Inaugural address on universities and medical education : delivered at the opening of the medical session of the Victoria University of Manchester on October 1, 1912 / by H.D. Rolleston.

  • Rolleston, Humphry Davy, 1862-1944
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Inaugural address on universities and medical education : delivered at the opening of the medical session of the Victoria University of Manchester on October 1, 1912 / by H.D. Rolleston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    methods so as to keep abreast of modern knowledge; and (6) original research in order to advance the science of medicine. The claims of the first four of these spheres of activity leave little time for anything else, and especially render research almost impossible. It therefore follows that one of the functions of a University—namely, original research for the advancement of scientific medicine—is practically prevented by the conditions under which the professors hold office. British medicine has certainly na cause to be ashamed of its achievements in the past, but they have been the outcome of individual enterprise and in the face of difficulties which from the enormous advance and specialisation of medical science are now much more formidable. It is therefore hardly surprising that research into the problems of medicine is passing out of the hands of hospital physicians and surgeons. With notable exceptions, such as Mackenzie’s work on the heart and Head’s on the nervous system, recent advances—for example, those in tropical medicine and parasitology and in the serum and vaccine treatment—have mainly come from men with time and opportunity to work out their ideas in a laboratory, and not from practising physicians and surgeons. The remark of one witness (a pathologist) before the Koyal Commission on University Education in London, that “ I do not know a solitary physician who is famous, apart from the neurologist, for his original work,” while it over- states our deficiencies, shows that this tendency is fully recognised. An atmosphere of active investigation exerts a beneficial influence on students, for although the original worker is not necessarily a good or inspiring teacher, the best teacher is one who is also engaged in research, because he stimulates independent thought and inquiry in his pupils, and thus counteracts the dogmatism which is perhaps a necessary element of success in elementary teaching. From the University standpoint clinical medicine may be divided into (a) the teaching of the applied science,; and (h') the pursuit of the pure science. As far as the object of the medical faculty is to turn out sound practitioners of medicine, the present arrangement has worked admirably. But to place medicine on an equal footing with other sciences as regard facilities for research, some change is necessary, and on the difficult question how this is to be effected there is considerable difference of opinion. Possible alterations are the following 1. That the professors of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics and gynascology, whose conditions of tenure would be un- changed, should each have several assistants of proved ability. These assistants should be paid a living wage, and in return should for some (5 to 10) years devote the whole of their time to their chief’s clinic. They should take an active part in the teaching as the professors should direct.
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