An address, delivered at the Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery, on Monday, October 6, 1834, on the occasion of the passing of the appended laws and regulations / by John Johnstone.

  • Johnstone, John, 1768-1836.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address, delivered at the Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery, on Monday, October 6, 1834, on the occasion of the passing of the appended laws and regulations / by John Johnstone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    persons whose intentions have been thus far realized this day. Tliough Birmingham may he called the metropolis of the west, it has hitherto brought forth no Linacres to frame a royal foundation of science, no Harvey to enrich it with invention and to illustrate that philosophy which Verulam has now made universal and im- mortal. Yet may we gratulate ourselves on making no humble at- tempt. Yet do we hope that the foundations of our Academy will be laid deep and firm; and with the patronage of such friends as those who now’’ surround me, and of such moreover as decorate our list, surely we have a right, not only not to despair, but even great- ly to hope. In tracing the history of this School, the work is in so narrow a compass that I need not detain you long in the detail. From small beginnings under our own eye has the Medical and Chirurgi- cal School advanced to its present height. We have witnessed its birth, we have watched its growth, all about it is clear and ascer- tained, and some among you have the greater reason to be proud, because, in contemplating it, you contemplate the w’ork of your own hands and your own minds. To Mr. Sands Cox is due, not only the formation of the School, but the idea in which it originated. After a liberal education in his own country, he visited Paris in 1824 for the express purpose of preparing himself for delivering lectures in anatomy and surgery. In October, 1825, he first submitted his plans to the Profession in Birmingham, and delivered his inaugural lecture. In 1826 and 1827, for the purpose of obtaining informa- tion, he visited the schools of Edinburgh, GlasgOAv, and Dublin, still continued to recommend the formation of a regular school in Birmingham; and, by that impulse which zeal and talent are sure to impart, in 1828 he gained the patronage of some of the seniors of the Profession in Birmingham, and the School w’as constituted. That there might be neither monopoly, nor the appearance of monopoly or exclusion, the lectureships wei'e offered to aU the Phy- sicians and Surgeons of the Hospital and Dispensary, according to seniority ; and Dr. Pearson, Dr. Booth, Dr. Eccles, IMr. Jukes, and Mr. Ingleby undertook the task of Lecturers in the several branches of medical science: and although Dr. Booth and Mr. Jukes did not long retain their posts, yet was the School materially served by their zeal and activity, whilst they continued lecturers. The School w’as