New York Medical College - Fleuroscope Yearbook (Valhalla, NY)

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,V We flags ? n - ai it fg f Q ,A X '-' . V , M nw,g.iwwwc , if as .EQ '5f F'1'?ifa , -1 s . H 4 To lIlem6erA of the graduating C1444 You are very much concerned, I am sure, with the prospect of graduating at the same time that the whole country is being urged to embark on a program ot socialized medicine. The final decision on this subject will have an enormous effect on your medical career and whole professional and economic life. As far as the economic side of it goes I don't think you need to have too much worry as the demand for your abilities is greater now than it has been for some time, and in my opinion will continue to be so in the future, but this governmental program definitely lowers the grade of medical efliciency and research as has been proved in most places where it has been tried. Therefore, I am strongly urging you at this time to so conduct yourselves as to perpetuate the individuality of the medical profession until we can spread 11011111- mrily the hospital and medical insurance to a point where it covers practically everybody. I do not say this from any political prejudice, but I strongly believe that the best method of curative and preventative medicine is to keep it out of governmental control. CHARLES D. l-IALSEY, Cbaii-1115111 Board of Trustees

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14 Proud Heritage . As our college completes its ninth decade of life, we may refiect upon a past of tremendous accomplishment, noted for its great strides and its place of importance in the world of medicine. The evolution of our college to its high place in medicine was not one of uneventful growth, but rather one presenting a picture of success intermingled with obstacles and momentary setbacks. Through it all, New York Medical College emerges as one of the truly outstanding institutions of medical science. The official records show that our college's birth dated from April 12, 1860, when the State of New York granted us our charter. The records do not tell us of the work of a tireless and persevering group of thirty- three physicians. This nucleus of our hrst staff began petitioning the State and conducting a campaign among . the laity as early as 1849, but were not rewarded until eleven years later. Under the able leadership and guidance of the emi- nent Dr. jacob Beakley, Dean and Professor of Surgery, our college began with an entering class of fifty-nine men, and a teaching faculty of eight. At the termination of the first session, twenty-seven men had been grad- uated, and a complete reorganization of the faculty and administration had been invoked. Our college prospered, notwithstanding the depressing influences incident to the Civil War. Our college was a pioneer in the method of clinical as well as didactic teaching. It is interesting to read the 1864 announcement that each candidate for graduation must have applied himself to the study of medicine for three years. He must have attended two courses of medical lectures, and have been, during that time, the private pupil of a respectable practitioner. This is truly remarkable when one considers the deplorably low stand- ards of medical education throughout the United States at that time. In 1866 still more changes were made, the faculty being enlarged so that it consisted of nine professors, one prosector, one demonstrator, and one assistant chemist. Of the eighty students who matriculated in that year, there were two with the degree of A.M. and two with the degree M.D. The students gathered from as far north as Canada,'from as far south as Augusta, Georgia, and as far west as Council Bluffs, Iowa-evi- dence of the tremendous strides the college had made in six short years. The following year was marked by an affiliation with the New York Opthalmic Hospital, ex- tending our clinical facilities even more. The 1869-'70 session marked a complete reorgani- zation in the institution. A new incorporation was effected with William Cullen Bryant, distinguished lib- eral, poet, and statesman, emerging as the new president. Among the outstanding men on the Board of Trustees at the time was Theodore W. Dwight, dean of the Columbia Law School, and one of America's outstand- ing trial lawyers. There were now fourteen professors, and a new department of histology. The announcement for this session states that Samuel A. lones, M.D., professor of histology, will deliver a course of lectures upon Histology, illustrated at every step by the use of the microscope, with which instrument the student will be required to become familiar. We indeed feel proud to announce that a distinct chair of Histology, the basis of Scientific Pathology, has been first established in our college. Thinking of the future, the faculty announced the establishment of a graded course of study with an eye toward elevating the standards of medical teaching. The announcement of 1878 proudly records the fact that this was the first American Medical College to establish a graded course of instruction and the first group with the Graduate College of the New York Opthalmic Hospital to establish systematic instruction in ophthalmology, otology, and rhinolaryngologyf' A new charter was secured in 1887, by which pro- vision was made for the college to have the right to operate its own hospital. In 1888 construction began on the hospital and medical college at York Avenue and Sixty-Third Street, and was completed the following year. Further additions were made to the plant in 1914 and 1917, and in 1932 the New York Opthalmic Hos- pital and dispensary were removed to the college grounds. Three years later the hospital and outpatient activities of these institutions were removed to the Fifth Avenue Hospital Building at 105th Street and Fifth Avenue, where the interests of all groups were com- bined iand centralized. By june, 1939, the merger of these great institutions had been effected, a new medi- cal college had been erected, and the New York Opthal- mic Hospital and graduate college were merged, thus moving forward in the establishment of the new Fifth Avenue Medical Center. Concurrently, authority from the Legislature of the State of New York had been re- ceived to grant the degrees of Master of Medical Science, Doctor of Medical Science, and Doctor of Public Health -again demonstrating its progressiveness by beihg one of the first to adopt a three-year systematic curriculum leading to graduate degrees in the clinical specialties and the basic medical sciences. Today New York Medical College takes her place as one of the foremost institutions in medical learning with a faculty numbering over 1200, one of the largest in the world for an institution of this type, and clinical and hospital affiliations with twelve outstanding insti- tutions with thousands of bed patients.

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In these days of miracle drugs, atomic energy, dra- matically successful surgery, and political panaceas fwhich somehow always seem to restrict and circum- scribe our liberties more, making life more complex and more costlyj one looks in vain for some endowment by which one may early acquire some advantage, or headstart, in the Race of Life. Such a search is usually futile, for all the evidence so far accumulated indicates that everything medical men possess has been earned by hard work, long hours, painful effort and sacrifice, not only by our contem- poraries but by our medical forebears, for all our rights and institutions have been inherited from previous gen- erations of physicians. liew realize, or seem to compre- hend, the tremendous gifts and contributions our prede- cessors have bestowed upon us. Our temporary posses- sion of these privileges is not a casual responsibility to be lightly regarded, nor is it an ownership to do with as we please, rather, it is a trusteeship which we have no right to damage by alteration, but which we must make every effort to leave improved for our successors. Were I asked for one word of advice for you in To lllemtem of the graduating C'lafAA the practice of your profession, it would paraphrase Churchill's immortal promise of blood, sweat and tears for I would urge that you Plan for more than you can do. Then do it! Arrange more time than you can spare. Then spare it! Wlwole centuries, and generations of men and women, have contributed to medical progress. It will not be easy for you to maintain this growth nor to honorably discharge your obligations which seem to increase day by day, but-you must do itl Let each of you remember that the destiny of your profession is an imlizfidlral as well as a collective re- sponsibility. It :Inav matter what you do. Let each re- member that he is accountable to himself, that he is free to disregard the responsibilities of this trust, to stifle or smother them, yes, to kill them, or to accept, honor, cherish and nurture them to make his a better profes- sion for a better Worlci. J. A. W. 1'lli'I'RlCK