The first advance which should be mentioned is a fundamental
one—namely, methods of medical teaching. At the beginning of the
nineteenth century there were only three medical schools in the United
States: the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania,
established in 1765; the Medical Department of Harvard, established
in 1783; and the Medical Department of Dartmouth, established in
1797. The last report of the Commissioner of Education gives a list
of one hundred and fifty-five medical schools now in existence in
this country, many of them still poorly equipped and struggling for
existence, but a large number of them standing in the first rank, with
excellent modern equipment, both in teachers, laboratories, hospitals,
and other facilities. The medical curriculum then extended over
only two years or less, and consisted of courses of lectures at the
most by seven professors who, year after year, read the same course
of lectures, without illustrations and with no practical teaching.
The medical schools, even when connected with universities, were
practically private corporations, the members of which took all the
fees, spent what money they were compelled to spend in the maintenance
of what we now should call the semblance of an education, and divided
the profits. Until within about twenty years this method prevailed in
all our medical schools. But the last two decades of the century have
seen a remarkable awakening of the medical profession to the need of
a broader and more liberal education, and that, as a prerequisite,
the medical schools should be on the same basis as the department of
arts in every well-regulated college. To accomplish this the boards of
trustees have taken possession of the fees of students, have placed the
faculties upon salaries, and have used such portion of the incomes of
the institutions as was needed for a constant and yet rapid development
along the most liberal lines.