Let us... do what we can: Quaker Women and Medicine in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia

Abstract For many medical historians, the eighteenth century is defined as a time of scientific exploration that occurred when medical practitioners finally eschewed the restrictions of religious doctrine. While historians highlight the medical advances made by male physicians during this time, they often overlook the role of those female practitioners who still found significant medical authority through their spiritual convictions. By examining the writings of female medical practitioners Elizabeth Coates Paschall and Margaret Hill Morris, this thesis assesses the influence of Quaker theology on women's medical education and practice in the eighteenth century. In doing so, it tests the relationship between male and female medical practitioners as well as the relationship between the spiritual and the scientific during this time of scientific enlightenment and medical advancement.