New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-07-24
LONDON HOSPITAL
American Ambassador on Med
iCaI Training.
From The London Daily Telegraph, Jul
tQff

IOQI QIIiIISs
From The London Daily Telegraph, Jul,
IA. 1911.
His Excellency the Hon WhitelaN
Reid. the American Ambassador. pre-
scented the prizes yesterday afternoon e
the successful students at the London
Hospital and Medical College. There
was a large and distinguished attend
ance at the ceremony which took place
in the library attached TO the schoo
adjoining the London Hospital, and al
interesting speech was delivered by the
American Ambassador. Supporting Mr.
W. Douro Hoare, chairman Of the col
lege board. who presided, were the Hon
Sydney Holland, chairman Of the hos
pital; the Hon. Harry Dawson, VI. p.
Sir Bertrand Dawson. chairman Of the
medical council. the dean; the members
Of the house committee, and the staff OIL
the hospital and college
The dean, i'm reviewing the work oil
the year, said that little more thar
twelve months ago negotiations were
opened with the Board Of Education re-
garding government grant, with the
result that they received $500. a sum
which they had every reason to expecI
would be materially increased in year:
to come. Arising out of these negotia-
tons the ties binding hospital and col
lege had been made closer still, and the
college was now to he regarded AS an
integral part Of that hospital The
Medical College had taken a further i'm
portant step in assoCiating with il a
dental school When the dental school
was opened in october the London Hos
p:tal would be able 70 offer full and UNI
Surpassabe opportunities for the STUDY
of all diseases. with the sole exception ol
feyers, for which special provision was
made The college board had taken over
the management Of the dining hall in
the college, and had also opened q
hostel affording residence for a limited
number of students. No fewer than
siXty-one students had qualified in the
examinations during the year. in addi-
ton TO a large number who had gradu-
ated at oxford. Cambridge and London.
At the second VI. b. examination of the
University of London i'm the previous
July. Of ten distinctions awarded six
were obtained by students Of the Lon
don Hospital and Medical College. Re-
ferring. in conclusion, TO the honor con-
ferred on the hospital by the visit of the
King and Queen. the dean observed that
the first public act Of their reign should
have been visit to the London Hospital
was memora bic and significant fact.
bearing eloquent testimony TO the high
position. which that institution had at
tanned among the great charities Of the
empire. OCheers)
The chairman having introduced the
American Ambassador,
The Biggest Hospital.
The Hon. Whtelaw Reid said he had
been referred H. as representing the
United States. In that capacity il be-
came him to remember that he was ad-
dressing students and teachers Of an in.
stitution that had already third Of a
century Of useful public service behind /,
before the United States were born
They knew that the London Hospital
was the largest institution in the cOun-
try. That. he was told. meant that il
was the largest in Europe. An enthu-
siastic friend went further, and told him
it was therefore the largest In the world
But that word therefore" gave an
American pause IN fact, II was a dis
tinct infringement on a claim his coun-
try had pre-empted. How often had
they amiabv chaffed Americans for de-
scribng everything they had as ''the
biggest IN the world" from rivers and
waterfalls. and civil wars. and pension
lists, TO tall buildings and trusts, and
millionaire incomes UaughterD Well
no doubt. their Yankee cousins were
often fair game on that score. and nc
doubt that hospital and its medica
school, I'm perfection of equipment and
Of medical training and research. de-
served all the distinction his friend
claimed for them. But on the question
Of mere size. Americans could not quite
so easily surrender their usual claim
not at least while they remembered that
as against the London Hospitals splen-
did reckoning Of 922 beds, Bellevue Hos
pital alone in New York. without count
ing the four allied hospitals under its
control. had over thousand beds. They
saw that American claims on the ground
Of bigness died hard. I'm fact, if they
would take an Americans word for it,
they We're generally safer over here.
when they claimed uneXampled size. 10
hedge by using the safe phrase. big
gest in the Old World" Gaughter)
But let there be no further COMPARE
sons or reservations. All. whether Eng
lish or Americans. or mere foreigners
must salute not only with respect. butt
with hearty admiration. the great hos
pital, biggest i'm the biggest city Of the
world. and also professionally recognized
as amcng the very best. which received
1000 in-patients in a year. and treated
Whitechapel over quarter of a million.
Let him frankly admit, also, that IT en-
ployed I'm caring for them with true
British thoroughness nearly double as
many trained nurses as the biggest hos
pital I'm New York. on what a colossal
scale was that splendid beneficence dis
pensed In all the beWildering range of
effort which distinguished
and adorned the civilization of the
twentieth century. what nobler thing
was or could be done? Students and
teachers there alike inherited and prof
tied by a great history. Thorough meii-
cal education i'm London or in England
might almost be said 30 have begun
there go wears ago. Theirs was the
first complete medical school IN Connec-
ton with a great hospital. and so well
did il do its work. so high did il raise its
standards, that In time the University
of London was glad TO adopt il as one Of
the university departments. (Cheers)
Ii was good now 10 see its frank, insist
ence on the fact that the frst'ot profess
sions dealing with merely human affairs
the profession which had for its end the
relief of human suffering, could not he
picked up" as readily. with a 5 little
and as quickly, as a trade
Hear heard n was good TO note Its
firm demand that no student should even
be admitted 10 its privileges without
thorough previous preparation. and. thar
then he should get no degree from the
school without five full years study In
that high requirement. as i'm many other
respects. those who claimed the biggest
things on earth" had still something to
learn from the London Hospital Medical
College.
And yet again it was good to see them
stating, as a cardinal principle that an
institution for the best efficient medical
education and research should not live
upon mere fees or be made eelf-support
ing If Americans had recognized that