In 1845, a young schoolteacher visited a friend, Mary Donaldson, who was dying of cancer. Donaldson lamented the medical treatment she’d received, then said, “Why don’t you study medicine? Had I been treated by a lady doctor, my worst sufferings would have been spared me.”
At first, that idea repelled Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910). She preferred the study of languages and literature to the sciences, and the sight of blood disgusted her. But as time passed, that spark of a suggestion became a flame blazing up in her heart and will. In her diary, she wrote: “I felt more determined than ever to become a physician, and thus place a strong barrier between me and all ordinary marriage. I must have something to engross my thoughts.”
