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

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'NWXQZWZZWZMSZZWN NS NAS VLHNBW 'AN S' , XRUPVIICB' 525' new afgdglg-ag?iQyiQQ, x -s sv w. as x is o ssm4sniAsn1Aw,Sar. 0 o 'AVUQQQu9xva9iva91vy o , , s,,,s,,,, us N- f .e as 'lzge?bIA?nL4?bHsS2v. asf- N .Rau qui M59 xmrawoirmlszwsmf. be Stubg of Ilbebicine OPENING .ADDRESS or SEssioN OF '94-'95, DELivr:RED nv ifllflfblll' wean IBQVHII, fm. E. SEPT. 35'rH, '94, IN CoI.I,1f:eif: AMPHITHEIWER. O-NIGHT marks for us the beginning of a new year's work in the study ot medicine. It is my pleasing duty to welcome back to the Alma Materthe old students, and to extend to the new matriculates the hand of fellowship of the great science to which they have chosen to consecrate their lives. In the opening address customary at these formal exercises let me discuss briefly with you the study of Medicine under these heads: Medicine a Science, American Medical Schools, The Equipment ofa Medical School, The Equipment ofa Medical Student, Under- graduate Wlork and Post-graduate XYork. MEDICINE A SCIENCE. I congratulate the student who to-day begins his medical studies, for medi- cine has assumed the dignity ofa science. The sciences of Anatomy, Physi- ology, Chemistry, Pathology, Bacteriology and Materia Medica form the nrm foundation of Medicine, and upon these sciences the practice of Medicine and Surgery and Obstetrics are built. The intelligent world recognizes that there can be but one science of medicine, and as a result the old medical dogmas have been cast aside and find no place except in the masquerade of the ignorant and the charlatan. Modern Medicine a science and can have no nationality. The English, the German, the French, the Italian, the American schools of medicine are practically identical, all are working for a common object, all employ the same methods. Each nation adds its share to the com- mon store of medical knowledge. XYithin a few years the French have given to the world the foundations of Bacteriology. The Germans have made Pathology a science and have added to almost every department of medicine. The English have furnished the greatest discovery ofthe century in antiseptic surgery. America can be proud of its contributions, anzesthetics and abdomi- nal surgery. 211'

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If they had they would have seen that these pioneers in medical teaching were accomplishing their work in the only way that it could be accomplished, and that they were deserving of all praise, they would have recognized the necessary steps in the evolution that would place American schools on a parity with their own. There is still much to be accomplished, much to be desired. In the future development of medicine America must be an important factor. THE EQUIPMENT UF A MEDICAL COLLEGE. A medical college should be in a large centre of population from which it can draw clinical material. It should have closely associated with it a large hospital and dispensary. It must have access to a large supply of pathological material. It must have fully equipped college and laboratory facilities. It must have sufhcient revenue and endowment to enable it to command the best talent for its teaching force. The future American medical school will form a part of a large and well endowed university. THE EQUIPMENT UI THE STUDENT. It is desirable that men who begin the study of medicine should have a technical preparatory education. Such education should include a limited amount of Latin and Greek, and a thorough course in the natural sciences and modern languages. Such a technical education is of great value to a medical student. However, it is a fact that many of the men who have made great names for themselves have lacked this early training. UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL XVORK. The function of a medical school is limited to the training of men in those subjects and in such a way that they may become practicing physicians and surgeons. A medical school cannot make experts of its students in the sciences which are studied. To be an expert chemist or an expert pathologist means a life's work. These sciences are to be studied with the idea that the student must obtain from them those facts which will be of service to him in his practi- cal work. The medical course should cover four years. The first year is devoted to Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry and Materia Medica. These subjects are to be taught by lectures, recitations and practical laboratory and dissecting-room work. The introduction of compulsory recita- tion work is to be regarded as a great improvement. In Germany a medical student has very little compulsory work, he takes out the required number of courses and is expected at the end of his time to have passed the required examination. This system produces, as one of Germany's great pathological teachers has said, two classes of students, very good and very poor students. The ambitious men take advantage of all opportunities offered, the lazy men do little or no work. Compulsory work does not affect the high grade men in a class, but it does produce a better general average. The practical work consists of dissections in Anatomy, microscopical work in Histology, laboratory work in Physiology, in Chemistry and in Materia Medica, and lastly we must mention the lectures, which are a systematic 214