A letter to the provost of Oriel, on a scheme for making Oxford more accessible to medical students generally / from C.H. Pearson.

  • Pearson, Charles H. (Charles Henry), 1830-1894.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the provost of Oriel, on a scheme for making Oxford more accessible to medical students generally / from C.H. Pearson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the old faculty of medicine, and works with a view to a professional degree conferring privileges which have no parallel in the departments of theology, law, or arts. Practically a college in the other British universities is frequented by precisely those poor students whom we are anxious to attract. Practi- cally, too, the education given at places like King’s and University Colleges, London, differs in kind from that of our public schools; it is more various and practical; less critical and elegant; it occupies itself with the modern languages, with English history, and literature ; it is meant for men whose occupations will preclude them from anything like systematic study, when they have once entered upon life. Gene- rally speaking, they have more than the requisite mathematics and at least sufficient scholarship for a pass degree: but they are deficient in the niceties of Latin verse and philology. Besides, the rigid disci- pline of a public school is unknown ; the students live mostly with their families, see their teachers only during lecture time, and are left in fact to govern themselves by their own sense of honour. A system of this sort, if at all well administered, is not a bad preparation for the self-reliance and self-control which Oxford life demands, especially from those who go up upon moderate incomes. These considerations, I hope, shew that the line of demarcation between a collesre and a school is not purely fictitious. But, assuming that Eton and Harrow should obtain incorporation with the London university, in order to profit by the new system, the only men on their lists who would be benefited would be the few who look forward to becoming surgeons and physicians. If, on the other