Book excerpt: This book presents the pioneering role of the women chemists at the London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW). The account is placed within the framework of the long-forgotten background to the founding of this unique Institution, and the individuals whose lives came together to make it happen: Sophia Jex-Blake; Elizabeth Garrett Anderson; Edith Pechey; and Isabel Thorne. The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) was the first School in Britain to enable women to gain medical qualifications. Though its pioneering medical role is beginning to be recognized, the Chemistry Department at the School has been totally overlooked. All first-year students at the LSMW had to spend a significant portion of their time taking theoretical and practical chemistry, taught by dedicated women chemistry instructors. In this book, particular attention is given to each of these exceptionally-talented women chemists who found a haven at, and devoted their lives to, the LSMW. This book also covers the enthusiasm of the women medical students which becomes evident through the chemistry prose and poetry which they wrote. This book will appeal to a wide readership interested in the early role of women in science, and it is particularly relevant to those interested in the lives and contributions of pioneering women chemists.