Medical reform and the present system of medical instruction : an address delivered at the semi-annual meeting of the New Jersey Medical Society, held at Camden, Nov. 13, 1849 / by Othniel H. Taylor.

  • Taylor, Othniel H. (Othniel Hart), 1803-1869.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical reform and the present system of medical instruction : an address delivered at the semi-annual meeting of the New Jersey Medical Society, held at Camden, Nov. 13, 1849 / by Othniel H. Taylor. 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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    The only rational and worthy object of the institution of the Medical Diploma, is the protection of the public from the results of ignorant pretension in our divine art—yet there exists not in the United States a single independent ordeal of medical merit. In every School, the first preliminary question addressed to the candidate, is not, What do you know ? but Where have you stu- died? The second, is not, How long have you been reading and observing? but, Whose ticket have you taken? Now, there is no Esculapian cave, like that of Delphos, from which, by the pecu- liar favor of Apollo, the oracles of our art are uttered. Whence, then, arises this universal system of constantly multiplying mo- nopolies, in each ol which the student, in order to enjoy the teachings of the truly wise in one or many departments of the Science, must be content to forego superior opportunities in other departments, because a Board of unprofessional Trustees have failed in securing the best talent, in every department for its own particular faculty ? Why is the candidate, who has expended the largest amount of time and money, in obtaining the best instruction, refused the right to claim a certificate of his qualifications, because, instead of studying exclusively in one or two collegiate establishments, he has chosen the best teachers from among all within his reach ? No disinterested observer will attempt to deny, that the exist- ing system of exclusiveness, which confers the medical examina^- tions to the holders of a certain ticket of matriculation, and obliges it to be conducted by and before those who have a direct and heavy interest in fulfilling the wishes of the candidate, wisely or unwisely, has degraded the teaching of medicine, from the loftiest occupation in the noblest of sciences, into a mere trade, to be con- ducted upon mercantile principles. That rivalry between schools which should lead to constant efforts to elevate the character of medical instruction, and to raise the moral value of the diploma, as a certificate, has been perverted, under the influence of this mistaken system, to results, precisely opposite. Where the reputation of the school, and the emoluments of the professors are made to depend, not on the quality of the instruc-