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 I 
 
 EDIGAL EDUCATION 
 
 IN 
 
 ONTARIO. 
 
 -♦•♦- 
 
 A LETTER TO THE 
 
 HON. G. W. ROSS, LL.D., 
 
 MINISTER OF EDDOATION. 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR DANIEL WILSON, LL.D.. F.R.S.E.. 
 
 PKESIDENT OF THE XTNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. 
 
 <]<^J^ 
 
 TORONTO: 
 ROWSELL & HUTCHIPON, PRINTERS. 
 
 1892. 
 
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 OrWr 
 MEDICAL EDUCATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 To the Honourable G. W, Roas, LL.D., Minister of Education : 
 
 Dear Sir, — In accordance with your request I have perused 
 the open letter addressed by Dr. Geikie to the Honourable 
 Attorney-General, on the subject of " Medical Education in 
 Ontario." In reply, I must invite your attention to the broader 
 questions wliich it involves. 
 
 In the remodelling of King's College, whereby the provincial 
 endowments for higher education were transferred from the con- 
 trol of a single denomination, and placed on the just basis of a 
 national system in which all citizens enjoy perfect equalit}', the 
 Faculties of Law and Medicine were abolished. This revolution 
 had ah'eady been effected when I entered on my duties as a pro- 
 fessor, in 1853 ; but the incidents connected with it were fresh in 
 the memory of all, and the chief actors were prominent members 
 of the community. I had the privilege of enjoying intimate inter- 
 course with the tLmourable Robert Baldwin, and was admitted 
 to much friendly communication with the Honourable Chancellor 
 Blake, and with other ])ublic men conversant with the political 
 life of the time. From the information communicated to me by 
 them I was left in no doubt that the abolition of the Medical 
 Faculty was largely due to the antagonism between the late Dr. 
 Rolph and certain professional rivals : the Honourable Dr. Rolph 
 being, at the time of its abolition, a member of the government. 
 I was subsequently confirmed in my belief of the influence sO' 
 exercised, by approaches made to me from the same quarter, with 
 a view to the restoration of the Medical Faculty. 
 ' Fresh as I then was from Edinburgh, and familiar with the 
 relations of the science departments to other branches of instruc- 
 tion in that University, I was strongly impressed with the bene- 
 

 ficial influence which an efficient Medical Faculty exerts in 
 stimulating and fostering all departments of Science. It was, 
 therefore, with mingled surprise and regret that I learned of the 
 abolition of the Medical Faculty at the very time that steps: 
 were being taken to establish professorships in Sciimce, and give 
 to it some due share in the prescribed requirements of a liberal 
 education. The results abundantly confirmed my apprehensions. 
 The department of Natural History exercised slight influence on 
 the studies of the Undergraduates ; and the entire scientific work 
 played a verj' subordinate part in undergraduate studies. 
 
 The counter-revolution which the lestoration of the Medical 
 Faculty eflected is already abundantly apparent. The depart- 
 ment of Natural Hitstory has expanded into an efficient school of 
 Biology, with its related branches of Physiology, Histology, and 
 Botany, offering to the students in Arts ample facilities, and 
 holding out strong incentives to a thorough devotion to their 
 study. The department of Chemistry has in like manner entirely 
 outgrown the limited aims of earlier years ; and the needful 
 steps are being taken for providing an adequate building, with the 
 appliances for carrying on laboratory and other work, not less 
 important to many of the students in Arts than to those in the 
 Faculty of Medicine. The necessity'' for similar provisions for 
 the department of Geology is now urgently pressed on the atten- 
 tion of the University authorities ; and action is only delayed 
 till funds are available for the purpose. 
 
 The importance of Chemistry to the medical student is 
 universally recognized. The novel bearings of Biology, in all its 
 branches of research, on the transformation of the practice of 
 jnedicine from empirical routine, to an intelligent scientific appli- 
 cation of well-determined remedial measures to specific diseases, 
 are now widely familiar. But even Geology, has its branch of 
 Palaeontology to which the attention of the medical student is 
 wisely directed ; Psychology, though mainly prosecuted as a 
 branch of philosophy, has its important bearings on abnormal 
 cerebral action, on hypnotism, and many forms of mental 
 aberation ; while Physics has now its special experimental lectures, 
 
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 inchiding the study of Electricity and Magnetism, to meet tlie 
 re(|uironients of tlie extiMided medical curriculum. In all this, 
 instead of the work of Arts students being impeded, the necessary 
 development of the various science departments has largely added 
 to the facilities for their study. 
 
 In this healthful expansion every true friend of higher edu- 
 cation in Ontario has an interest ; and no class of students enjoy 
 such important practical results as those in Arts : the Science 
 Teachers in your Collegiate Institutes and High Schools ; the 
 Land Surveyors, Mining f]ngineers, the Chemical Analysts, and 
 Diuggists; the Electricians, and all to whom practical scientific 
 training is of value. Yet all this Dr.Geikie calls upon you to reduce 
 to the I'estricted and inadequate scale of earlier years, assumed to 
 eomjU'chend a sufhciency for students in Arts, on the plea that 
 " it is not the duty of the state to use public funds of any kind 
 in educating students for a special profession ; any more than 
 for any other calling by which people earn their living." What 
 then are we to think of our Provincial Ao-ricultural Collecjc for 
 the scientific etlucation of farmers ; or our ISormal Schools and 
 School of Pedagogy for Teachers ; or our School of Practical 
 Science for Land Survevois, Civil Enijineers, Chemical Analvsts, 
 Architects, etc. : or a subsidised School of the Fine Arts ; or a 
 C^atiadian Literaiy Institute? Is all special professional training, 
 with the one excejttion of Medicine, deserving of aid and en- 
 couragement from the state : or is it not rather beyond all con- 
 troversy that there is no other department of professional train- 
 ing — not even that of the Teachei', — in which every member 
 of the community has so keen a personal interest as that of 
 Medicine ? I will only say in the words of Dr. Geikie : " Our 
 province is inhabited by .sensible people who can see and judge 
 of such matters for themselves." 
 
 Dr. Geikie next proceeds to advance charges of gross abuse, 
 and shameful misappropriation of University funds. 
 
 1. The Legislature having voted $160,000 in aid of the 
 restoration of the University buildings, after the disastrous fire 
 of February 14th, 1890, Dr. Geikie says: "It may appear in- 
 
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cre(lil»le, but it is nevertheless trne, that nt this very time, or 
 ahnost iiuinecliately afterwards, other extensive; and very costly 
 huildings were contracted for and pushed as rapidly forward as 
 
 possible Most unquestional^ly the Leifishitiire of 
 
 Ontario, which had hastened to vote !if 1 00,000 to aid in repairing 
 the daniajje done by the tire, had no idea that the most of" the sum 
 so promptly and liberally voted would be at once spent in a way 
 which was never for a moment intended, vi/., on dissecting 
 rooms," etc. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to eharactcri/e in too stroHu' language 
 the reckless conduct of a person in ]3r. Geikie's ])(isiti()n making 
 to the Attorney- General a charge against the authorities of the 
 University, which he admits to be to all appearance incredible ; 
 and yet which he obviously never troubled himself to authenti- 
 cate, while pledging his word for its truth. Tlic facts, which he 
 might have readily ascertained on enepury, are these : The plans 
 for the extension of the Biological building were completed in 
 November of the year previous to the lire ; the contracts ibr the 
 building were accepted, and the recjuisite funds api)ropriated by 
 the Board of Trustees innnediately thereafter, and the building 
 was already in progress and the foundations well advanced be- 
 fore the lire occurred. It is scarcely neces.sar}', therelbre, to add 
 that not a single dollar of the money voted by the Legislature 
 has been spent for this, or any other purpose tlmn the restoration 
 of the buildings desti'oyed by the fire. 
 
 2. Again, Dr. Geikie asserts that the Biological buildings of 
 the University are really an addition for the acconnnodation of 
 the medical faculty ; that their extension " was manifestly inten- 
 ded for medical teaching purposes ; " and that " they are to all 
 intents ancf purposes Medical School buildings." To this I shall 
 offer no vague reply ; but a definite statement of facts. In the 
 east wing, rirst completed, there are, according to the Architect's 
 report, about 16,000 square feet of floor space. Of this fully 
 12,000 square feet — or three-fourths of the whole building — are 
 entii-ely devoted to the use and purposes of the students in Arts. 
 The Lecture-room and the Elementary laboratory, which are 
 
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I 
 
 the only rooms that the Medical .students share with those of the 
 Facult)' of Arts, have an area of about 4,000 square feet. But 
 both lecture-room and laboratory would reqv ire to be of the 
 present dimensions if the medical faculty wore abolished. Of the 
 thirby-ei<;ht working places in the elementary laboratory nearly 
 all are occu|)ied every day by the First and Second Years' i»rac- 
 tical classes of the Arts Facultv : each class numborin^f over 
 thirty students. The same places are used at other hours for the 
 practical cla.sses in Biology and Histology of the Medical curri- 
 eulum ; but the latter classes are undei- the charge of instructors 
 paid exclusively from the resources of *he medical students' fees. 
 I cannot imagine that any disinterested and impartial enquii-er 
 will .see the slightest impropriety in the facilities provided by 
 the University for its Arts students being also made available, 
 within such restrictions, to the students in its Medical Faculty. 
 
 H. Next turning to the later extension of the Biological 
 building, which Dr. Geikie affirms to have been erected from 
 funds obtiiined on false pretences: and to be "to all intents and 
 purpo.ses Medical School buildings : " the simple fact is that the 
 transfer of the teaching of Natural History, or Biology in all its 
 branches, to the new building which for the first time supplied need- 
 ful appliances in other respects : rendered the removal of the mu- 
 seum to the same building imperative. The addition of this as part 
 of the original plan was contemplated from the iirst.and would have 
 been no less indispensable had no Medical Faculty existed. So 
 far then from the later extension of the building being for purely 
 medical purposes, the whole main southern range was originally 
 designed, and is now appropriated for the accommodation of the 
 museum. Had it been possible to complete the entire building at 
 once, the whole contents of the museum would have been safely 
 disposed in their new appartments before the calamitous fire of 
 1890. But althouorh serious damaere was then done to the collec- 
 tion, much of the valuable contents were rescued ; and with the 
 gifts already received from many liberal benefactors, in addition 
 to further promise of valuable contributions, it is confidently an- 
 ticipated that the new Biological Museum, rearranged on the plan 
 
 I 
 
9 
 
 now in vojt^uo in the great Oermftii Universities, will not only be one 
 of the most injportant educivtional imiNeuniH on this continent, and 
 therefore alike helpful to Arts and Medical students ; but that it 
 will also prove a popular and attractive featnie of the Provincial 
 University for the general pu})lic. 
 
 So fai', therefore, it is obvious that one main portion of the 
 newer Ituilding was desigiied and is approjiriiited for other than 
 medical purposes. In a further portion oi' it temporary accom- 
 modation has been provided for the departments of geology and 
 nuneralogy, until a more adecpiate structure can be erected; and in 
 so far as certain portions of the building are set apart foi' the 
 Medical Faculty, a report was obtained from the architect speci- 
 fying theii' ostinuited cost, and on the basis thus furinshcd, an 
 anniuil rent of lii'l,20() is cha.ged to the Mi^dical Faculty, in 
 accordance with the report of a joint committee of the Board of 
 Trustees and the Senate as what in their estimation " would be a 
 just and adetpiate allowance " as interest for the cost of erection. 
 In addition to this the University is credited with a further sum 
 estimated at !il>l,00() to accrue to it as " proportion of expenses of 
 maintenance and repairs of Biological and Chemical buildings, 
 to be refunded out of Medical Faculty funds." With those 
 facts before you, I leave you to form your own estimate of tlu- 
 value to be attached to Dr. Geikie's statement of what even he 
 acknowledges to " appear incredible." but which he gives you his 
 solemn assurance " is nevertheless true ! " T observe that the 
 letter is signed by its author in his official capacity as " Dean of 
 Trinity Medical (^^ollege," and that he professes to speak in the 
 name of the Faculty. " To the Government and to the Legisla- 
 lature," he says, " we continue to look for redress." Although I 
 have only now obtained sight of the lettei-, on its being for- 
 warded by you to me with the request for a reply to its giave 
 charges, including that of fraudulent misappropriation of public 
 funds, obtained on false pretences : yet I observe by the date that 
 the lettei" has been in circulation unchallenged for upwards of 
 two months. Can it be possible that the respectable body of 
 medical gentlemen constituting the Faculty of Trinity College 
 
 ^nmmm 
 
arc willin<f te share tlio responsibility of sucli reckluss aiut 
 unt'omuled assertion.-^ as I have quoto'l from the letter addressed 
 by tlieir Dean to tiu Attorney-General ? • 
 
 Oiui further point remains to be noted. Uruler a University 
 Statute, confirmed by the Lieutenant-Governor in (council, all 
 fees paid by medical students are appoi'tioned to the Medic' 
 Faculty. In the interpretation of this statute, fees paid by 
 students for Physiology, Ghemistry.and Biology, have been treated 
 as " f(!es paid by medical students," and this Dr. Geikie denounces 
 as " an abuse worthy of Ottawa!" In reality out of this fund, 
 derived entirely from fees paid by the students in the Medical 
 Faculty, the following expenses are >net : viz., the instructi'>Ti in 
 Practical Chemistry for medical students in their first ycai- ; the 
 special medical (Jhemistiy for students of the second }■ ear ; the 
 Zoology for those of the first year : and the Histology for those 
 of the second year: all this bcang instruction specially designed 
 and adapted for medical students. On the other hand the 
 Medical Fund has not hitherto been charged with any payment 
 for the medical students who avail themselves of th(; didactic 
 lectures in Physiology ; nor for siich lectures in Chemistry — 
 apart from T^aboratory ork, — as they share in connnon with 
 arts students ; as tiiese lectures involve no more than the occupa- 
 tion by the medical student of a seat in the lecture-room ; and 
 lead to no addition to the cost which the University would have 
 to incur for the students in aits, if no Medical Faculty were in 
 existence. Again, out of the same medical fund, derived exclu- 
 sively from the fees of the medical students, such charges 
 are met as those incurred in the purchase of nacroscopes 
 and other instruments for scientific research, and for furthering 
 the experimental basis of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. The 
 re.storation of the Medical Faculty has largely increased the 
 amount of work devolving on the science professors, but none of 
 the fees accrue to themselves in remuneration for the oreat addi- 
 tion to their labour and responsibilities. It is the source on 
 which they draw for the purpose of extending and elevating 
 the teaching of Medical science. For example, on the recom- 
 
8 
 
 inendation of tlic Medical Faculty, the Senate has approved of the 
 appropnation out of their fund of $1,000 to defray the expense of 
 a practical course of I^t^cteriology, to be given durinjx the cinrent 
 year by Professor Ranisay Wrifrht, after his ordinary duties are 
 over. This course of post-oiaduate instruction in one of the most 
 important branches of Medical science will occupy the greater 
 l)art of each da}' throughout the month devoted to it, and will be 
 available to all members of the medical profession. The appro- 
 priation above named is required solely for needful appliances 
 for the course. The services of the professor are voluntary given, 
 without remuneration. 
 
 That some readjustment of some of the arrangements here- 
 tofore adojited in leference to the special medical fund may 
 commend itself to j^our Judgment, under ))resent circumstances, 
 is possible. But the devotion of fees paid by medical students 
 for instruments and other appliances indispensable for the further- 
 ance of scientific research in its special application to medicine ; 
 or for such courses of lectures as those of the Professor of Biology 
 — though his salaiy is derived solely from the University endow- 
 ment, and not from the medical fund, — to form the requisite 
 means for such post-graduate work as I have described, can 
 scarcely suggest to any unbiased mind the idea of a misappro- 
 priation of University revenue. 
 
 It is inevitable when any great public improvement on 
 existing systems is inaugurated, that the old Ephesian cry of 
 " our craft is in danger ! " should anew be heard. The old profit- 
 al)le venture is not onh' claimed to be a vested interest, but is 
 unblushingly maintained to be ample for all requirements ; if not, 
 indeed, incapable of improvement I Dr. Geikie repeatedly refers 
 to " our self-supporting Medical Colleges," confidentl}' affirms that 
 they satisf}^ all refjuirements of medical education ; ard as he 
 takes on himself to say, " as is abundantly proved, do the v/ork 
 as well as it can be done ! " — " provide and equip every building 
 they require at their own cost, which answer perfectly all the 
 purposes of the highest and best medical education given in any 
 part of the Empire ! " I accept these, and similar statements 
 
IE 
 
 of Dr. Geikie, as made in good faith. Marvellous as they are, I 
 assume that he believes them all. But if so, they show how little 
 conception the Dean of Trinity Oollege has of the requirements of 
 a well-equipped Medical School. I have repeatedly had letters 
 from old students who, after beginning their medical studies at 
 one or other of the Toronto Medical Schools, have gone to one 
 of the great schools of Europe ; and their expressions relative to 
 the contrast between the inadequate and petty provisions in the 
 little buildings alongside of our Toronto Genei'al Hospital ; and 
 the ample appliances they found available for them at Edinburgh, 
 London, Paris, or Berlin, would furnish an amusing commentary 
 on Di. Geikie's self-complacent estimate of his school. Why sir, 
 the Edinbui'gh Hospital, with its Clinical Lecture-Rooms, Oper- 
 ating Theatres, etc., covers a larger area than many Canadian 
 villages ; and alongside of it stands the amply equipped Univer- 
 sity buildings devoted to the departments of Science and Medicine : 
 including Biology, Physiology, and all the branches of science 
 which now contribute so largely to the transformation of medicine 
 into scientific, instead of mere empirical treatment of disease. 
 
 In truth the great evil of the multiplication of such " self- 
 supporting" Medical Schools is that their pecuniary interests are 
 in conflict with the necessary expansion to embrace the important 
 new apjilications of modern science. Dr. Geikie speaks of the 
 University of Toronto as a keen competitor with such schools for 
 .students ; but the entire record of the University in its efforts to 
 set a higher standard for its Medical Degrees proves that it 
 voluntarily adopted and adhered to requirements which greatly 
 reduced the number of candidates willing to encounter the severe 
 conditions it impo.sed. At the late meeting of the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Dr. Bergin, as convener, 
 pi-esented the Report of a Committee appointed the previous year 
 "to communicate with the authorities of the Canadian and 
 English Universities and Medical Colleges, and obtain their views 
 a.^' to the necessity, if any, for a higher standard of preliminary 
 and medical education." Important changes, based on this report 
 were sought to be introduced into the curriculum ; and on the 
 
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 10 
 
 persistent urgenc}' of Dr. Geikie and others to defer its discussion, 
 and toadjoui'n all consideration of its recommendations, Dr. Bergiu 
 — the originator and active promoter of this etibrt at elevating the 
 standard of medical education in Ontario; after urging tliat, 
 V. hether designed or not, the postponing consideration of the 
 Report, as pi-oposed, t'" next session wo'dd be to kill it for years 
 to come ; — is further reported as saying : — 
 
 " I feel that we have too many Medical Schools ; and I feel 
 that all the opposition tliat we have to attempts to advance 
 the interests of the medical profession of this country comes 
 from the schools ; and if they desire it, a!id continue in this 
 course, the result will be that the profession will as one man rise 
 up and demand that the School Men be excluded from this 
 Council because of their opposition to every advance in medical 
 and pi'eliminary education." 
 
 When, in 18(S7, the Legislature restored to the University 
 of Toronto its Medical Faculty, its authorities were most anxious 
 to prevent, if possible, the multiplication of schools; and it is 
 importan-j that you should know that ])recisely the same invita- 
 tion to co-operat(; in the revival of the Medical Faculty was 
 extended to the Trinity and to the Toronto Medical Scliool. Dr. 
 Geikie refers to such a combination of forces as was thereby 
 aimed at for the creation of one efficient Medical Scliool, as an 
 attempt at the impossible : and in doing su incidentally admits 
 the fact that such a union was freely oli'ered to him and his 
 colleagues. Addressing the Attorney-General, he says: "You 
 speak of ' Union of Colleges : ' and this was suggested in 1<S87 ; 
 but Medical Colleges large enough to requite the services of a 
 complete staff of Professors and other Teachers, can no more be 
 rolled together than can lai-ge congregations, or public schools ; 
 \ and it is never wise to attempt the impossible I " The remark 
 ' only furnishes another proof of Dr. Geikie's failure to compre- 
 '• hend the condition and requirements of a thoroughly equipped 
 medical school. In reality the united school would have been, 
 small in comparison with any of the great schools of Europe. 
 That of Edinburgh, for example, numbers fully 2,000 medical 
 
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 students. The co-operation of the ablest men in both schools, 
 superadded to the lesources of the University and its efficient 
 staff of instructors in Science, would have hastened the develop- 
 ment of what — unless the Legislature of Ontario vield to the 
 misrepresentations of interested and unscrupulous deramers, and 
 strangle it in its cradle,— is destined I confidently believe, 
 to become one of 'le greatest Medical Schools on this 
 continent. , , 
 
 How far the proposition for united action on this new and 
 comprehensive basis was fully considei'ed and dealt with by the 
 members of the Faculty of Trinity Medical College I have no 
 means of determining ; but of Dr. Geikie's action, and of the 
 motives that guided him, we are left in no doubt. In his letter 
 to the Globe, of date March 23rd, 1S87, he says : " I think it will 
 be ample time to give the subject full consideration when we 
 learn that the Government of Ontario, with the cordial support 
 of our Provincial Legislature, has fully decided to create, equip, 
 and endow liberally, a new medical teaching body ; and to pro- 
 vide for it a staff of the best teachers the country can furnish, 
 each of whoir shall have a salary secured to him of not less than 
 $2,000 a year for each of the principal chairs ; and a suitable 
 retiring allowance when, from age or ill-health, he is no longer 
 able to discharge his duties. Till this is done the project is a 
 mere ' castle in the air.' When it has assumed this tangible form 
 I am quite sure ' Trinity Medical School ' will accord to it a most 
 careful and respectful consideration." 
 
 I leave. Sir, to yourself and to the Attorney-General, to judge 
 how far this avowal of the Dean of Trinity Medical School in 
 1887, harmonizes with the "disinterested" protest of the same 
 person in 1891, against the application by the state of public 
 funds of any kind in protnoting medical education. It is sufficient 
 for me to invite your attention to the evidence I have adduced to 
 show that while by the co-operation of the instructors of the 
 University Medical Faculty with the Professors and Lecturers in 
 Arts and Science, enormous advantages are secured to the Medical 
 Students of Ontario ; and they have for the first time opportuni- 
 
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 12 
 
 I have the honour to be, dear sir, 
 
 Yours repectfully, 
 
 I>ANIEL WILSON. 
 
 Universitv ok Toronto, 
 February 22iul, 1802. 
 
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atl to be sought in \ 
 istruction pertains 
 'ai-ge on the funds 
 
 ir, 
 
 Sully, 
 
 [EL WILSON. 
 
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