Medical Theses
Completion of an original thesis was a prerequisite to graduation from medical school until the late 1900s. These documents, deficient in modern research methodologies, reflected the personal interests and experiences of the students or, more likely, echoed the therapeutic views of the faculty. The brief, hand-written essays generally averaged about 15 to 20 pages. The theses written by the first women medical graduates of Western Reserve College were judged excellent in comparison with those of the male peers.
The medical thesis of Dr. Nancy Clark (1852) is framed in a contemporary literary style in which eponymic life is maintained by a harmonious tripod. A fundamental image composed of the lungs, brain, and heart. Nonetheless, within the text of her essay, Dr. Clark’s thorough discussion of the anatomy and physiology of these organs is a straight-forward and state-of-the-art report of the knowledge of that era.
Dr. Emily Blackwell (1854) had the advantage of obtaining clinical experience in the wards of Bellevue Hospital in New York City prior to her graduation from medical school. She used examples of her cases in her thesis to illustrate the use of specific remedies for diseases and to advance her argument that medical diagnosis and treatment must become more “scientific.”
Dr Zakrzewska
Lacking a proficiency in English, Dr. Marie Zakrzewska (1856) fell behind in several subjects during medical school. Having been a trained midwife in her native Prussia, she chose female anatomy as her thesis topic. Coached and tutored by Mrs. A.D. Mayo, wife of the local Unitarian minister, Zakrzewska wrote a laudable essay which she read aloud to Mrs. Mayo over forty times to practice mastery of the language. Her introductory page displays her confidence coupled with the European tendency to grant esteem to the professorial role.
Despite the emphasis in regular medicine on invasive therapeutics, Dr. Cordelia Greene (1856) boldly wrote her medical thesis on the preventive approaches she had learned from hydropathists and other participants in the Popular Health Reform Movement. Exhibiting a broad knowledge of anatomy and technique, she diplomatically weaves into her essay as suggestion that, especially regarding women patients, encouragement of a healthy lifestyle by the doctor is as important as surgical or medicinal intervention.
Dr. Sarah Ann Chadwick (1856) chose to write a descriptive essay about epidemics, a timely topic considering the cholera epidemics of 1848 and 1853 which had devastated the populations of most American cities. As well, malaria and contagious diseases were rampant in prairie settlements such as her own in Lee County, Illinois, where the nearby swamps and climatic extremes brought on severe hardship. Chadwick’s vague and apprehensive treatment of the topic mirrored her uneasy and enigmatic life.
The title page of the thesis of Dr. Elizabeth Griselle (1856) displays calligraphic flourishes (sample on right) which demonstrate the artistic interests and talents of her family, The essay itself is a sophisticated and rigorous explanation of the state of knowledge regarding biochemical processes and nutrition, disciplines not yet wholly associated at the time with the art of medicine.
