Letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Provost and Toun-Council of Edinburgh / by Dr. Knox.

Knox, Robert, 1791-1862.

Date:: [1837]

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Provost and Toun-Council of Edinburgh / by Dr. Knox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

6/8 (page 6)

In conclusion, I may state that it has been suggested to me, that for some few years I have not practised as a medi¬ cal man, but merely taught Anatomy; and secondly, that I ought not to be a Candidate for a Chair, whose original for¬ mation I so strongly denounced and opposed as inimical to the best interests of the Schools of Medicine here and else¬ where. To these objections I beg leave to reply, first, that I have never resigned altogether the practice of a Surgeon, however convenient it may be for others to state so ; and se¬ condly, in respect to my opposition to the establishment of the Chairs of Pathology and of Surgery, which I naturally enough denounced to be a political job of the very worst de¬ scription, my objections lay solely to these courses of lectures being made imperative on all students ultimately becoming can¬ didates for a degree, whatever might be their previous studies or their means * In this light I view it still, and hold, and will ever hold the same doctrine, that the circumstance of such Chairs as General Pathology, Botany, Medical Jurispru¬ dence, Clinical Surgery, Natural History, &c. &c. &c. being made imperative, is a most unhappy one in the constitution of the University, and has done it incalculable, and I fear irremediable, mischief; and moreover, I hold, in common with all candid men, that the medical student, like every other class of society, is entitled to obtain his education where and how he likes, and that to render any Chair whatever imperative is to create a scandalous monopoly, and is to a certain class of the community the height of injustice. I have the honour to be, My Lord and Gentlemen, Your very obedient servant, R. KNOX. * See Note V.