Introductory lecture, delivered in the Medical College of Georgia, at the opening of the annual session, November 6th, 1848 / by Joseph A. Eve.

  • Eve, Joseph A. (Joseph Adams), 1805-1886.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory lecture, delivered in the Medical College of Georgia, at the opening of the annual session, November 6th, 1848 / by Joseph A. Eve. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    any retrogression or degeneration, it is to be lamented that far greater advancement, much more extensive improvements, have not been made. We do esteem it a proper subject of congratulation to the Class now assembling, that they are the first to realize the ben- efits of the prolonged and improved course of instruction—to reap the advantages of a reformation which the Medical College of Georgia, at its very organization, labored most arduously to achieve. When this College was organized, its Faculty and Trustees, especially the illustrious founder, deplored the defectiveness of the system of medical education in the Colleges in the United States, and earnestly endeavored to correct it. They recogniz- ed the shortness of the collegiate term as the principal and radical defect, and in fact the foundation of all or nearly all the rest. So zealous were our Trustees and Faculty for reformation—■ so determined at all hazards to effect it—so confident were they of the approbation and support of the liberal and enlightened members of a liberal and learned profession, that they ex- tended their regular collegiate course from the usual term of four, to six full months; no portion being taken up by prelimi- nary lectures not included in the regular course. Trusting that the advantages of the prolonged term would be appreciated and acknowledged by physicians and students, they persevered, but with little encouragement or patronage, to lecture six months, for five successive years. Although all professed to approve their plan, very few were found willing to remain here six months, when they could accomplish the same object, the acquisition of a degree in other schools, in four: for, unfor- tunately, with too many, a diploma appears to be the loftiest object of aspiration—the determining motive in attending lec- tures—when it should be regarded as a trivial circumstance, only a secondary and unimportant consequent thereon, as the mere shadow to the substance. They had the mortification to lecture to seats almost vacant, and to behold medical students hastening in crowds to fill the halls of four months colleges. Convinced by fair experiment that they could not effect a reformation, without a concurrence of other medical institutions,