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 thought if she would submit herself to a public and close examination for three days, that all prejudice must be dispelled by evident and incontrovertible facts.

On the 1st. of August, 1799, the vast building used for the purpose of the examination was thronged. Every doctor, every man of science, speeded to witness the defeat, as he anticipated, of this presumptuous young woman. She was modestly attired in black; her tranquil countenance and decorous mien seemed equally removed from arrogance and false shame. The ordeal she went through was of the most trying sort. Difficulties were offered that the proposers themselves were unable to solve. The candidate, without the slightest discomposure, with most profound analysis, and with the clearest reasoning, manifested her perfect acquaintance with every subject propounded. The assembly kindled into enthusiasm, and she was unanimously invested with every honour the faculty had to distribute. From that time, under the title of Doctress, she practised medicine with the greatest success. Nor was her knowledge limited to that science; it could not be denied by unwilling men, that this woman could compete with them on all points, whether of philosophy or eloquence. Her Latin speeches were second to none, and her lectures were delivered in the most elegant and forcible manner. In the sequel she was nominated Professor of Obstetrics, and presided over a school for women in that branch of medical art. To her pupils she was motherly, generous, and kind; but as an instructress she was eminently severe. She considered their functions of such importance that she exacted the most particular knowledge, and would overlook no neglect.

The Doctress found time to cultivate the belles-lettres, and excelled in writing both Latin and Italian verses, but of this accomplishment she thought so lightly that she never kept any copies of her productions. In music she had attained sufficient proficiency to play on the oitgan in her parish church, St. Catarina di Saragozza, when any emergency demanded her aid.

In 1842, this excellent, pious, and valuable woman, having dismissed her servants one evening, retired to bed. In a short time one of the women heard a slight groan from her mistress; she ran to the bed, and found her seized with apoplexy. She hurried for a physician, but it was too late; when he arrived Maria was dead.

DORCAS, TABITHA, ( first was her name in Greek, the second in Syriac) signifies a roe, or gazelle, and was the name, probably, given to indicate some peculiar characteristic of this amiable woman. Dorcas lived in Joppa, now called Jaffa, a seaport upon the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about forty-five miles north-west of Jerusalem. She had early become a convert to the Christian religion, and must have been a most zealous disciple, as she "was full of good works and alms-deeds, which she did." She was not satisfied with advocating the right way, or giving in charity; she worked with her own hands in the good cause—she made garments for the poor; she relieved the sick, she comforted those who mourned. We feel sure she must have done all these deeds of love, because, when she died, the "widows" were "weeping, and shewing the coats and garments Dorcas had made." Peter, the