paying a hundred cents for a dollar, we found ourselves in less than
three years, with diminished capital in specie, and an increased one
as regards future candidates for the Presidency, on our way back to
our common Fatherland. Through the influence of his friends, Gustav
procured a good situation in a merchant's office, but he was
altogether unsuited both by temperament and education for such a
position, and I soon made up my mind that I must either prepare to
enter the world's great battlefield in person, or live in helpless
dependence on my husband's relations.

I had often while in America wondered why the ladies of that
Republic (so advanced and enlightened in everything else) should
submit to a practice so revolting, so contrary to all ideas of
morality and refinement as is the system of man-midwifery so widely
practiced in the United States. No German lady would think of
permitting the attendance of a man at her bedside on such an occasion,
and though custom in England seems generally to sanction the absurd
practice, yet Her Majesty Queen Victoria never allows her medical
advisers to be in attendance in any other capacity than that of
_consulting_ physicians. I had discussed the matter frequently
with married ladies in New York, and they were generally agreed, that,
could only competent ladies be found in the United States,
man-midwifery would soon cease to be practiced in that Republic. I
accordingly resolved to devote all my energies to the study of that
particular branch of the medical profession, and my efforts were
crowned with success. In two years I obtained a diploma from the
Hamburg University, and soon after prepared to return to America.

[Footnote: Dr. Playfair, President of the Obstetrical Society of
London, in his address delivered in February, 1879, said:--"I