Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine - Caduceus Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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gave the university a ready-made medi- cal department. The AMA encouraged this consolidation in hopes that the universities would improve the quality of teaching at their medical school. Ironically, at the very time when the Flexnor report was having medical schools closed, Loyola was attempting to establish its own medical department. So there was little sympathy, even hostility, towards its organization. Actually, Loyo- la was one of the first medical schools to follow the recommendations of the Flex- nor report. They raised their admission standards, offered more formal training in the basic sciences, and updated their facilities beyond the levels of some of the more established schools in Chicago. These efforts were ignored by the AMA. In fact the AMA eventually tried to have Loyola closed through subversive means as described below. Loyola administrators, in the prof cess of upgrading the school to a Univer- sity, decided to affiliate with Illinois Medical College KIMCJ in 1909. This, in effect, added a medical department to the school for the first time. Fr. Spalding, who had been a former regent of Mar- quette Medical School, was called upon to develop Loyola's medical school. IMC had been founded in 1894. It was housed in a three story building initially con- structed to be a hotel. Associated with IMC was Reliance Medical College. This was an evening medical school founded in 1907 which used the same faculty and building of IMC. Reliance was also incorporated into Loyola's medical de- partment. Fr. Spalding was approached in 1910 by the Bennett Medical School iBMSJ which was also interested in affiliating with Loyola University. By March of the same year, details had been worked out such that BMS bought out Reliance and IMC, thus becoming Loyo- la's medical depart.ment. BMS had been founded in 1868 as an eclectic school of medicine. The BMS hospital had to be closed to accommodate the new student body of 400 which resulted from the incorporation of the other two schools. The first graduating class in June of 1910 consisted of 62 graduates. 41 from Bennett and 21 from IMC. The students at this time did their clinical rotations at Jefferson Park Hospital which had a 90 bed capacity. f. inf 'gffi .Z Kal! . 44 I ,ff K 1 if Ill . In E ,iwif 1 if-.l Clockwise from top left: Illinois Medical College, Bennett College of Medicine and Surgery. Please see text for details. Medical School, Loyola Medical School circa 1930, and Chicago , . History of Strltch 9

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The History of Loyola-Stritch by Mathew Nora Loyola University was born in 1870 under the name of St. Ignatius College. By 1909 the enrollment at the school had declined, mainly because it was better known for its very successful college preparatory school, rather than as a college itself. So in this same year, St. Ignatius College followed the example of other Jesuit schools and expanded itself into a University. The school changed its name to Loyola University and moved to a new location on Chicago's north side. St. Ignatius Preparatory School re- mained at the old location to help maintain stability in the neighborhood, and continues to educate high school students today, at the original site of Loyola University. At the same time that the school upgraded itself to a university in hopes of attracting more collegiate students, the administrators also decided to begin a department of medicine. Bringing this change about was particularly challeng- ing, accomplished primarily by Rev. H. Spalding, S.J. the first regent of the school. The difficulties he faced in founding a medical school are best understood in light of the state medical education was in at the turn of the century. In 1909, medical education in Chicago was in flux in an attempt to correct some of the deficiencies of the late 1800's. Medical training in 1870 consisted of two school years, each lasting 20 weeks. The second year was largely a repeat of the first year. The majority of schools had no clinical curriculum, and requirements for en- trance varied greatly. Most did not even require four years of high school. Without any standardization of entrance requirements, curriculum, or facilities, the medical schools of Chicago represented a spectrum of quality. Some of the lesser schools were run strictly for profit, and were considered diploma mills. These were referred to as commercial schools, and were staffed by faculty who wanted the prestige and increased patient population which came to teaching physicians. Any group of physicians could easily create a medi- 8 History of Stritch cal school with minimal investment of time or money. One medical school was even operated out of a converted barn. In 1904 there were 15 day-schools in Chicago. There were also numerous night and correspondence medical schools. In addition to these, there existed irregular schools which includ- ed homeopathic, osteopathic, chiropodic and eclectic schools of medicine. All these schools could legally send gradu- ates out to practice medicine without any standard minimum qualifications. The number of medical schools oscillat- ed greatly, many existing for only a few years. The value of a medical diploma at this time might be appreciated from the following letter received by Rush Medi- cal College in 1910: Please accept of My hand writting though Ihavht been in touch with you as to write you before. But at this time I write you for a Diploma of being a family Doctor. I have purchased a family Medical Book from Sears Roebuck and I have studied it for two l2l years and I have been Examined by Doctor-and I Desires to Give Rush Medical College Honor of what I know, and that is why I asked for a Diploma from that College. I have been teaching for twelve 1121 years and I believe I am Prepaired to do the work. I will give you One Dollar and a half 081.502 for the Diploma ifyou will Except of M yreq uest Please let Me hear from you by return Mail. On the other hand, there did exist a minority of medical schools which were genuinely dedicated to improving the quality of medicine and physicians in Chicago. Dr. Nathan Davis, the founder of Chicago Medical College Clater to become Northwestern University Medi- cal Schooll was a leader of this move- ment to improve medical education in Chicago. He fought for minimum en- trance requirements: a high school de- gree and at least one year of college. He also felt that the school year should be extended from 20 weeks to six months, and that the length of studies should be increased from two to three years. He wanted to require that the curriculum include didactic teaching in the basic sciences, as well as clinical training. Dr. Davis also recommended that tuition for medical school be eliminated because the majority of students in Chicago were from poor midwest farming families. These recommendations were not Well received. This was because there were so many medical schools in the area that any given school feared that an increase in its entrance requirements might drive students away to the competition. In 1904 Dr. Davis' recommenda- tions received support when the AMA-- which happened to have been founded by Dr. Davis himself--created the coun- cil on medical education.This council eventually became the most powerful regulator of medical education in the country. The committee wanted medical schools to be graded as A, B, or C with CU schools being considered unsatisfac- tory. In order to have these evaluations considered objective, the committee requested the Carnegie foundation to perform these evaluations in 1910. The report, written by A. Flexnor, was devas- tating to Chicago area medical schools, describing the city as the plague spot of the country. The report stated that only three medical schools in Illinois should be allowed to remain open: Rush, North- western and College of Physicians and Surgeons Clater Univ. of Illinois Medical Schooll. These were the only three class A medical schools in Illinois. In light of the Flexnor report, the AMA felt that to improve medical education in Chicago the number of medical schools must be reduced. Although many of the claims of the Flexnor report were exaggerated, the report did help raise the standards of medical education in the city. In the next 15 years medical schools began to -require two years of college preparation, and a compulsory intern- ship before being licensed to practice. The report also put pressure on medical schools to affiliate with universities. This was beneficial to both parties, as it offered a given medical school the pres- tige of a university on its diploma, and

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Dr. W. A. Dorland, author of the Dorland Medical Dictionary, added to the pres- tige of the school. In 1915 BMS came under complete control of Loyola Uni- versity. The name Bennett was dropped from the title. This acquisition did not cost Loyola very much, as the BMS administrators had hoped Loyola would help it to become a class AH school. Soon after Loyola's affiliation with Bennett, the AMA began its attempts to close Loyola's medical department, or at least to drop it to a class C rating. The AMA had several reasons for their actions against BMS. First, Bennett was considered a class B school, but its affiliation with Loyola was evidence of BMS' efforts to improve what it felt to be an unjust rating. Secondly, BMS, Loyola's medical department, had the largest graduating class in the nation. This made Loyola appear to be a commercial medical school, existing primarily for profit more than for quality education. But the AMA would not acknowledge that BMS was as large as College Fees A matriculation fee of tive dollars will be charged on entering the college. Fee for first year .... .... S 100 00 Fee for second year .... .. 100 oo Fee for third year ............................. 100 00 Fee fo: fourth year .......................... 100 00 A scholarship ticket which includes all fees for the entire course will be issued for ............... 300 00 payable in advance. Students will be required to deiaosit with the Secretary five dol- lars as security against damage to laboratory or college furniture, to be retumed if not forfeited. . Graduates from other recognized medical colleges may attend a full course of lectures in this college by paying a fee of S50 and matriculation fee. If they apply for graduation they will be re- quired to pay S50 additional and take examinations in the fourth or senior year studies. Laboratory fees 35.00 each. All fees are required to be paid in advance. it was as a result of its being a combina- tion of three medical schools. Loyola even gave its own entrance exam to evaluate its applicants more fully than neighboring schools, but the AMA view- ed this as a method to accept unqualified students. Lastly, Bennett had been founded as an eclectic school which was considered one of the irregular sects practicing medicine. The eclectic dogma denied therapy of bleeding, pur- gery, and emetics, which had been the main tools of regular physicians in the not too distant past. The eclectic motto was: Prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good. As medical knowl- edge advanced, all practicing sects had to adjust their teachings accordingly. BMS had actually been a regular medical school for many years, but kept its eclectic title in name only until 1908. Fr. Spalding, in his report on the beginning of Loyola's school of medicine, cited two examples of how the AMA tried to have Loyola closed. The first involved the AMA's bringing medical officials from Columbus to inspect BMS. These officials completely misrepre- sented BMS to the AMA. Fr. Spalding went to Ohio to defend Loyola's medical department. While there, he visited the medical school of the officials, and was surprised that they considered them- selves to be in a position to evaluate BMS when their institution was pro- foundly inferior to BMS in both facilities and standards. His meeting with the officials from Columbus and the AMA turned into one where the Columbus officials had to defend their medical school instead of Loyola defending Ben- nett. The second example was how the AMA sent a spy to attempt to be admitted into BMS. This man's mission was to try to be enrolled into BMS even though he was unqualified. The purpose of this was to demonstrate that BMS did not maintain its admission standards. The spy tried to weasle his way into the school by stating that his mother was dying, and that he Wanted to make her happy with proof of his entrance into medical school. This spy also took students to some of the lowest saloons on Madison street in an effort to get them to reveal damaging information about the school. Though this spy was never admitted to BMS, the AMA printed an article in the Chicago Tribune stating that Loyola accepted students without high school credits. After clash- ing with the AMA over similar issues for five years, Fr. Spalding sought legal help. These efforts were very fruitful, and Fr. Spalding was surprised with how harmo- nious the AMA became after they met with his lawyers. In 1917 Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery KCCMSJ became interested in uniting with Loyola's medical depart- ment. Though weakly affiliated with Valpariso University, CCMS was being hounded by the AMA to close because it was considered a commercial school. Fr. Spalding did not consider CCMS a commercial college because its buildings and equipment were maintained at the very best levels, limiting its profits. Loyola, which was looking for new facilities at this time, was enticed by the quality of CCMS' physical plant. The school consisted of three adjacent build- ings that were built originally as family dwellings. It was located across the street from Cook County Hospital, and in the center of many large medical clinics. Having opened in 1902, CCMS occupied the buildings that used to house the Women's Medical college of Chicago iWomen's Medical College had been bought by Northwestern in 1892 and moved to the N.U. campus.J. Loyola purchased CCMS for 5B85,000. Classes were begun at the new facilities in 1918. The medical school would continue to use this location for the next 43 years. Thus, in a short eight years C1909- 1918J Loyola assembled the componets of its medical school. Fr. Spalding had accomplished what the AMA wanted to accomplish: he closed four medical schools in forming Loyola's medical school. Approximately 15 years after Loyola founded its medical