Hints on the present state of medical education and the influence of medical schools in New England : with an appendix containing a review of a letter by T. Woodward, M.D., addressed to Professor Lincoln and first published in the Vermont statesman of the 19th March 1833 / by Benjamin Lincoln.

  • Lincoln, Benjamin, 1802-1835.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hints on the present state of medical education and the influence of medical schools in New England : with an appendix containing a review of a letter by T. Woodward, M.D., addressed to Professor Lincoln and first published in the Vermont statesman of the 19th March 1833 / by Benjamin Lincoln. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    and to withhold the publication till what was written should bear testi- mony to the fidelity of the anonymous Author. From the day when my attention was first called to the subject of Medical Education in New England, to this time, that subject has nev- er been absent from my mind. For several years it has been my lot to be aPublick Teacher of the Elements of Anatomy. I have had the honour to teach in two highly respectable Schools in New England and also in the Medical College of the University of Maryland. My time has been devoted, almost exclusively, either to actual teaching, or to labours immediately connected with teaching. I have been quite extensively-acquainted with Medical Students, and, to some extent, acquainted with gentlemen engaged in the practice of Medi- cine. These facts are stated, not to prove my ability to form a correct estimate of the influence exerted by Medical Schools, but merely to show what have been my opportunities for observation, &lc. Circumstances of an extraordinary nature have induced me to de- viate so far from my proposed plan, as to bring before the gentlemen of the Profession in this State, in my own name, one part of the sub- ject above-named at this time. This seems to be the most favourable moment for exciting attention to certain abuses which are known to exist in some of our Medical Schools ; and when once the attention of gentlemen can be excited and fixed upon such abuses, nothing more need be done to insure, at least a partial, reformation. It did not enter into my original plan to speak of any particular Schools, nor to allude to any Individuals.—I had proposed to state, in general terms, what I have the means of proving in relation to In- dividuals, provided interest enough should be excited to induce any one to call for the proof, and to request a more explicit statement. My chief anxiety was lest, being obliged to make charges of misman- agement and abuse of publick confidence in a general manner few persons would take the trouble to investigate for themselves; and thus the great end in view finally fail of being accomplished. But help has come from a quarter whence it was least expected.- I can now with propriety point to an example and show that, in one instance at C, the abuses complained of are real. Dr. Woodward, Dean of the Faculty in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, has recently ap- peared before the public, and, in a letter addressed to me published I the Vermont Statesman on the 19th of March) has openly avowed principles and practice, in relation to the management of the School in which he hold, the office of Dean, which are mamfestly subversive of the best interests of Medical Education.