How shall the degree of doctor of medicine be conferred? / by E. Fletcher Ingals.

  • Ingals, E. Fletcher (Ephraim Fletcher), 1848-1918.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: How shall the degree of doctor of medicine be conferred? / by E. Fletcher Ingals. 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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    tions ; and even if it should be greater, it could make no possible difference whether the candidate should receive his diploma in ten days or three weeks after the examination, nor would it mat- ter whether he graduated in the latter part of February or June. The examinations might be held at the most covenient time, and colleges could easily arrange their courses to correspond. It may be stated that it would be impossible for the board to examine so many papers. This does not seem to me impossible, or even difficult. Suppose there were fifteen hundred applicants for the degree, and that each of them had been examined on fifteen different topics, we would have 22,500 papers in all, which would be dis- tributed among the different members of the board. Each could easily examine seventy-five papers in one day, making for the whole board 2,250, and ten days of such work would complete the list. If the examination fee were ten dollars, this would furnish $15,- 000 to pay the expenses, which would allow $20 per day for fifteen days, or $300 for-each member of the board, and would leave a balance of $6,000, out of which to pay the express charges and the cost of diplomas, stationery, etc. The time would be a matter of no importance; the means would be ample, and the whole could be systematically managed by a permanent secretary. I have here given an outline of what to me seems a practicable and speedy method of raising the grade of medical education. This is an outline only, but the minutiae can be easily supplied. This method would be uniformly just, inasmuch as all students would pass the same examination. Any method which does not include a joint examination will fall short of the end desired, for however long the course or thor- ough the teaching, there is always an opportunity for influences to favor the graduation of incompetent men so long as the imme- diate instructors constitute the graduating board. This is clearly shown by recent complaints concerning the medical schools of Great Britain, and it is not difficult to suggest causes which in certain cases might operate in this way.