Jefferson Medical College - Clinic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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s l ., ,I ,! ,, V ,, A-ig? .32 lx ' As to a hospital, we had that which by courtesy we called a hospital. It con- sisted of two robms-one for men and the other for women and children, with il' about half a doaen beds in each. All patients, after operations, unless the oper- 'Ml ation was a very serious one, were sent to their homes in carriages, where the clinical assistants attended them. ill The Sacred Seven Courses of lectures all began at once, and there were only two annual courses Which consisted of almo-sttidentical lectures. We were only examined at the end of the second year and only orally, not seldom by only half My a dozen simple questions. Each year as it was called ironically, extended from W October to February. Deducting liberal holidays, the lectures actually covered 'li only a little over four months. During the first year some, like Charles Lamb, coming late made up for it by leaving early. We were handed our diplomas early in March and then let loose to learn by experience, that is to say, learning by our mistakes on our earlier patients, to do better by our later ones. In-Ill' ffl T T flll Q-'le ll' ffl ffl fll vll The Out-Patient Department, 1380 lil That those of us who passed through this startling inadequate training ever ill amounted to anything has been due to hard work, constant reading, and intensive yu, study by gallons of midnight oil- astral oil was actually then the chief means of lighting for students. You see that literally we hitched our wagon to a star. M When I entered in 1860, the jefferson Medical College was only thirty-five li if years old. I have, therefore, known its development and taken some part in its L growth for two-thirds of its entire life. McClellan, the elder Chapman, the elder Mitchell QWeir Mitchell's fatherj and Miitter had passed off the stage, but we had Dunglison, the first Meigs, Pancoast, the elder, the elder Gross, and Dickson in the Faculty. The first W3 Da Costa, the younger Gross, Brinton, Wallace, etc., were professors in the making ll' -later, all names to conjure by. l ' The classes-730 in my day-were unwieldy, and entered without any llllfl examination. The students might literally come directly from the plow, the anvil ll, and the clerk's high stool, to the study of the difficult, learned profession of if medicine. On graduation, the lives and health of the community were at our mercy. ml xg - i lil Page T-zuwzty-two