Score yourself: 10 correct - average; 13 - better than average;
16 - excellent; 18-20 you're an expert!
Women in Medicine
TRIVIA QUIZ ANSWERS
1. What powerful drug was used by Greek priestesses to induce the "temple
sleep?"
Opium from poppies was probably used by the priestesses in ancient Greece.
Medicine was primitive in the ancient world, and for most afflictions, there
was little that a physician could really do. The sick and ailing would go
to the temple and receive relief from the "gods" by undergoing
the temple sleep: a potion that would give them restful nights free from
pain.
2. This ancient Roman physician invented a technique for delivering
breech babies.
Aspasia was an important woman physician in ancient Rome. She had a
very practical approach to medical problems. For breech babies, she rotated
the baby's position. However, in ancient times there was no cure for sepsis
infections; if the physician's hands went inside the mother's womb, it usually
spelled death from sepsis 3-4 days later.
3. In 300 BC, this gynecologist was put on trial for cross-dressing
and practicing medicine.
Women were not allowed to attend medical school, so Agnodice got around
this by impersonating a male student. She continued this practice afterwards
until one of her patients did not want a "man" to examine her.
So Agnodice dis-robed and revealed her real gender. She was put on trial
for practicing medicine while female! The townspeople mobbed the trial and
pleaded for her life. She was pardoned.
4. What was the first medical school in Europe with women on the faculty?
The Salerno School in 12th century A.D. was the first medical school
in Europe not run by a religious organization. It was located south of Naples
in Italy. The town had been a major port during the Crusades, and Moslems
had controlled the city on and off during those years. In Islamic society,
only women physicians could examine women patients. This may explain why
women doctors were included on the integrated staff of the Salerno School.
It included jews, arabs, women, and christians. Trota or Trotula was the
most famous of the women teachers at Salerno.
5. In 100 AD, this obstetrician was so beautiful, she had to lecture
from behind a screen.
Elephantis is the name of the doctor that comes down to us by way of
Soranus' writings. Elephantis was probably not her real name, but a name
she adopted in her profession.
6. In the renaissance, this woman doctor inspired one of Boccaccio's
tales in the Decameron.
Rebecca Guarna, 13th century physician who authored several books and
taught at the Salerno School near Naples.
7. This feminist introduced "variolation" in Europe to protect
against small pox.
Lady Mary Whortley Montagu was an 18th century feminist who submitted
her children to variolation, an early form of vaccination against small
pox, that was known and used in the middle east and India for hundreds of
years. She was not a scientist or the originator, but she published an essay
under her own name promoting its use. Scorn was heaped on her by the clergy,
doctors, and the general public since they were fearful of any procedure
mixing blood or fluids.
8. This french midwife invented a vaginal speculum in the 18th century.
Marie Ann Boivan (1773-1877) trained with Louyse Bourgeois in obstetrics.
Besides inventing a speculum, she was considered an expert on diseases of
the uterus.
9. Who was the first woman to receive a medical degree from a college?
Dorothea Erxleben (born in 1715) received a medical degree in 1754 from
the German University of Halle.
10. Which religious sect founded the first women's medical college in
Pennsylvannia in 1850?
Quakers led by Dr. Joseph Longshore established the Pennsylvania Women's
Medical College.
11. This dress reformer won the Medal of Honor as a spy and surgeon
in the U.S. Army.
Dr. Mary Walker was not only a woman who adopted bloomers and pants
worn under a skirt; she also got herslef into the Union Army as a woman
surgeon during the Civil War. She was captured as a spy and imprisoned.
In the Confederate prison, she made so much trouble for her captors practicing
passive resistance, they traded her for another officer of equal rank. She
was awarded the Medal of Honor for her Civil War service. Nevertheless,
she died broke.
12. This Scot lived and dressed as a man to pursue her career as a surgeon
and hospital administrator.
Miranda Stuart (1795-1865) attended medical school in Scotland masquerading
as a man! She took the name of James Barry, a family friend. With the help
of her family connections, she continued impersonating Barry and joined
the army as a surgeon. She served in several foreign posts: in South Africa,
the Crimea, and on Malta, winding up as the inspector general for Canadian
Hospitals in 1857.
13. A crusader for the mentally ill, this lady founded dozens of mental
asylums in the U.S.
Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) as a child took care of her invalid mother
and younger brothers. She started her first school at age 14 and published
a science texbook in 1824. Her career helping the mentally ill began when
she agreed to teach Sunday School in the East Cambridge jail. She discovered
some mentally ill women who were denied heat in their cells. The jailor
claimed the insane could not feel the cold. Dix took the jail into court
and the rest is herstory. In 1840, the mentally ill were caged, chained,
beaten, unclothed, and jailed on a routine basis. Dix championed their cause.
14. Who was the first woman dentist in the U.S.?
Lucy Hobbs Taylor (1833-1910) - for more info, see Bulletin of the
History of Medicine, Vol. 25, pages 277-283.
15. This doctor led the effort to stop lead poisoning and established
the field of "industrial medicine."
Alice Hamilton (1869-1970) - she began her career at Jane Addams Hull
House and wound up as an assistant professor of industrial medicine at Harvard
University. She researched and documented cases of morbidity in lead industries,
and later the rubber and munitions industries. Although she looked very
fragile, she was very persistant in getting private industry to clean up
its act. She wrote the first textbook in America on industrial medicine
in 1925.
16. This physical therapist battled male doctors to promote her own
cure for polio.
Sister Kenny, native of Australia, offered some therapy to victims of
polio before the Salk vaccine. Rehabilitation therapy was considered "women's
work" and the doctors in the U.S. and Australia rejected her treatment
program and her as an expert on care. She rejected their "standard
care" of immobilization. In 1948, in a Gallup opinion poll, Kenny was
voted one of most admired women in America along with Eleanor Roosevelt.
17. Who opened the first birth control clinic in the world?
Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929) in Holland.
18. Despite her dyslexia, this woman became a heart specialist and cured
"blue babies."
Helen Brooke Taussig (1898-1986) pioneered pediatric surgery when she
teamed up with Alfred Blalock to surgically coreect a heart defect which
caused the "blue baby" syndrome. Blue babies hearts did not pump
blood into their lungs so most of them died quite soon after birth. Taussig
studied these babies statistics as she cared for them, and she discovered
why some survived longer than others. This led her to the idea of surgically
creating a shunt or pathway for blood to flow into the lungs. The first
operation was performed in 1944. In 1964, she was awarded the Medal of
Freedom.
19. This brain surgeon made 120 rescue flights by helicopter in Viet Nam.
Valerie Edmee Andre (born 1922) studied medicine during the Nazi occupation
of France. Perhaps that accounts for her bravery and daring-do in later
life. Between 1945 and 1954, France fought the Indo-chinese for control
of Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia. Andre joined the French Army and flew her
own helicopter to pick up wounded soldiers. On one mission, she parachuted
into the jungle to treat soldiers with typhus. She was awarded the Croix
de guerre three times. In the 1970's, she became France's first woman general.
20. This physician and chemical engineer is the first Afro-American to fly
in space on the Endeavour.
Mae Jamison (born 1956) trained as a chemical engineer at Stanford University,
then went on to medical school at Cornell. She also served in the Peace
Corps for two years as a medical officer. In 1987, she was ready to tackle
NASA where women and minorities had been excluded from the space program
before Sally Ride. In 1992, she flew on the maiden voyage of the space
shuttle Endeavour.
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