Address, delivered at the opening of the medical session in the University of London, October 1st, 1832 / by John Elliotson.

  • Elliotson, John, 1791-1868.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address, delivered at the opening of the medical session in the University of London, October 1st, 1832 / by John Elliotson. 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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    without any reluctance, because I had no share in projecting it, nor in planning- any of those excellences which called forth my admiration. I found the University as it is, and I desired to be attached to it because it was what it is. But in declaring that the clinical department, which does not yet exist, will be as excellent as the rest, I feel some delicacy, because I neces- sarily shall have a share in its organization. Yet it is right that we should declare our good intentions to those whose aid we solicit. Of the construction of the building and the domestic arrangements, I shall say only that no pains have been spared, and none will be spared, to select from other hospitals all that is good, and improve upon all that is defective ; that there will be no resident officer nor servant for whom there shall not be occupation the greater part of the day; that none will be remunerated either more or less than fairly; that all things will be conducted v/ith sim- plicity, and with that economy, v^hich, allowing neither waste nor peculation, while it purchases as cheaply as possible, still rejects whatever is not the best in its kind. It is of the plan of the clinical school that I am anxious to speak. This has not yet been fully drawn out, but the officers are to be selected from the professors. The appointment to most of the medical professorships implies that the professor is qualified to teach medicine or surgery practically ; if he be not, neither is he fit for his professorship, and he should be compelled to vacate it. The selection of practitioners from the professors, appears there- fore to me highly proper- It is also arranged that medicine and surgery shall not be separated, nor two fees paid, but that the pupil who enters to the hospital at all, shall have the right of seeing both the medical and the surgical practice, and that for this right he shall pay several pounds less than is paid at other hospitals for seeing the surgical only ; and, however the hospital may eventually flourish, one-third of these receipts, exactly as is the case in regard to the University with the receipts from all the lectures, will always be the property of the hospital. It is the custom, where the physician does his duty to the pupils, for cer- tain young gentlemen to hold the office of cUidcal clerks—to examine and draw up an account of each case at its admission, and keep a daily report, in books which are open to the rest of the pupils. For the privilege of per- forming this labour, they of course pay nothing. But other young gentle- men who hold a similar office under the surgeon, and have much drudgery to perform in dressing sores, bleeding, and extracting teeth, thus performing no small share of the humbler business of an hospital, under the name of dressers, actually pay, in addition to a large entrance fee, no less than fifty pounds. With us, I trust they will be placed on the footing of the clinical clerks, and pay nothing additional; that lists will be kept of the most meri- torious pupils, and clinical clerkships and dressersbips bestowed on them in succession, none being permitted to retain his appointment longer than six