Chapter XVII: Female Medical Missionaries

Another subject of interest to Dr. Elmslie, and about which he wrote an able paper, was _Female Medical Missionaries_.

This paper _in extenso_, may be found in the "_Indian Female Evangelist_," for January 1873. The following abstract will indicate its value:–

"_1st_, With the exception of the lowest classes, the women of India are virtually prisoners in their own homes.

"_2d_, Their physical, intellectual, moral, and religious condition is dark and deplorable.

"_3d_, Ameliorating influences, to be effectual, must be those which can enter the Zenanas of India.

"_4th_, In those parts of India where education is prized by the men, the Christian Zenana educationalist will generally be admitted.

"_5th_, Bengal, and one or two other parts of India, have shown a laudable readiness, in accepting the invaluable boon of western science and learning.

"_6th_, The Mussulmans of India have not, as a body, followed the good example of the Bengalis and others, in accepting and promoting English Education.

"_7th_, The Mussulmans, as a body, are not well disposed towards the British rule in India.

"_8th_, Their Zenanas are generally closed against the European female missionary, and, where exceptions to the contrary are met with, it is feared that they are explicable by the fact of the heads of the respective homes wishing to obtain favour with some missionary or Government official for selfish ends.

"_9th_, The Government Medical Dispensaries are not patronized by the females of India, in any due proportion to their numbers and wants.

"_10th_, The women of India are lamentably destitute of proper medical aid.

"_11th_, The hakims, or native doctors of India, know nothing of the diseases peculiar to women, and are seldom consulted in such cases.

"_12th_, The native nurses or midwives, who are virtually the only doctors of the women of India, are grossly ignorant of their work, very meddlesome in the discharge of their duties, and of most immoral character.

"_13th_, From the constitution of social life in India, neither European nor native gentlemen can exert a direct influence for good on the female portion of the community.

"These are some of the points which we have already touched, and the question now arises, Is there no other key but that of education with which to open the door to the inner social life of India? We think there is certainly one other such key, and that key is female medical missions. But what is meant by the phrase, female medical missions?

"A female medical mission may be defined to be the practice of medicine by a lady, for the purpose not merely of curing, but of Christianizing her patients. Now, it is not difficult to see, from what has been already said, how admirably suited such an agency is to the present condition and wants of the women of India. This is a key which may be said to fit every lock, for we believe, that there are few, if any, homes into which the lady medical missionary would not be heartily welcomed and blessed for her humane efforts. She would find an entrance where the educational missionary would find the door closed. She would soften bigotry, remove prejudice, dispel ignorance, drive away gloom, and unobtrusively, but nevertheless effectually, deposit the all-pervading leaven of the Gospel in numberless hearts and homes.

"But are we justified by Scripture in employing such an agency in missionary operations? No one who, even cursorily, reads the life of our Divine Saviour, as contained in the four Gospels, can have any doubt on this question. For of what was His blessed life made up, after He entered upon His ministry, but of holy lessons and miracles of healing, by which the loving spirit and divine origin of His mission were incontestably proved? The friends of female medical missions to India must be prepared to meet with no inconsiderable amount of opposition, on conventional grounds, in their efforts to promote this undertaking. But, it may be a comfort to them to remember, that no effort of a new shape, to ameliorate the condition of mankind, and to spread the Gospel, ever met _at first_ with anything but the most bitter and determined opposition, and that, _too often_, from those of whom better things might have been expected.

"A few words respecting the agents, and the professional training which should fit them for the efficient discharge of their important duties, seem necessary."

"They must be blessed," writes Dr. Elmslie, "with hearty devotion to the Saviour's service, and with a sound head and loving heart. The question _how_, and _when_, these agents may be trained, is gradually approaching solution, but not in "mixed classes." "_Mixed classes cannot be condemned in too severe language_," says Dr. Elmslie. It is well to remember that there are two grades in this class of workers, as amongst male medical missionaries–the qualified and the _non_-qualified. If the lady is to be located in a sphere where she can fall back on the counsel and support of the ordinary doctor, like the nurses in Madagascar, she may be fitted for her duties in twelve months; but if she must labour alone, with no one to aid in emergencies, she must be more thoroughly equipped. Dr. Elmslie concludes his paper thus:–

"India is not now an entire stranger to female medical missions. In the provinces of Northern India female medical missionaries are already at work, lessening pain, saving life, and training native Christian women for the same end. One lady medical missionary writes: 'We are always treated with much respect in the Zenanas, and are called upon by all classes of natives. Many of our patients are among the better class of native ladies.' Another lady medical missionary has more work in the best families where she is located than she can overtake, and that, too, although she has let it be well known that she is a Christian missionary, anxious to do all the good she can to the souls as well as the bodies of her patients.

"In conclusion, if Florence Nightingale, a thorough English lady,–being all that that term implies,–left home and friends, and went to Scutari out of philanthropy, to nurse and doctor England's wounded and dying soldiers, surely other ladies, who have it in their power, should see no insuperable objections or difficulties in giving up home and going to India, to nurse and doctor their needy and suffering sisters _for Christ's sake_.

"At any rate, India needs female medical missionaries. India will welcome them, India will bless them for their work; and many homes, now dark, will be lighted up, through their labours, with the knowledge of Him who is the Light of the world.

"Surely it is a thing incredible, that, among the many Christian daughters of England, there are none brave and noble-minded enough to undertake this work, which, of all works, most resembles that of the great Master Himself, who, 'though He was _rich_, yet for our sakes became _poor_, that we through His poverty might become rich;' and of whom it is written, 'Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.' I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you."