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.

    6/28 (page 6)
    rewarded with fellowships in the colleges. It arose also partly from a cause which is not likely soon to be remedied; from the fact that a county hospital cannot compete with the large establishments of Lon- don in its opportunities for the study of disease. But it produced results of a curious kind. The Oxford degree of B.M. conveys in fact a license to practise as a physician in the country after three years medical study. This is one year less than is required for its degree of B.M. by the University of London, and two years less than qualify to become a member of the College of Physicians. That is to say, the Oxford diploma appears to recognize a low professional standard, while it yet conveys a great professional privilege. Of course the better class of students have not been affected by this: men like Dr. Mayo and Dr. Latham were sure to work conscientiously and suc- cessfully under any system. But our short term of probation is certainly believed to have encouraged a class of idle students to trade on the facilities offered for starting with the highest rank in the profession on the minimum of work. Of course strictness on the part of the examiners would have compensated for the short time by an increased scale of requirements. But when perhaps only two men in a year presented themselves, with all their prospects in life certain to be damaged almost irremediably by the stigma of being once rejected, it was perhaps not unnatural that the Oxford examiners should sometimes acquiesce in a low standard for a degree which by our statutes was not supposed to be final. Unhappily in the country our system of degrees is not understood: and hospital teachers were naturally scandalized at seeing their