rather be taken"ill in Auckland,. Wellington, or' Christchurc'h.-if it" were a question of being-sent to- a. hospital, for tney. find nothing: attractive in the thought of' Being r the subject of • a medical' student's administrations, or .investigations, as . may bo; the' case, in ■Dunedin Hospital, but 110 patient who really objecta need be v made-, a living- text; and as : a matter of fact the patients and' students; become often almost as friendly as patients and nurses . may be.' There are two 'surgeons and two physicians at..,the hospital,.-under whom the-, students work,;.spending three months _ each, winter, under one, .and-three, months with a second. . Xbey hare to be.-able to 6upply'notes on the.operations undcrtakenby their own surgeon, and . this introduces tnem "to another class:;qf, work, - : intensely, interesting, .'but painful to; watch'.at first.. ■It isijn the" third year, ;that .the; student 'is.supposed, to attend a certain percentage of post-mortem, .examin- , Atiqns., at • the hospital—a' prooeedirig ' much - more to be dreaded than the ordinary operation., ■

;; . It would obviously be impossible' to touch 'even ...briefly .011. all the subjects that, the hard-working medical;: student has . to ~deal; with—her' attendance at, the treatment of .out-patients, Her study of insanity, her'out-'J side. experience of practical dentistry.Wlieni. i one .comes .to .consider, theicourso most elaborate'one, divided in a bewil<%ring u way'..into .sections that -enable!, the.'lstu'dent at. least to glance at. most ; of.tho ills"that flesh: is;heir . to,-. and at the newest ; ways ,of treatment. The medical' student is popularly supposed, -to. be., a, gay: person, talcing hi.s arduous ,labours lightly'; an'-.idea-'-that may perhaps be, correct,, but however muoh they tried women could not' but bo affected with a sense' of .the deep- responsibility that a doctor assumes.. \ No woman medical student at. Otago University haß yet succeeded in beating all'themen, but. they have ljevertheless done exceedingly well, and Otago is proud, of their record. . * ' : '