New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-12
A Great Medical School

With the vast sums placed at its
disposal by the General Education
Board and the Rockefeller Founda-
ton the University of Chicago has
now the means 70 establish a medi-
cal school which, under proper guld-
ance. should rank among the great
est in this country OF, indeed, In the
world.
Six or seven years ago IN sur
vey Of the institutions for medical
education in the United States Mr..
Abraham Flexner singled out Chi
csgo as 'the plague spot OF the
country" There were some who re-
sented this judgment as unduly Sc
we're, but the facts, as plainly set
forth in his monumental report, were
incontrovertible, and indeed the eff
forts that have since been made In
Illinois to wipe out the reproach are
a confession Of gross laxity In the
mast II was not so much that the
state laws were bad. Judged by the
standards prevailing in this country,
they were adequate enough, and
had they been duly enforced very
considerable proportion Of the medi-
cal schools would long since have
been eliminated.
Mr.. Flexner found but three
schools Of high standing, and init
mated that effective administration
of the state law would alone suf-
flee either to raise the standards OF
the rest or to drive them out Of ex-
istence. Of these three the Rush
Medical College was one, and or
course the largest. 1t will now cease
TO be; that is to say, the medical
school will in future be an integral
part of the University of Chicago,
and the selection of the new staff
will be determined by the Medical
Department.
In accordance with the policy es-
tablished by Mr.. Rockefeller and his
associates and councillors, the full
time principle will be observed by
the entire staff-clinicians and labo-
ratory workers devoting themselves
entirely TO teaching and to the hos
pital and laboratories Of the college.
This plan may be regarded as IN
some measure experimental, and
there are still few who oppose it,
and more who, like Sir William
Osler, look upon it hopefully, yet
with some misgiving. 1t has been
adopted at Johns Hopkins, however,
and, according to Mr.. Flemer, the
results hitherto realized are most
satisfactory"
An immense amount OF construc-
tive work will be necessary, but
there is time enough for this. When
we consider the prodigious Difficult
ties in the building up Of the Johns
Hopkins school and In how short a
time its high standing was estab-
lshed, there is little reason 10 de-
spair Of the possibilities Of the next
two years. Mr.. Flexner explains
that Chicago was chosen for this
great experiment because the uni
versity had no medical school. $50,
he says, I'VE shall begin at the be
ginning In Chicago without reorgan-
ling an existing institution"
This is a manifest advantage
especially under the whole-time sys-
tenn, and the outlook is highly en-
couraging. The time, too, is pecul-
iarly opportune, for now that the
great countries are involved in wal
study abroad Is by no means so easy,
even for those who can afford it, as
il used TO be. Hitherto, thank
largely to petty institutional com.
petition and want of coordination
in this country, many have beer
obliged 10 go TO Europe TO complete
their medical education, so that the
institution Of schools with adequate
facilities for advanced instruction
has come TO be a practical necessity
here.
1t is, in short, splendid anc
timely enterprise which will dc
much to raise the standard Of medi
cal education In this country.