The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1874-04-10
Muscular GUS.
Our Foreign Correspondence.
Letter From Europe.


VIENNA, Feb. 18th, 1874.
Mn EDITOR: l intend in this letter to
give your readers some idea of the students
assembled in Vienna, and though ! do my
best it must necessarily remain somewhat
incomplete, on account of the fact that the
peculiar position in which am placed will
compel me to confne my remarks to one
class of students. There are many other
students in Vienna beside those of whom l
shall speak The university is large, the
law and theological departments are well
worthy of being described, but as am only
thrown into the society of the members Of
the medical department, and know little.
or nothing about the others, will restrict
myself to the realm of the sons of Escula-
plus. do not know the number of medi
cal students here, nor does any one else,
for the system of matriculating and regis
ltering is not carried out, and it is conse-
qucntly almost impossible to make any
approach to accuracy. l will therefore not
compromise myself by making guess, but
will be satisfied to say that they may be
numered by hundreds. They are very nu-
merous and the number of nationalities
represented among them is immense. 1t is
not at all wonderful that the student COM
munity Of the civilized world should as
semble itself in Vienna, for it possesses at
fractions for the seeker of medical knowl-
edge unequaled by those of any ether city
in the world. In the first place the faculty
has a worldwide reputation. Among its
numbers may be found names which are
known and honored as far as medical sci
ence has extended. Rokitansky, Billroth,
Hebra, Sigmund, Arlt, Bamberger, and
Others are quoted as tirst-class authorities,
and known to all. Such men would at
tract mass of students anywhere, but
where they are supplied with an immense
amount of material in which to illustrate
their theoretical teachings, as is the case
here, the attraction is all the greater. The
General Hospital of this city is one of the
largest in the world, and among its 5000
patients can be found nearly all the forms
And all these patients are in one house,
which presents the great advantage to stu
dents of being able to go from one clinic
to another without loss of time.
The patients are also much more COM
pletely at the disposal of the professors
for purposes of teaching than is the case
anywhere else, and 50 the student has
better opportunity of acquiring an intimate
knowledge ofthe diseases. All the branch
es of medical science are ably conducted
and well supplied with material, but the
school is especially celebrated for its OBJ
stetrics and diseases Of the skin. The lat
ter in particular, headed as it is by the
veteran dermatologist Prof. Hebra, and
supplied with cases from all the Austrian
provinces, and many more distant places
presents a rare opportunity for the study
Of this branch Of the profession. Great as
these opportunities for studying diseases ON
the living are, the chances of observing
the pathological changes produced by them
are not lees advantageous.
The hospital retains the right to exam
inc all the patients who die within its walls
and every morning at the pathological in
stitute, post norton examinations of al
most all conceivable diseases are made
The manner Of teaching is also attractive
Besides the regular clinics given by the pro-
tessors there are large number Of young
physicians residents in the hospital, who
are permitted to give private courses.
These private courses are short and practi-
cal, and embrace all imaginable major and
minor branches of the science. These DO.
cents" as they are styled, have the run ofthe
hOspit Il and dead house, and so are never
at loss for material with which to illus
trate their remarks. The number of pa
tients who die without friends, Or whose
friends don't take the trouble to bury them,
supply means for practicing all the differ
ent operative procedures which are neces.
sary of the living subject, One Decent gives
/. course on eye operations, another or gen
eral surgical procedures, and so on. On the
living are many different kinds ofcourses.
Different methods of diagnosis are taught
10y different men. One holds forth on the
methods of examining the throat and APP
plying remedies thereto, another takes dis
eases of the chest, another the eye, another
the eur, each one combining himself rigidly
to his specially. In this way man car
study whatever he plcases, and as long Il:
he pleases. Ii one course is not sufficient
for him, he can take another. If he la!
enough he can turn his att, ntion in another
direction. The knowledge thus obtained
in separate portions is generalised ant
brought to bear practically in the clinics
where the patient is to be examined il
general and the condition of the diforen
organs ascertained. The material we hav,
in the operative courses is sometimes quite
interesting. Much of it is supplied b!
railroad accidents and suicides. | have