Of monopolies in learning, with remarks on the present state of medical education, and on the constitution of the Scotch universities / by Andrew Buchanan.

Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Of monopolies in learning, with remarks on the present state of medical education, and on the constitution of the Scotch universities / by Andrew Buchanan. 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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    it is ordained that those who have finished their studies, and are found duly qualified, shall obtain, Docendi licentiam, ut alios erudire valeant. The graduates were indeed the only teachers recognised by the original constitution of the Universities. They not only pos- sessed the right of teaching, but for a certain period they were under the obligation to teach when called upon, so that the University might not suffer from a want of teachers. The steps are easily traced by which the transition was effected from the original to the present state of our Universities. The graduates employed in teaching received a certain regulated fee from those whom they taught. To relieve the students from this burden, and to secure the permanence of distinguished teachers in the University, it was at lengtli enacted that some of the more eminent graduates should receive salaries on the condition of their teaching gratuitously. The establishment of salaried graduates, or professors, as they afterwards came to be called, was soon followed by important consequences. As the obligation upon graduates to deliver lectures was only enforced when a sufficient number of voluntary teachers did not come forward, the granting of salaries may be said to have dissolved the obligation, by ensuring the presence of the professors. A still more important consequence was, that when the graduates now attempted to deliver lectures, they were for the most part no longer able to procure auditors, because the students preferred the gratuitous instructions of the salaried professors. The practice of lecturing was thus seldom exercised by the graduates, and in process of time, altogether discon- tinued. It was soon, therefore, nearly forgotten; and, at length, the right to exercise it was boldly denied by the professors, who having now no dread of com- petition, while they retained their salaries, charged fees as at first. University I hope the importance of the subject, will be a suffi- ofGlasgow cient apology for deviating a little from the direct line of our argument, for the purpose of sliowing that the history of the University of Glasgow, is in strict