Letter to the Right Hon. the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Town-Council of Edinburgh, in regard to the Chair of Pathology in the University of Edinburgh / by James Syme.

  • Syme, James, 1799-1870.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter to the Right Hon. the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Town-Council of Edinburgh, in regard to the Chair of Pathology in the University of Edinburgh / by James Syme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    four or five hours a-day on an average, independently of the time required for Practical Chemistry, Practical Anatomy, and hospital attendance. Such being the case, it is obvious that any course not really necessary must be injurious ; and that any course which jars with another from the similarity of its subject and station in the order of study, must be still more hurtful. The questions then come to be, is General Pathology necessary ? and does this course interfere with any other department of instruction ? For establishing the necessity of a course of General Pa¬ thology, it is not sufficient to show that the portion of pro¬ fessional information comprehended under this title is essen¬ tial to a medical man. General ideas on this as well as other subjects, are extremely useful, but it does not follow that the possession of these implies the power of conveying them to others. On the contrary, it is pretty well known that gene¬ ral ideas, unless they have some practical support, are nearly equivalent to conjecture and uncertainty. In teaching, it sometimes answers best to give the general idea first, and then elucidate it by particular illustrations ; and at other times the opposite method proves more convenient; but I beg to re¬ peat, that mere generalities of themselves make no lasting im¬ pression, and while still recollected, though they may induce in the student a fallacious confidence of knowledge, tend only to darken his perception of the truth. Now the course of General Pathology must consist either of generalities or spe¬ cialties. In the former case it will be injurious, and in the latter unnecessary. It has always been the custom to attend Systematic Sur¬ gery, or what is also called External Pathology, in the second year of study, and this arrangement is recommended by the public boards which have issued plans for conducting medi¬ cal education. But General Pathology, we are told, should be taken at this period, and therefore the student would at¬ tend together two different Professors, frequently teaching the same subject, and of course occasionally more or less op-