8
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
SECOND DEPARTMENT.
In this department there were 87 apprentices at the opening of the session.
One (Apprentice Eyles) has since been removed from the service, and another
(Apprentice C. Kannan) died on the 29th June 1878 at Cannanore, whither he had
proceeded for the benefit of his health.
The Hospital Apprentices who completed their course of study, 11 in number
including the 5 apprentices in the service of the Government of the Straits Settle-
ment, appeared before a board of Medical Officers to be examined as to their fitness
for the grade of Assistant Apothecary; all were reported qualified. These will
receive this day their qualification certificates.
A Mahomedan gentleman who for some years attended the lectures at the
College and the wards of the clinical hospital, obtained permission to appear before
this board for examination in view to obtaining a certificate to practise the medical
profession. He was examined, and I am sorry to say he failed to satisfy the
Examiners as to his fitness for practice.
The examining board makes the following remarks in regard to this class:
The eleven (11) senior Hospital Apprentices all passed-1st, C. Janikaram
Naidu, and 2nd, J. R. Forsyth, with distinction in most of the subjects, but in
Operative Surgery they were both very deficient; however they are entitled to be
placed in the first division. J. A. Reardon heads the second division, having lost the
first by 10 marks. The Board's observations relative to the Operative Surgery
course will receive attention.
The number composing the Second Class was 37; present strength 36. Of this
number 5 are Military, 30 Civil, and 1 Colonial ; and in the Junior Class there are
12 Military, 24 Civil, and 2 Colonial Apprentices.
The following statement exhibits the percentage of marks gained by the second
and first year classes at the examinations held by the Professors at the close of
the Winter and Summer Sessions.
Anatomy
62
Physiology
54
Chemistry
29
Materia Medica
51
Medicine
67
Surgery
59
Practical Chemistry
53
Do. Pharmacy
74
Minor Surgery
44
I
regret being obliged to notice that the reports on these classes by some of
the Professors, chiefly as regards their attainments, are not altogether creditable to
the young men as a body. The Professor of Midwifery writes of the senior or third-
year class now passing out of College as follows:—"Not one lad has reached the
standard as prizeman of any previous session, and I am doubtful whether any have
shown sufficient merit to be entitled to the prize. As a whole the class is very
indifferent in comparison with the majority of students in any former year since
I joined the College, several of the lads being in my opinion unfit for the respon-
sibilities of an independent medical charge." The Professor of Ophthalmology
remarks of this class in terms equally condemnatory, and the Professor of Medical
Jurisprudence believes it to be inferior to classes that have preceded it. All these
Professors report also unfavorably of such of the Senior Department students as
have attended their classes. The Professor of Surgery brings to notice that many
of the students in his junior class of First and Second Department youths have not
been attentive and industrious. Of the junior class the Professor of Physiology
reports :—There is in this section a proneness to levity and irregularity of conduct
during the class hour; 16 of this class are reported deficient in attainments and the
conduct of 6 to be irregular. The Professor suggests that first-year students, when
they happen not to receive a preliminary training before joining College, should
get their instruction in this subject along with the Junior Department students
during the first year and attend the Professor's lecture during their second year.
The Professor of Chemistry mentions several cases of deficient attainments. This