CHAPTER XVII.

PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS.

In the 150 schools of theology there were enrolled as students 7,716 men, an increase of 305 over the number in 1905. There were also 252 women taking special courses of study. The permanent productive funds of theological schools now aggregate $25,892,539, and this does not include several important schools which did not report this item. Theological schools received benefactions during the year of over $3,000,000.

The number of law students still continues to increase. In 1905–6 they numbered 15,411, an increase of 697 over the number in the previous year. In 1895 there were 8,950 students and in 1885 only 2,744. The course of study in law schools is constantly being lengthened, and it seems that three years will very generally be required. Sixty-four schools now require three years and only 2 schools have courses of one

year.

The whole number of students in 1906 in the 152 medical schools of all classesregular, homeopathic, eclectic, and physiomedical-was 24,924. This shows a loss of nearly 1,000 students from the number of the previous year, and in 1905 there was a loss of over 1,000 from the number in 1904. In other words, the whole number of medical students in 1904 was 26,949, and the whole number in 1906 was only 24,924, a loss during the two years of 2,025 students. It was in 1904 that for the first and only time a medical school in the United States ever enrolled over 1,000 students, namely, Rush Medical College, 1,033. In 1906 in the so-called regular schools of medicine there was a decrease of 910 students from the number of the previous year, of the homeopathic students a decrease of 46, but there was an increase of 45 in the number of eclectic and physiomedical students, although the whole number of the latter was only 739. The largest number of homeopathic students ever enrolled was in 1897, 2,038, nearly twice as many as in 1906. The whole number of medical students graduated in 1906 was 5,400, while the number in 1905 was 5,544.

In the 56 schools of dentistry in 1906 there were 6,876 students, 273 less than in 1905. In 1903 the number of dental students was 8,298, or 1,422 more than in 1906. In other words, the decrease in the number of dental students in three years was equal to one-fifth of the whole number of students in 1906. The principal falling off was in the school year 1903-4, when the attempt to establish a four-years' course in dentistry was made. The number of graduates in dentistry in 1906 was 1,624, nearly 1,000 less than in 1905, when there were 2,612. The small number of graduates in 1906, just three years after the trial of a four-years' course, was probably attributable to that effort.

In the 66 schools of pharmacy there were 5,145 students in 1906, or 201 more than in 1905. The number of graduates also increased from 1,518 to 1,663.

The number of veterinary students was 1,445, or 176 more than in the year before. The number graduated was 344.

Among the inquiries sent out to medical schools in 1906 was one not heretofore made, namely, as to the number of the graduating class who were given places as resident physicians in hospitals connected with the institution or otherwise. The table of statistics of medical schools (Table 11) gives the number of graduates who received such appointments.

ED 1906-VOL 1-38

593

Of the 103 graduates of the University of Pennsylvania medical department all but 12 were given hospital appointments; and of the graduates of Columbia University, Northwestern University, and Jefferson Medical College over one-half received appointments. In some of the schools with a smaller number of graduates, as the universities of Minnesota, California, Yale, and Cornell, the proportion receiving appointments was much greater. Among the more noticeable were these:

Johns Hopkins University.

84

University of Illinois, College of Physicians and Surgeons (Chicago)

Harvard University.

Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons.

17

Miami Medical College.

18

Medical College of Ohio..

22

Washington University (St. Louis)

29

New buildings of Harvard Medical School dedicated September 25–26, 1906.—The formal dedicatory exercises were held at the new buildings on Longwood avenue, Boston, September 25, at 2 p. m. Grouped about President Eliot on the portico and terrace of the administration building were gathered an assemblage of eminent and distinguished scientists and notable persons, while the large gathering of alumni and lay persons on the lawn in front testified to the intense interest felt in this great event. All these buildings are of white marble, and are designed in a simple, classic style, an adaptation from the Greek. The administration building, facing the open court, is raised on a high terrace, which gives a setting pleasing and majestic. The approach is by means of a broad flight of steps from the terrace to the front portico of the building, from which rise six ionic marble columns, each over 50 feet high. The interior of this building, on the ground floor, is treated with marble floors and wainscoting and columns, etc., in keeping with the general design of the exterior. The right wing of this floor is arranged for the administrative offices of the school, the faculty room, committee rooms, and others. The left wing contains rooms for students and alumni a reading room, and a smoking room. Over the students' room is an amphitheater, with entrance so arranged that the students enter from the second floor to the upper tier of seats, while the lecturer, with his lecture material, is admitted from an intermediate floor below.

The Warren Museum occupies the entire upper portion of the building, and has a total floor area of over 22,000 square feet. The museum is equipped with dust-proof cases and has every modern museum appliance.

Dr. John Collins Warren spoke as follows:

It is my duty and privilege to announce to you on this occasion the completion of the great undertaking in which the faculty of medicine has been engaged during the past five years.

The first great step toward the foundation of a medical university has been accomplished. The laboratories for teaching and research are about to be opened on a scale far beyond what has been attempted before, and this great machine, with all its vast resources, is to be made an agent not only for the diffusion of learning, but for substantial aid and comfort to the suffering in the numerous hospitals by which it is soon to be surrounded.

a From Jour. A. M. A., October 6, 1906.

But these noble buildings speak not only for a new era in medical teaching and medical research, but also for the interest which has been aroused in its behalf by men and women of public spirit. How could a more appropriate and enduring monument to illustrious dead be raised than such as these?

This group of three buildings, with classic outline, a fitting memorial to a noble Junius, one whom we are proud to remember as a former citizen of Boston, is to-day dedicated to science by the princely liberality of a son-filius patre dignus-whose benefactions are a household word wherever science and the fine arts are held in high

esteem.

TABLE 1.-General summary of statistics of professional schools for the year 1905–6.

a So far as reported. b Includes 252 women taking special courses.

e Includes 176 women.

State.

TABLE 3.-Distribution of professional schools and students.

The laws of the various States mention certain requirements in order to practice medicine, and in some States the medical examining boards are allowed to make additional regulations, particularly as to what medical schools shall be regarded as reputable and under what conditions the licenses of other States shall be recognized.