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115 The Dark Period in Nursing 115 abolitionists laboured to abolish slavery. Sym- pathy with the industrial revolution exposed the evils of the factory system and child labour. Political democracy made headway in the extension of the ballot to working men. The first claims for woman suffrage were put forth in England and in America. Women pioneers pressed forward into new spheres of work, into medicine, the law, and even the church. The first colleges for women were opened — Holyoke (1837, U. S. A.), and Queen's College (1848, London). In science there were revolutionary events. Darwin (1809- 1882) propounded the theory of evolution which shook orthodox society like an earthquake, while subsequent researches into the nature of elements grew more and more sensational. And yet the characteristic middle-class type of the Victorian age was one of exaggerated "primness and pro- priety. ' ' Orthodox men and women still clung to the legend of "female delicacy" and many vital subjects were taboo. This wall of philistinism prevented many women from seizing the new openings for careers, and compelled the pioneers to superhuman exertions in breaking through. It resulted, therefore, that the leaders of the new woman movement were of heroic type and dis- tinguished for intellectual power. If, in addition,