Proceedings of the quarter-centennial celebration of the establishment of the Michigan State Board of Health : held at Detroit, Michigan, August 9, 1898.
- Michigan. State Board of Health
- Date:
- 1898
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Proceedings of the quarter-centennial celebration of the establishment of the Michigan State Board of Health : held at Detroit, Michigan, August 9, 1898. 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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![oughly e(iiicated medical ])i-ofession, must result in increasing the value of this force in sanitary science and public hygiene; a force, which in the nature of things iiinst always exist so long as there are physicians and patients; and the character and inllnence of which must always hold a direct relation to the tone, attainments, and the competency of those by whom it is exerted.’’ In an address Dr. Ranch delivered as Chairman of the Section of State Medicim*, at the session of the American Medical Association in 1880, he submitted certain propositions which he considered germane to need- ful action of that body in the promotion of the highest attainable stand- ard of medical education, and in order to give practical etlect to them he si)ecilically suggested: “That the American ^ledical Association should ]>nt itself n])on record at that session as recommending the extension of the ])eriod of study to four years, and of attendance ni)on lectures to three full terms, with ample hos]utal i)ractice and clinical instruction, as the recinirements for graduation in medicine.” The Association did not so i)ut itself ni)on record until six years after- ward. Rut Dr. Ranch ceased not to so urge to the day of his death. At the recent meeting of the Association in Denver, Dr. Ranch’s suggestion was nnanimonsly adoj)ted by special resolutions, as hereto ap])ended.* Well did Tyndall observe, as a ])hysicist twenty-three years ago: “If recent theories on the propagation of disease by germs were ])roved to be correct, and if the laws which govern the pro])agation or destruction of those germs were known, the art of the physician would be raised from dependence on empirical observation into the ])osition of an exact science. * * * For never before,” he said, “was medicine manned and officered as it is now. * * * On the old Baconian lines of obser- vation and experiment the work is carried on. The inter-commnnication of scientific thought ])lays here a most imi)ortant ]>art. * * * While physiologists and ])hysicians in England and elsewhere Avere draAving copiously from the store of facts fnrni.shed by the researches of Bastenr, that admirable im-estigator long kej)t himself clear of ])hysiology and medicine. * * * The union of scientific minds is, or ought to be, organic. They are parts of the same body, in Avhich every member, under penalty of atrophy and decay, must discharge its due share of duty imposed u])on the Avhole. * * * In observational medicine one fine piece of Avork may be here referred to—the masterly inquiry of Dr. Thorne into the ontbi'eak of ty])hoid fever at raterham and Redhill. Hundreds Avere smitten by this epidemic and many died. The qualities of mind illnsti’ated in Dr. Thorne’s inquiry match those disjdayed by •AMERICAN MB:DICAL ASSOCIATION. Philadelphia, June 30,1898. Dear Sir: At the recent meetinK of this Association the following was nnanimonsly adopted: Whereas, The American Medical Association did, at Detroit in 1892, nnanimonsly resolve to demand of all the medical colleges of the United States the adoption and observance of a standard of reqnire- ments of all candidates for the deffree of doctor of medicine which shonid in no manner fall below the Mi^iinum standard of the Association of American Medical Colleges; and Whereas, This demand was sent officially by the Permanent Secretary to the deans of every medical college in the United States, now, therefore, the American Medical Association gives notice that here- no professor or other teacher in, nor graduate of, any medical college in the United States which shall, after Jannary 1, 1899, confer the degree of doctor of medicine or receive such degree on any con- ditions below the published standard of the Association of American Medical Colleges, be allowed to register as either delegate or permanent member of this Association. Resolved, That the Permanent Secretary shall within thirty days after this meeting send a certified copy of these resolutions to the dean of each medical college in the United States and to each medical journal in the United States. William B. Atkinson, Permanent Secretary.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22335213_0039.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
