Reading Michael Crichton’s Five Patients got me thinking - what was medical school like in the 1700s and 1800s? Anyone have any ideas or online sources?
You might find this blog interesting. Not specific to medical school, but discuesses medicine as practiced 17th-19th century.
No online sources, but I did read a book about the history of dental education in the US. Previous to accreditation organizations, education and credentials varied. Once a standard for accreditation became used, education became more formalized with schools and courses replacing apprenticeships.
Anatomische les van Dr Nicholaes Tulp, aka “The Anatomy Lesson”, is a Rembrandt painting from 1632 - while that is earlier than the period you’re asking about, what it shows is how anatomy lessons would have worked until well into the 20th century. No refrigeration meant that the current practice of using and re-using donated corpses for several months was simply impossible; forget about dividing students in groups and having each work on a separate corpse. I’m sure there will be differences from country to country with respect to which subjects were considered more important, but things such as the technical restrictions to practical work would have been the same all over.
I know that Ramón y Cajal complained heavily about the lack of lab training he received in college (even though, being the son of the anatomy teacher, he got a lot more than most); he had to build many of his instruments, or parts for them, since there weren’t reliable suppliers. His love of drawing and photography served him well in this regard, since it led him to study optics.
Not Medicine, where the need for clinical rounds would have made it impossible, but - can you imagine studying Chemistry long-distance, with no labwork required? That’s how my great-aunt Rosa got her degree in the 1900s; her father owned The chemical analysis lab for Northern Spain and acted as her proctor. The University of Salamanca sent the exam questions to him, she wrote the responses, they sent the essays back; once she’d passed everything, she had to pass a “reválida”, a global exam which was verbal and in front of a five-professors panel. The five gentlemen were extremely surprised to discover that R. did not stand for Roberto, Rodrigo or any of any other good old gentlemen’s names, but for a blonde chick built in the Wagnerian valkyrie pattern, but since they had been accepting her exams as valid, they had to allow her to take the reválida: summa cum laude, mwahaha.
The history of my alma mater is linked to your question (and, sadly, seems to have been prepared by someone who needed more coffee). Father Vitoria, assigned to a small parish close to the delta of the Ebro River, created a small lab dedicated to studying the area: its fauna, flora, agriculture, soil composition, how the waters of the river change througout the year… and found himself swamped with requests to teach people “how to work in a laboratory”, because that wasn’t taught in universities - not in Chemistry, Physics, Medicine or Pharmacy.
In 1916, his lab/school was moved to Sarrià, then a village near Barcelona (it was later absorbed). Its building also housed the students, which for the first decade and a half were postgrads. Eventually, the school obtained permission to teach undergrads and give recognized “BS-level” degrees, first in Industrial Chemistry and later in Chemical Engineering. The rest isn’t relevant to your question at all.
I’ve wondered about this myself since a distant uncle was a physician in the latter half of the 19th century. I found the following 1894 newspaper article about him - looks like he learned ‘on the job’.
Another story about him recounts how he and a fellow physician (a nephew) paid to feed a convicted murderer in the county jail - in return, they got to dissect him after the hanging. Clearly he never attended a medical school with hands-on courses on human anatomy.
"Doctor Stout of Lewisville has been since last December, considerable of the time confined to his bed. He is still feeble but improving. Fifty years ago he began the practice of medicine here and continued in active practice for forty years. His career has been a somewhat remarkable one and probably no man in this locality has done more to alleviate suffering or has deserved better the gratitude of needy and unfortunate. He was born in Belvidere, N.J., May 12, 1812, the oldest of his father’s family. They moved to Pennsylvania while he was a child, then to Tompkins County, N.Y. and finally to Independence, Allegany County, N.Y. in 1822. His father was a very skillful harness maker and he learned the trade. In 1833 he opened a shop in Andover, N.Y., and continued in business there nine years. During this time he studied medicine with Dr. Joel French and afterwards with his son Dr. Frank French at Andover, working at his trade and using all his spare moments in mastering the science of medicine. In 1842 he moved to Phillipsville, N.Y. (now Belmont), went into partnership with Dr. Reed and completed his studies with him. In 1843 he moved to Hillsdale, Mich. And practiced medicine there until the next year. Then he returned to his old home in Independence, N.Y. and on June 18, 1844 he settled in Ulysses Pa. following his old friend Coning Smith who had located in the mercantile business at that place. There was no physician within a dozen miles in any direction, and his ride extended in some directions forty miles through an unbroken wilderness. The roads were often mere bridal paths and he was obliged to travel on horseback. The call for his service were almost incessant, and though many of the patients were too poor to pay for treatment, no call for which he had time was ever disregarded. Much of his labor was performed for no other reward than that which comes from a consciousness of having alleviated human suffering. His journeys often lay through long stretches of unbroken wilderness and the silence of his long night rides was sometimes broken by the howl of the wolves or the scream of the panther. Soon after his arrival at Ulysses he was called to see a patient at a lumber camp four miles up Meeker Run which empties into Pine Creek near West Pike. As his horse toiled up the muddy road in the small hours of the morning, a panther on the north hill-side kept pace with him for company and at frequent intervals broke the stillness by his semi-human screams. Doctor Stout was a born physician and in his long practice was wonderfully successful, but his modesty was equal to his skill and many times when desperate cases had yielded to his careful and judicious treatment the general public only knew of his triumph by the grateful acknowledgement of the restored patient and his friends. Forty years of labor which under present conditions would have made him wealthy left him still a poor man. The more highly educated and better paid physicians who have succeeded to his practice may well feel satisfied if they shall have inherited also his skill and equaled his success. Dr. Stout married in 1837, Miss Matilda Knight of Independence, a lady of rare qualifications for the trying duties of a doctor’s wife, and these duties she always discharged with rare fidelity. They had two children, Charles a boy of fine promise who died in 1856 while attending school at Alfred University, and Helen, now Mrs. M. W. Gridley, of Ulysses. The untimely death of this son cast a gloom over the entire subsequent life of his father. Dr. Stout was a Whig in politics and on the dissolution of that party became a Republican, steadfast and loyal through life. He never aspired to office, but was chose a Republican elector in 1880, an honor which he well deserved. "
This is an overview of the history of Edinburgh’s Royal College of Surgeons, which has been going for 500+ years and is well thought of in the profession. Some of it’s about the amount of study required, etc.