Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/1003

908 than in the Catholic countries. In 1870 an essay on the woman question "by a lady "demanded political rights for women, and there are a few instances of women having lectured on that subject. The Dutch universities are open to female students, and Aletta Henriette Jacobs, the first and only female physician in Holland, has a successful practice at Amsterdam. Dr. Jacobs recently attempted to vote, and carried the question before the courts. Elise A. Haighton, of Amsterdam, writes:

Elise van Calcar, the veteran Dutch authoress, sums up the situation in Holland, as follows:

I am sorry to have to confess that, as regards the general emancipation of women, we have accomplished but very little. Our work is indirect; we can only proclaim the injustice of our position. Two countries, the product of Latin and Teutonic civilization, Belgium and Switzerland, must be touched upon before we turn to the Scandinavian people. Of the first, Belgium, about the same may be said as of Holland with which she was so long united politically. A correspondent in Belgium writes me as follows:

But public opinion is said to be quite favorable. Women are making their way slowly into certain callings. The professors of the universities of Liege and Ghent, when asked their opinion not long ago by the minister of public instruction, expressed a desire to see women admitted J:o the privileges of these institutions on the same terms as men, and to-day female students are found at all the institutions for higher education. Another correspondent writes:

Within the past few years an effort has been made among the women of the middle classes in the large cities, and secondary and professional schools have been established for girls, which are already producing good fruit. This movement is beginning to make itself felt among the upper classes, and it is to be hoped that the next generation will make