South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-03-08
Higher Salaries in
NeWMedicalSchooL
Important Feature
BY Woods Hutchinson. ". d.

It W Ollu r OEeIuOSL w ritter on
Medical Subjects
one OF the most prominent fea-
lures of the new medical school.
which is Of the greatest public in
terest. because il will result in both
a better taught crop of doctors in
future years and more rapid and re-
liable increase OF medical knowl-
edge, is the proposal 10 pay suffi-
ciently liberal salaries TO its pro-
fessors and teachers TO enable them
to devote their entire time to hospi-
tai work and medical teaching.
This is of more importance than
may at first sight appear. because
the general practice Of medical
schools until within comparatively
recent years has been to pay very
small and in some cases no salaries
at all to the holders of what ara
known as the practical" chairs
that is 10 say, those branches Of
medical teaching which deal direct
~ with the treatment of disease, the
handling of patients. and the hold
ing OF clincs and other forms of
teaching in hospitals the idea,
crudely and badly stated, being that
the honor and prestige and ac-
quaintance with future doctors Civ
en- by the professionally or chair
would so greatly increase the repu-
tation and practice of the professor
that he could well afford to do the
medical teaching and the hospital
work for nothing.
Principle UnsOund.
This was a thoroughly bad and
unsound, not 10 say vicious, eco
nOmic principle, though to the
credit of the profession and it's love
of science for its own sake il must
be stated that il worked much bet
ter or rather less badly than might
have been expected. For one thing.
ii frequently resulted in an import
ant medical o. surgical chair being
filled by some doctor Of good stand
ing and large practice but without
the slightest ability for either teach
ing others or advancing the bounds
of medical and scientific knowledge,
whose sole qualification was that he
had an enormous practice and val
liable hospital positions which en-
abled him TO put a large number Of
patients at the disposal of the
school, if he was appointed-and
withhold them if he wasn't.
There was also the keenest and
often most unscrupulous competi-
ton for the great practical chairs of
medicine, surgery, diseases Of chill
dren, diseases of women and the
specialties, for reasons of revenue
only" including ambitions of the
type immOrtalized in the story of
the medical professor in one of the
great French schools, who, when
one of his students who had just
graduated and was setting out to
start in practice came to say good
by after giving him much sage
counsel and cordially wishing him
success, at parting threw his arms
about him and exclaimed God
bless you, my dear boyl Go forth
and prOsper-and send me all your
consultation casesi"
1t also injuriously affected the
morale and efficiency of the medical
school in another way. That is.
that while for many years past sal
aries were paid TO some of the more
obviously unremunerative chairs,
which led nowhere and held out no
prospects of remunerative private
practice and income, the sO-called
scientific" subjects-such as ana
tony. physiology, chemistry and
materia medica-yet these salaries
as a rule were small and entirely
inadequate to make the work at
tractive as a permanent career, save
TO those rare souls who have the
martyr spirit of science in them;
the average being about 81 200 a
year, and $4,000 to $2,5OO being
considered most liberal
Chairs Only Stepping stones.
The only way in which young
doctors of ability and promise could
| be got TO take these unproftab BILE
positions was by making them a
stepping stone TO something better
/ financially. Consequently, each
| scientific chair came 10 be linked -
with a supposedly correspo. ing
practical chair above it, so that 20
years ago il was a fixed tradition in
most medical schools, often an eA-
pHcitly stated promise by the dean or
| board of trustees when the position
was taken. that the holder of the
/ chair of anatomy. after an elastic
/ mum Der Of years of service for little
I or nothing. should be in line. for
! promotion to the chair of surgery,
with its rich financial rewards. The
Psychologist was heir apparent TO
the fat chair Of practice Of medi-
/ cine. the teacher of materia medica
/ perhaps TO that OF gynecology or
diseases Of children and so on down
/ the line.
Consequently these lower but ex-
| tremely important positions were
often filled by men who had no real
| special knowledge or other qualii-
| cations for teaching il, and who re-
/ garded its monotOnous and exact
! ing duties as so many years of bond
age which they must serve as a
stepping stone 10 their real ambi-
ton and goal, the well paid prac-
teal chair above.
This was supposed 10 have the
/ advantage of making the teaching
Of the earlier medical years prac-
| teal in its character and tendency.
but its much more frequent result
was 10 make il mechanical, incom-