The principles and practice of medicine / [John Elliotson] ; edited by Nathaniel Rogers and Alexander Cooper Lee.

  • Elliotson, John, 1791-1868.
Date:
1842
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of medicine / [John Elliotson] ; edited by Nathaniel Rogers and Alexander Cooper Lee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/1242 (page 12)
    ;it all;—notwithstanding the ample means presented by the population and the hospitals. The student was compelled to travel to France, Holland, Italy, or (in later times) to Germany or Scotland, for the purpose of acquiring a true professional education; for our own two Universities neglected almost entirely to teach medicine. It is doubtful whether this arose from the want of anatomical and clinical means, the hopelessness of rivalling the great continental and Scottish schools, or the idea that their proper end was to teach general knowledge,—to impart only what all educated persons should know; or from the circum- stances mentioned in a powerful and remarkable article upon the Univer- sities of England, in the one hundred and sixth number of the “ Edinburgh Review” :—the ascendancy of the Colleges over the University;—the sub- version of the professorial system by the tutorial. “ Time was”, says the reviewer, “when the Colleges did not exist, and the University was there; and were the Colleges again abolished, the University would remain entire.” When “ the University was paramount, the cycle of instruction was dis- tributed among a body of teachers, all professedly chosen from merit, and each concentrating his ability on a single object”; and “the whole youth of equal standing in the University, were daily collected into large classes under the same professor ”; whereas “ the Colleges and Halls are now ele- vated into so many little Universities”; into which “the students are dis- tributed (with little regard to ability or standing) among some fifty tutors”, who are “ chosen from the fellows”; notwithstanding that “the fellowships were not founded for the purposes of teaching”, and that “ the fellow rarely owes his eligibility to merit alone, but, in the immense majority of cases, to fortuitous circumstances.”a Establishment of Medical Lectures in London. — The opportunities of teaching Anatomy, Surgery, and Medicine, in London, however, be- came at length too great to be entirely thrown away; and the surgeons of the hospitals began to deliver lectures on Anatomy and Surgery, and afterwards the physicians upon Medicine. These lectures were of limited extent; nor, for a time, were systems of courses delivered,— so as to constitute regular schools. The time, the trouble, and the ex- pense of travelling to a University of medical reputation, rendered the emolument fairly to be expected on establishment in practice too high for the mass of the people to afford; and as population increased, and more practitioners were demanded, home medical instruction was sought after by greater numbers every year;—and this the more, as any one could practise without the license or authority of any University. Establishment of Medical Schools.—The lectures improved, and at length regular schools were established; yet, as they were all private, and could con- fer no privileges or honours, those who required degrees went to the old celebrated schools; while those whose only resource was the private schools, had too limited pecuniary means to devote much above a year to public studv; so that these metropolitan schools remained scanty and superficial. The whole of Anatomy, Physiology, and Morbid Anatomy together, was disposed of in a course of little more than three months; the Practice of Medicine, and the science of Chemistry, each in the same period, with only a lecture of one hour’s duration three times a week. Much of General Pathology, and Foren- sic Medicine, was altogether omitted; the whole of Medical Police likewise and the literature of the profession, were passed over. It was left for the University of Londonb to be hold enough to establish courses of six a “Edinburgh Review”, June, 1831 ; b Now called “ University-Collet?e ” Volume 53; Pages 386, 387. 394, and 395. '