The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-01-16
MEDICAL SCHOOL OF MAINE.
An Appeal In Its Behsifby the Faculty
of the Institution.

dOin College. 1t was one OF the nret nan
dozen medical colleges established in THIS
country. At first it had no home of Its own.
and Bowdoin College "having had much TO
do in bringing the school into existence, ana
feeling under obligation to do what IL couid
to provide shelter for a child of its OVID"
adopted the following Resolve. VIZ; that
''for the encouragement of the Medical
School, the upper story Of Massachusetts
Hall is hereby placed at the disposal OF the
Faculty of Medicine, until otherwise pro-
yided." There the school. in narrow and I'M
slightly quarters, "a tenant at will, and by sun
srance." remained for forty years. The
seats were so cramped it was necessary for
| students to secure end seats so that they
might occasionally, using all care to avoid
| confusion, stand up and stretch their long
| legs down the aisles. But ali this time good
work was being done. "Yet there" said
| President Woods, In 1862. sit 1.-THE school
has earned all the high reputation which 1t
| enjoys" "The old building came at last to
| be known by our name rather than its owD,
and to be called the Medical College oftener
| than Massachusetts, Hail."
In 1862 the New Hall of the Medical Schoo
| of Maine was opened, President Woods, who
| had been greatly interested in procuring it,
| delivered the opening address. In this ad-
mirable address it is stated that the New
| Hal had been provided for the Medical
| School from no resources of its own, but
| for the most part by the aid of various pub
| lie bodies, and private individuals only re-
motelY connected with it." The State had
made grant to the school of half town
ship of land; the college had contributed
towards the erection of the building sum
equal to that given by the State; and a gen.
tleman in Boston had given assurances of a
generous provision made by himself for the
future endowment of the school, which led
the authorities at Brunswick to feel justified
in proceeding on more liberal scale of ex-
| penditure than would otherwise have been
thought prudent" The college in contribut-
| ing 50 literally towards the erection of the
medical hall not only promoted the interest
| of the school, but also secured in the new
building provisions for certain interests Of
Its own. In this building the school has en-
| joyed comfortable and convenient quarters.
| Twenty-Five annual courses of lectures have
been given there, and six hundred and eighty
one young men have there received their de-
grees of NJ. d.
| The Medical School of Maine has rendered
valuable service to the Commonwealth.
| When 1t was founded comparatively few Of
the practitioners of Maine were graduates in
medicine. Most of them had tread medi-
cine" with some noishborins pracritioner,
| had ridden" more or less with him, had
seen some Office practice, and then had
themselves settled down to the work of the
| profession. Only here and there, in the
larger towns and cities, was found man,
VINO had regularly pursued his studies, and
taken his degree at one of the few medical
colleges In the country, in Boston. Philadel-
| phia or New York. There was no fixed
standard of education to which it was essen
tial for man to attain in order to secure
honorable recognition as member of the
medical profession. Maine was poor state,
and courses of study, taken in the colleges of
large and distant cities, were expensive to
degree which practically excluded the major
part of the medical students of Maine.
The establishment of the Medical School
| of Maine changed all this. Good instruction,
and near at baud, was afforded at very
moderate cost and the sentiment soon be-
came so strong. both in the public and the
professional mind, that no young man could
4
| hrst pursued regular course of study, and
obtained degree in medicine
1t would have been hard to find, in the
| country, ADLER teachers than Parker Cleave-
land and DR.. Nathan Smith, the first two
professors of this school. There have been
many distinguished teachers of later date,
now deceased, Of whom it may not De in
vidious to mention, with just pride, John
Doan Wells, John De la Mater, Reuben D.
Mussey, Edmund r. Peaslee, and VIM. War
rem Greene, men who would have done honor
to any medical school in the country.
The Medical School of Maine has furnished
to the smaller towns of the state, and those
most distant from the centers of business
and wealth, much better educated class of
physicians than would otherwise have been
available for them. 1t has also sent forth
large percentage of the most distinguished
physicians and surgeons of the larger towns
and cities of Maine. Some of them, after
taking their degrees here, have pursued post
graduate studies in the e, eat medical centers
at home and abroad. In these cases it has
been pleasant to observe that appreciation
and love of the home college has not suffered
diminution.
The total number of graduates from this
| school is little more than fifteen hundred,
| OF whom somewhat over nine hundred are
living.
The development of the school has been
steady, and as rapid as circumstances have
allowed. In 1920, the first year of the school,
there were only two professors, Parker
Cleaveland, the famous professor of chem
istry and mineralogy in the college, and DR..
Nathan Smith. a distinguished physician
and teacher from New Haven. who came to
brunswick for the lecture term only. These
two men divided between themselves the
various departments then taught in medical
schools. the former taking chemistry and
branches of medicine. Soon aftera ARCS DR.
John d. Wells was elected Professor of An
atomy and Surgery.
| Little by little engagements and subdi-
visions have been made till now there are
eight separate departments, viz: Pathology
and Practice of Medicine, Surgery, Obstet-
RIGS and Diseases of Women and Children.
Materia Medlca and Therapeutics. Anatomy
PHYSIOLOGY, Chemistry and Medical Jnris-
prudence, each presided over by its ipdiyid-
ual professor, while instruction is also given
In Public Hygiene and Histology.
| The lecture term has been heightened to
twenty weeks. Attendance upon three an
nua terms instead of two has been made
obligatory. A standard of preliminary edn.
cation has been established, and that of grad
uatl0n requirements has been raised IL ia
the purpose of all concerned in the manage
plent OF thls venerable school to push i'm
provements as fast as circumstances shall
render possible, and to maintain the institn
tion, which has been so useful and so honor
able IN the past, In the front rank of the
medical colleges of the country
| Something must be said of the chanoes
which have come about in the methods of
medical education. and of the present needs
of this School, which have largely grown
out OF those changes.
BY the old time method instruction in
medical schools. except in the departments
Of Anatomy and Chemistry, was chiefly by
dldactic lectures, sometimes illustrated by
experiments made by the professor. AZ the
present time clinical instruction and labora-
tory work have come to the front, and much
more time relatively is given to the "ouiz."
The first demand of medical education TO-
day is for the constant association of medi-
cal colleges with hospitals, infirmaries and
dispensaries. It is not enough that the
student should see the diagnosis made, or an
operation performed. He must be able to
watch the subsequent course, treatment and
| results
So much and such essential importance Is
attached to clinical opportunities, that the
| Illinois State Board of Health, which has
probably done more than any other organi
cation in the country to raise the standard Of
medical education, refuses to recognize the
diploma of any college, which does not fur
nish hospital advantages to its students, as
emitting the holder to practice within the
limits of the state of Illinois The decision
has the moral support of the best medical
| educators in the country. The time has ar
rived when this medical school will not