the years from 1894 to 1914 the main stream in Elsie Inglis's
life was her medical work. This was her profession, her means of
livelihood; it was also the source from which she drew conclusions in
various directions, which influenced her conduct in after-years, and it
supplied the foundation and the scaffolding for the structure of her
achievements at home and abroad.

The pursuit of her profession for twenty years in Edinburgh brought to
her many experiences which roused new and wide interests, and which left
their impress on her mind.

One who was a fellow-student writes of her classmate: "She impressed one
immediately with her mental and physical sturdiness. She had an
extremely pleasant face, with a finely moulded forehead, soft, kind,
fearless, blue eyes, and a smile, when it came, like sunshine; with this
her mouth and chin were firm and determined."

She was a student of the School of Medicine for Women in Edinburgh of
which Dr. Jex-Blake was Dean--a fine woman of strong character, to whom,
and to a small group of fellow-workers in England, women owe the opening
of the door of the medical profession. As Dean, however, she may have
erred in attempting an undue control over the students. To Elsie Inglis
and some of her fellow-students this seemed to prejudice their liberty,
and to frustrate an aim she always had in view, the recognition by the
public of an equal footing on all grounds with men students. The
difficulties became so great that Elsie Inglis at length left the
Edinburgh school and continued her education at Glasgow, where at St.
Margaret's College classes in medicine had recently been opened. A
fellow-student writes: "Never very keenly interested in the purely
scientific side of the curriculum, she had a masterly grasp of what was
practical." She took her qualifying medical diploma in 1902.

After her return to Edinburgh she started a scheme and brought it to
fruition with that fearlessness and ability which at a later period came
to be expected from her, both by her friends and by the public. With the
help of sympathetic lecturers and friends of The Women's Movement, she
succeeded in establishing a second School of Medicine for Women in
Edinburgh, with its headquarters at Minto House, a building which had
been associated with the study of medicine since the days of Syme. It
proved a successful venture. After the close of Dr. Jex-Blake's school a
few years later, it was the only school for women stu