A letter to the Right Hon. Robert Peel ... on some of the impediments, defects and abuses existing in the present system of medical education : with suggestions for their removal and correction / by Henry William Dewhurst.

Date:: 1828

Credit: A letter to the Right Hon. Robert Peel ... on some of the impediments, defects and abuses existing in the present system of medical education : with suggestions for their removal and correction / by Henry William Dewhurst. 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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$prufessioiis technical phnases are made use of, many of whicli are only understood by those individuals pursuing such trade or profession ; in ours they are principally derived from the Latin language ; consequently every sensible person will allow that a knowledge of this language is indispensably necessary : I do not mean such a knowledge as will enable the student only to translate the Pharmacopceia of the Royal Col- lege of Physicians, or a prescription written by any of its members ; no, he should be able to rend a Latin work with the same facility he should English ; for many valuable treatises on many branches of the profession are still written in that language. He should also understand French, as the principal, and most valuable, works on anatomy, physiology, and medical science generally, have come from the pens of the French authors j among ^vhom I may mention Bichat, Bedard, Cloquet, Magendie, &c. as the most conspicuous. It may be found advan- tageous to him to possess a knowledge of the German language, for the same reasons I have laid down respecting French and Latin. As to Greek, if he has already learnt it, well and good; but, for my own part, I should certainly never place a lad to school to learn that language, considering that he might employ his time to better purposes in the various branches of scholastic * education. Drawing he should learn to perfection j as in after life he will find it eminently useful, either in representing disease in the wards of an hospital, or morbid parts, which should always accompany his description of cases or dissections, if the parts and circumstances allow : this, of course, must be left to his discretion. Having said thus much respecting the preliminary education, I now come to the SYSTEM OF APPRENTICESHIPS. The evil in the present mode of commencing a youth’s me- dical education, is too glaring to be overlooked. In thejjublic newspapers we often see advertisements from medical prac- titioners, stating their want of an apprentice, and puffing that they are extensively engaged in the three branches of the pro- fession, and a premium will be {pj course) expected. These are villanous in the extreme ; the pernicious effects of this$