Rush Medical College - Pulse Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Medical journalism, international congresses, the increasing number of men who have access to English, French and German medical literature, the increasing number of men who spend their wander jahr in the universities of other countries, have aided greatly in giving medicine an international charac- ter. This international character of the science and art of medicine makes it necessary for all countries to employ the same methods in the teaching of medicine. This we find to be now approximately the case. This has not always been so. AMERICAN SCHOOLS. For very definite and uncontrollable reasons America for many years lagged behind both i'n the practice and in the teaching of Medicine. Our democratic form of government, the newness of the country, the rapid increase in material wealth and its blind pursuit, were not suited to the foundation of great scien- tific institutions nor to the production of a class of men to be satisfied with a plodding and illy paid scientific career. This condition has fortunately changed. With the maturing of large communities has come a recognition for art and science, and this recognition has given birth to the institutions and the men who have placed American Medicine and our best American Medical schools in a position where they are not excelled by those of any country in the world. A medical student can obtain as thorough a training in the large educa- tional centers of this country as he can in London or Berlin, Paris or Vienna. In original research work, the highest aim of a university, we are still behind, but in this, too, we are making rapid progress. On the continent and in Great Britain the standard ofthe medical schools is uniform. In America there is a regretable lack of a uniform standard, and there are still many schools of a low grade, but the tendency is toward such rapid improvement that we are warranted in feeling enthusiastic for the future of American medicine. The American Medical College Association is doing much to bring about the desired uniformity. Possibly no community in this country could furnish a better example of the development of fifty years in the teaching of medicine than does Chicago. Fifty years ago the one medical college in Chicago consisted of a single room and four instructorsg there was no hospital, no dispensary: there were no laboratories: the course required was two terms of sixteen weeks each. Improvements were gradually and continuously made until the two years were lengthened to four, the term of sixteen weeks to eight months. A large dis- pensary and a large hospital have become a part of the college, complete laboratories have been built and equipped, the teaching force of four men has grown to sixty. The history of medical schools in the other large centres of the United States has been almost a repetition of the same story. During this period of evolution American schools could be and they were criticised by the British and continental schools for their lack of facilities and their low standard. These critics did not understand the conditions and diffi- culties with which American medicine had to contend. 2I3