Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-01
DOCTORS In ENGLAND
The Steps That Must be Taken to
Become an Established n. D.
PLENTY OF MONEY is NEEDED
To Procure the Long Course of Prelimi-
nary Preparation.
YEARs OF HARD WORK ARE REQUIRED

The London Saturday Rsviep says that
probably those who choose medicine as
profession are the most sanguine Of the
human race. The reasons that dictate their
choice are generally y-sentimeptal. There is
certain glamor which, in the opinion Of
the adolescent, attaches to the name Of
medical student. There is the supposed
freedom from cares. As the old students
song says:
How gallantly and merrily the students days
begin, -
No cares hath he, but on the spree he gaily
spends his tin;
No creditors oppress him, and his governor is
kind,
His letters haven't yet commenced to fail to
raise the wind.
In fact, the beau-ideal medical student,
the medical student of novels, is simply an
idle careless spendthrift. How very far
Mr.. Robert Sawyer and Mr.. Ben Allen are
from the real medical student of to-day it is
needless to insist. The two or three years
lounging in London or Edinburgh, followed
by a sharp grind" with medical tutor
and single examination, which, in their
day, at once put the ignorant tyro in the
ranks of the qualified, is now replaced by
curriculum Of from four to eight years.
During that time the medical student is
harassed by continual examinations, official
and non-oficial. The average curriculum
Of the general practitioner may be taken at
5H years; and, unless he be exceptionally
industrious during that period, he has to
maintain himself at an expense of at least
215O year. The cost, then, of medical
practitioners qualifications may be taken
thus:
5% years maintenance at ESQ. .f825
Hospital fees for lecture and practice...... 100
ss55
AN EXPENSIVE BEGINNING.
Roughly speaking, the medical student
does not become a qualified practitioner at
all until he has expended el. 1000, generally
much more. 1t will probably be granted
that medical man will not succeed in earn
ing bread and cheese unless he is provided
with an average share Of brains and more
than average amount Of tact. We would
ask whether there is any trade, business or
profession where, five and half years hav-
ing been expended, and 81, 900 having been
paid away, the result is so very small? For
now the fully qualified medical man, as an
assistant, is in position to earn from e75
to R100 year. This is the successful man,
the man who 'passes." The minimum of
study is four years.
If the aspirant for medical honors has
been apprenticed to medical man, one
year of that apprenticeship is allowed to
count toward the four, and three years only
have to be spent at hospital. But the ten
dency of the present day is to do away with
And, as a rule, the medi-
cal student commences his career by pass
ing some preliminary examination, and
then entering at once upon his hospital
studies. The result is that, on his becom-
ing qualified, the young doctor finds him
self ignorant of the minor details of his pro-
fession; and, as a rule, though crammed
full Of theories, he has never even seen a
case of smallpox.
The old system Of apprenticeship obviafed
this; the tyro often was disgusted with the
drudgery of his new profession, which he had
the opportunity OF seeing in its least attrac-
tive form; and he was able to abandon it
gracefully, on the ground of distaste. and
before the pockets Of his friends had severely
suffered. In the present day, as seen
through the rose-colored spectacles of the
medical student at the outset of his hospital
career, the glamor of the profession-we
can use no other term-is strong upon him.
His teachers, men of mark in the profession,
drive up in their we'll appointed broughams;
and the student forgets that these are not
the rank and file, but the giants of medi-
cine.
A PARAGON NEEDED.
There are no less than 20 examining
boards from which the student may choose |
his qualification. The London University,
which heads the list, unless he be man of |
talent and industry, may be said to be prac-
tically closed to him. IF he elect to attempt |
to obtain his qualification here, he must be |
prepared to expend more money than the |
sum stated, and to occupy more than |
the average of five and half years in OBJ |
tanning his diplomas; he must be able, too,
to pay special tutors, to attend special |
classes; and he must, above all, be provided |
with an amount of brains that would have |
secured success, ceteris paribus, in any pro-
fession. He must not only be an enthusiast
and worker, to pass the iealously-guarded
portals at Burlington House, but he must
also be highly educated man.
In less degree the membership of the |
College of Physicians is also unattainsble.
1t is almost prohibitive to the poor man of
talent; for to practice as a pure physician,
the young doctor must be able to maintain
himself for say at least 10 years. As rule,
the average general practitioner contents
himself with the membership of the College
of Surgeons and the license OF the Apothe-
carries Company (though this latter qualif-
cation is yearly becoming less popular); or
he obtains the license of the Royal College
Of Physicians, which is qualification in |
both medicine and surgery, and eminentfy
respectable. Then, if he be desirous Of the
title of doctor, and he be neither wealthy i