Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/987

894 care of her children. It is no secret that the original drafting of this clause was due to Miss Frances Power Cobbe. The long struggle which is not yet terminated against the infamous Contagious Diseases acts belongs to this division of work. The acts were passed in 1866, '69, and for many years were supported by an overpowering majority of the House of Commons. Mr. Stansfeld, who has always been the supporter of every movement advancing the influence of women, has been the leader of this agitation. Mrs. Josephine Butler, Mrs. Stewart of Ougar, and latterly Mrs. Ormiston Chant, have been the most untiring speakers on this question. On April 26, 1883, Mr. Stansfeld carried a resolution by a vote of 184 against 112 for the abolition of the acts, since which time the acts have been suspended, but we must look to the new parliament for their total repeal. The Criminal law Amendment act was the great triumph of 1885. It had been postponed session after session, but the bold denunciation of Mr. Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, finally roused the national conscience, and now a larger measure of protection is afforded to young girls than has ever been known before.

Of the successive steps by which colleges have been founded for women, and the universities opened to them, it is impossible to give any record. The London University and the Royal University of Ireland, recognize fully the equality of women; nine ladies secured the B. A. diploma from the latter university in 1884, and nine more in 1885. Oxford and Cambridge extend their examinations to women. The Victoria University acknowledges their claim to examination. The London school of medicine gives a first rate education to women (there are 48 this session), and the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, admits them to its classes. There are now about 45 ladies who are registered as medical practitioners. One of them, Miss Edith Stone, was appointed by Mr. Fawcett medical superintendent of the female staff at the general post-office, London. The success of the movement for supplying women as physicians for the vast Indian empire has attained remarkable success during the last two years.