Page:Anon 1830 Remarks on some proposed alterations in the course of medical education.djvu/21

 of prizes,—gold-headed canes and silver snuff-boxes,—ear-trumpets and eye-glasses,—chamois waist-coats, caoutchouc cloaks, and cork soles! How degraded do the names of the old physicians appear, who had not the academical honours to boast of A. M., S. B.! How much more illustrious would that master of Medicine, though not of Arts,, have been, could he have been termed "Dr , A. M., S. B.!"

The period which our innovators have selected for arraigning existing systems, is peculiarly unhappy,—a period remarkable in the annals of British medicine, when the public is delighted with the ingenuity and originality of thought and elegance of diction of medical works. Let us contrast these with our medical literature forty or fifty years ago, in which there was no lack of Greek quotations and mathematics, and we shall at once be satisfied of our superiority. Look at the flourishing state of the College,—at the number of its students, greater than that of any other University in the world,—at its high reputation in other countries (though a prophet has little honour in his own),—at the circumstance of its being frequented by students from every quarter of the globe, even from those countries which boast the possession of the exclusive system,—and say, Whether it is prudent to tamper with the economy of such a school? Some men do not know when they are well; and, like the dog in the