Papers in connexion with the letter of Professor Syme, regarding the present state and future prospects of the Medical School. Printed by order of the College Committee, 10th September 1840.

Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Papers in connexion with the letter of Professor Syme, regarding the present state and future prospects of the Medical School. Printed by order of the College Committee, 10th September 1840. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    V.—Memorial for the Royal College of Surgeons. Surgeons’ Hall, Edinburgh, 10th December 1839. The Royal College of Surgeons has heard rumours of certain changes on the Statuta Solennia for the Medical Degree of the University of Edinburgh, being at present under the conside- ration of the Senatus Academicus, the import of which is re- ported to be, That it shall be optional to intending candi- dates for that degree to continue (as is at present required,) to attend all the courses prescribed by the Curriculum under University Professors, or to attend a portion of these courses under certain extra-academical teachers. 2nd, That the only extra-academical teachers whom the Senatus intends to recog- nise for this purpose, are those of the Schools connected with the London Hospitals, and those of the School of the College of Surgeons of Dublin, so that no extra-academical instruction received in Edinburgh shall be of any avail. The College, being satisfied that such a preference of the extra-academical Teachers of London and Dublin over those of Edinburgh, would be extremely injurious to the reputation and interests of the Medical School of this city, conceives it to be most consistent with that friendly disposition which it has at all times entertained towards the University, to lay before the Senatus the considerations which lead it to think that the Al- terations referred to ought not to be confirmed or promulgated, in what is believed to be their present shape. The College has long been of opinion, that the regulations of the University, in so far as they require that the whole of the courses of lectures prescribed by the curriculum for its Medical Degree must be attended within the walls of a Uni- versity, besides being oppressive in their operation upon Stu- dents, have been injurious as regards the interests of the public, and prejudicial even as regards those of the University itself. T.he College does not deny that the regulations of the Uni- versity should secure to its Professors a certain amount of pre- ference or privilege. But, in considering the various contin-