Clemence Sophia Harned Lozier (December 11, 1813 — April 26, 1888) was an American physician who founded the
New York Medical College and Hospital for Women
New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System.
NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the School o ...
. Dr. Lozier was also a noted feminist and activist, and served as president of the New York City Suffrage League and the
National Women's Suffrage Association
The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement spl ...
.
Early life
Clemence Sophia Harned, daughter of farmer David Harned and Hannah Walker Harned, was born on December 11, 1812, in Plainfield, New Jersey.
Before residing in Plainfield, the family lived in Virginia among Indian tribes. This is where Lozier's mother gained valuable information from the Indians that aided her in becoming an attendant to the sick.
Lozier was exposed to medicine at an early age, observing her mother treat the sick in her town with traditional medicine.
She was the youngest of 13 children and was orphaned at 11 years old. While living with relatives, she finished her schooling at Plainfield Academy.
At age 17, she was married to Abraham Witton Lozier, an architect many years her senior.
Both her father and husband were dedicated members of the Methodist Church, and she herself felt Methodism built women up and allowed for differences in opinion.
Two of her older brothers were successful preachers in the Methodist church. Her father was also a well known presence in the church. This gave her the foundation for strong religious roots that she carried throughout her life.
When her husband's health began to fail, Lozier started to study physiology. When she was 19 she began teaching classes from her home to educate girls in anatomy, physiology, and hygiene.
She taught up to 60 students a year for 11 years. The students came from prominent families so Lozier was able to establish herself as a highly regarded teacher. She taught hygiene and anatomy which she learned from her older physician brother. He also helped guide her interest in medicine into her late thirties. She was one of the first teachers in the city to introduce the study of Psychology, Hygiene and Anatomy as branches of the female education.
At the time, these topics were not included in women's education, and her classes quickly expanded. Among other topics, she educated women on the physiological consequences of fashion, like the deformities and breathing problems caused by corsets.
She continued to teach these classes until 1843.
Soon after, she moved to New York and continued giving lectures and visiting the sick. Her first husband died in 1837, and she later remarried to John Baker in New York. The marriage eventually ended in divorce, but little is known about what happened during the relationship.
After her husband's death in 1837, Lozier continued with her medical training which she desired to devote herself
Education
Lozier attended Plainfield Academy and learned about medicine from her mother and brother as well as from caring for her ill husband.
She wished to attend medical school, but women were not accepted at the time, so her brother continued to tutor her.
She continued to apply to medical schools and experienced a lot of rejection, even from
Geneva Medical College
Geneva Medical College was founded on September 15, 1834, in Geneva, New York, as a separate department (college) of Geneva College, currently known as Hobart and William Smith Colleges. In 1871, the medical school was transferred to Syracuse ...
, which was attended by
Elizabeth Blackwell
Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 182131 May 1910) was a British physician, notable as the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the United Ki ...
.
Eventually, she was allowed to attend classes at Central New York College of Rochester in 1849, and was later admitted to Syracuse Eclectic College.
In 1850 the Central Medical College of New York moved to Rochester and became Rochester Eclectic Medical College. In 1849 the Eclectic Medical Institute merged with Randolph Eclectic Medical Institute and moved to Syracuse to become the Central Medical College of New York, which agreed to admit Lozier as a medical student.
Ten years after graduation, Lozier founded the homeopathic New York Medical College and Hospital for Women. This became the most important institution for women's homeopathic education in the United States.
Lozier struggled, even in her own institute, to promote gender equality. She began to replace male professors with competent women. There was an issue when Issac M. Ward in 1866 refused to leave his position when Lozier wanted to replace him with Ann Innman.
She graduated top of her class in 1853 and dedicated herself to the teachings of
Samuel Hahnemann
Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann (; 10 April 1755 – 2 July 1843) was a German physician, best known for creating the pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine called homeopathy.
Early life
Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann was ...
and the new
homeopathic
Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...
movement in medicine.
[Pearson's magazine, October 1903. American ed. New York: The Pearson publishing co.] Since her degree, in 1853 women could finally go to a hospital and be treated by a doctor of the same gender.
Lozier studied medicine under the direction of her brother William Harned. William was a good reputable physician in New York and was partnered with Dr. Doane who was formerly a quarantine physician in a chemical laboratory.
In 1860, she began a course of familiar lectures in her own parlor. This continued for three years during which a “Medical Library Association” was formed, for the purpose of promoting reading upon such subjects on the anatomy of women.
Medical career
Before her acceptance to medical school, Lozier had extensive experience with observing disease in its worst forms among women and children. She had performed more than a hundred and twenty “capital operations” in the removal of vital tumors. When scholars were ill, she would be called before physicians. Her advice would be sole reliance in ordinary diseases.
After graduating from medical school, Lozier began a private practice that focused on homeopathic treatments.
She specialized in
obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
and
gynecology
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...
, but was also renowned for her surgical skills, especially the removal of tumors.
Her practice became very successful and returned over $25,000 annually.
She believed that women were better suited to become physicians due to the natural instinct and aptitude of their sex.
She specifically advocated for more female obstetricians, citing her own large patient list as evidence of patient preferences—she would often see over 50 patients a day.
From 1860 to 1863 she taught private lectures in her home, which led to the formation of "A Ladies' Medical Association".
Due to increasing enrollment, she collaborated with her friend
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
to petition for a charter for a women's medical college. Seeing high demand for the lectures and wasted talent from women getting turned away from medical school, Dr. Lozier, with the help from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was able to persuade the New York State legislature to grant her a charter for a women's medical college. In 1863, the New York medical college for women opened with seven female students in the inaugural class and a faculty of eight doctors: four were women and four were men.
In 1863, she founded the
New York Medical College and Hospital for Women
New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System.
NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the School o ...
, the first of its kind.
She was president of the college and taught courses on the diseases of women and children.
During its first year, seven female students were enrolled and taught by four male and four female physicians.
For seven years, Lozier supported the college with her own income, and donated $10,000 in lump sum.
After the Civil War, Lozier visited Europe in 1867 to observe hospitals and speak with physicians.
Upon her return, she resumed teaching under the titles of dean of the school and professor of gynaecology and obstetrics. After practicing at thirty-sixth street for 11 years, shareholders and investors encouraged her to expand the Women's Medical College.
However, after a large new building was purchased, the investors backed out, forcing Lozier to declare bankruptcy in 1878.
Lozier lost everything, but the college survived and she threw herself back into practicing medicine on Thirty-fourth Street for the next eleven years. The Women's Medical College would eventually become a part of the
New York Medical College
New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System.
NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the School o ...
in 1918.
Advocacy
Lozier was devoted to improving the lives of others, going beyond just treating patients. She hosted Anti-Slavery Society meetings monthly at her own home, and she provided refuge for African Americans during the July Riots of 1862.
Once a month Lozier would host Anti Slavery meetings. During times of riots and violence, she would open her home to colored people as well as collect food and medicine for children of the
Colored Orphan Asylum
The Colored Orphan Asylum was an institution in New York City, open from 1836 to 1946. It housed on average four hundred children annually and was mostly managed by women. Its first location was on Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets in M ...
after it had burned down. Her son claimed "her house was a Mecca for all reformers, and bristled like a fortress from garret to cellar with ammunitions of war--documents and pamphlets upon woman's disabilities under the law, arguments and petitions in behalf of suffrage, anti-slavery and temperance, sanitary reform, international arbitration, amelioration of the condition of the Indians, moral education, reform of prisons and insane asylums, etc."
She helped found the Female Guardian Society with Margaret Pryor, which visited prisons and poor areas of New York to help mistreated women and children.
For 7 years Lozier and Pryor would visit the poor and abandoned in connection with the Moral Reform Society, and often prescribed for them in sickness.
She was a well-known
suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
and was good friends with
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
. She fought for the rights of her female students to attend classes with men at the Bellevue Hospital College by swaying public opinion during public meetings.
She further fought for women's rights in the courtroom and successfully advocated for the release of
Hester Vaughan, who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for infanticide.
Additionally, she fought for women's right to vote. When
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
was sentenced for voting, she called a public meeting to criticize Chief Justice Hunt who sentenced her. She served as the president of many prominent organizations including the Woman's American Temperance League, the Moral Education Society of New York, the
National Woman's Suffrage Association
The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement spl ...
for five years, and the New York Woman's Suffrage Society from 1873 to 1886.
Organizations
# Homeopathic County Society
#
WCTU
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international Temperance movement, temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social ref ...
#
National Woman Suffrage Association
The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement spl ...
# NY Suffrage League
# City Ladies' Suffrage Committee
#
Universal Peace Union
# NY Abolitionists' Reunion
# American Female Guardian Society
# Moral Education Society
Legacy
![Clemce S](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Clemce_S._Lozier%2C_Childbirth_made_easy%2C_1870_Wellcome_L0006471.jpg)
Lozier founded the first Medical College for women and trained over 200 female physicians. The hospital attracted over 2,000 female patients a year and was the first place a woman could be treated by a female physician, paving the way for women to regain control of childbirth.
She, herself, gave birth to seven sons, but only Dr. Abraham W. Lozier survived. Nevertheless, by the time of her death, she had already inspired nine of her direct relatives to become physicians, including her daughter-in-law,
Charlotte Denman Lozier, who graduated from the medical college she founded.
She also increased the credibility of female physicians.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
claimed "Physicians would not recognize her as a member of the profession... they tampered with her patients to see if they could find aught against her. But in spite of all the machinations of her enemies, she triumphed".
[Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Tribute to Dr. Clemence Lozier. ''The Woman's tribune.'' Volume 5, Issue 33 (1888), Pages 2-3.]
As the first woman to read a scientific paper before the New York State Medical Society, Lozier also blazed a trail for female scientists. She further advocated for the incorporation of
physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
classes in schools and preached the importance of education at meetings and in writing.
Dr. Lozier is the reason women in New York could finally study medicine. Before her, there were no institutes in New York that offered classes to women. She became president and clinical professor of diseases of women (1863-1867) and dean and professor of gynecology (1867-1888) and had a private practice (1853-1888)
One of her most well-known documents was a short pamphlet, ''Child-Birth Made Easy,'' empowering mothers with knowledge.
Lozier passed away from heart troubles two days after giving the 25th commencement speech in 1888 at the College she founded.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lozier, Clemence Sophia Harned
1813 births
1888 deaths
Physicians from New York City
American women physicians
American suffragists
American abolitionists
State University of New York Upstate Medical University alumni
People from Plainfield, New Jersey
Activists from New York City
Women civil rights activists