The Victoria University of Manchester Medical School.

  • University of Manchester. Medical School
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Victoria University of Manchester Medical School. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/82 page 9
    I I [ 9 ] school, began in 1851 in a small way, was so successful that it became necessary to remove it to more commodious quarters, and these were erected on a portion of the land on which the huge pile of University buildings now stands. When the terms of amalgamation were settled, buildings for the medical school were erected and were ready for occupation in 1874. At this date 112 students were on the register of the Royal School of Medicine, and after the amalgamation so rapidly did the numbers increase that it was found necessary to provide addi- tional accommodation, which was ready in 1884. The rapid increase in the number of students from 112 at Pine Street in 1871 to 220 at Owens College in 1880, to 328 in 1889, and to still larger numbers subsequently, was undoubtedly due to the co-opera- tion of medicine with other sciences, which enabled the Owens College authorities to obtain the services of the most eminent teachers in those preliminary scientific subjects which concerned medical students, and yet at a less cost per head of all students than if the mutually advantageous amalgamation had not taken place. Then again it was found to be absolutely necessary for one man to devote the whole of his time to teaching anatomy or physiology — it could not be done by a practising physician or surgeon snatching a few hours from a day otherwise busily occupied. The Victoria University.—What proved to be another great impetus to the growth of the medical school was the raising of the Owens College to the rank of a Univer- sity with power to grant degrees. The charter was ratified on the 20th April 1880, and was followed by a supplementary charter in 1883 conferring power to grant medical degrees. University College, Liverpool, and Yorkshire College, Leeds, were subsequently ad- mitted as colleges of the University. The effect which this important privilege had on the growth of the medical school was remarkable, for although it had only taken eleven years for the original number of students to double 5
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3