a
the
Surgery of the Uni¬
versity of Dublin.
EVIDENCE. 2-1 r
very low and imperfect state, owing to the competition of the unmerous Schools of Sur- Answeks of
gery that were enabled, directly or indirectly, to grant Licences or Diplomas. Young men Professors in the
were sent out, with Licences to act as Sm-geons, who had received a most imperfect literai-y x'^Paper
education, and who were not only unacquainted with the elements of the learned Ian-
guages, but, as has been alleged, were scarcely able to write correctly their mother-tongue. behalf of
Still the Provost and Senior Fellows did not think themselves called upon to create a stSement of Eoy^
special School of Surgery, until a petition was presented to them by the Medical Students, College of Surgeons,
backed by the recommendation of the Faculty of Medicine, praying them to confer upon
such Students as should be found qualified a Diploma in Surgery.
Li compliance with the prayer of this petition, the Provost and Senior Fellows instituted
a full inquiry into this subject. They found that by certain regulations or by-laws of the
College of Surgeons in Ireland, Students ofPering themselves as Candidates for the Diploma
of that College received no credit for the Medical education given in the University, and,
therefore, had no alternative cxcept to repeat their education in the School of the College
of Surgeons, or some of the private Schools connected with that body, or else to seek their
Surgical qualification in England or Scotland, wliere the Certificates of the University
Pi'ofessors ai-e recognised.
This appeared to the heads of the University to be a very great hardship, entailing a
considerable expense upon the Student, and disreputable also to this country, as it tended
to send away from home so many Students, to seek elsewhere that Professional qualifica¬
tion which their own University was fully competent to confer.
Under these circumstances, and after an ineffectual attempt to induce the College of
Surgeons to modify their regulations, the heads of the University resolved to comply with
the prayer of the petition presented by the Medical Students, by creating in the Univer¬
sity a full School of Surgery.
This measure must have the effect of raising considerably the amount of elementarj'-
general education required from Candidates for admission to the Surgical Profession.
One year in Arts, along with one Course of Lectures in Logic, and one Course of Lectures
in Natural Philosophj'', together with a full Curriculum of professional study, is the minimum
of the education necessary for the Diploma of the University.
And here it may be proper to remark, that the preamble of the Statement put forth by
the College of Surgeons is so worded (unintentionally, no doubt), as to give rise to mis¬
apprehension on the part of a reader unacquainted with the facts.
The preamble is as follows:—
"An announcement having been published, stating that the Provost and Senior Fellows
of the University of Dublin had 'resolved that a Diploma in Surgery he given to such Stu¬
dents as are matriculated in Medicine, and have completed at least one year in Arts' in
Trinity College, the President and Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
consider it necessary to submit the following Statement;—
Here a quotation is made from the Regulations published by the University, which is
broken off in the middle of a sentence, omitting all mention of the conditions upon which
the University have resolved to confer a Diploma in Surgery upon Students of one year's
standing in Arts. The effect of this is to convey the impression that it was proposed
to confer this Diploma without any Medical or Surgical education; this is, of course,
by no means the case; and to remove such erroneous impression, a copy of the Regu¬
lations, with the fall Surgical Curriculum required by the University, is apj)ended to this
paper.
It will be seen by those readers who take the trouble of perusing these regulations,
that the "Statement" of the College of Surgeons is doubly inaccurate. Candidates for
the Diploma in Surgery of this University must not only have kept one academic year
in Arts, but must also have credit for attendance on one Course of Lectures in Logic,
and one Course of Lectures in Natural Philosophy, together with a professional Curricu¬
lum, fully equal, to say the least, to that required by any College of Surgeons in the
kingdom.
Nothing can be more disingenuous, therefore, than to represent the estabhshment of
a School of Surgeiy in the University as a measure tending to lower the standard of
Surgical education. Its tendency and its object are directly the reverse. It is a mea¬
sure which the present very low state of Surgical Education has long called for. By its
means, the moral training of the Surgical Student must be improved; for up to the
present time, no system has been ever proposed to prevent the Student in Surgery
from falling into degrading courses, calculated to destroy his self-respect, and to lessen
or prevent his usefulness in after-life. By the system now to he brought into operation,
he will be led to higher views and aims. He will be made to associate with well-educated
men, his mind will be enlarged, and his manners improved, while his moral and religious
state and feelings, now utterly neglected, will be brought into some degree, at least, of
healthy development.
The Medical Faculty of the University would respectfully urge these considerations on
the heads of all departments of the public service, in the confident expectation that, by
the recognition of the Diploma in Surgery of the University of Dublin, they will lend
their sanction to a measure which is so eminently calculated to improve and elevate the
education and character of Surgeons—a measure which is truly the first step taken in
modern times by an old University to extend its advantages to tlie Surgical Student, and
to break down the distinction in education between the Sm'geon and Physician; not b
