MEDICAIi EDUCATION AND INSTITUTIONS, 
•#n Account of the Origin, Progress, and Present State of the Medical 
School of Paris. 
[Extracted from the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, for May, 1831.] 
THE medical school of Paris is, without doubt, one of the most an- 
cient in Europe. The precise date of its foundation is still, however, 
a matter of dispute among antiquaries; some affirming that it may be 
traced to a period anterior to the establishment of the university of 
that city, or of the different schools which subsequently received the 
form and charter of an university; whilst others maintain, that medi- 
cine was not taught as early at Paris as at Montpellier, and conse- 
quently not until long after the time assigned by the former writers. 
Although it does not comport with the plan of this article to enter 
very fully on this historical point, yet we may be allowed to remark, 
that from various documents at present before us, and from several 
old writers upon this subject, it appears, that Charlemagne, in an 
edict dated from Thionville, so early as 805, ordered that pupils 
should be sent to Paris from various parts of his kingdom to study 
medicine, and that this branch should be added to grammar, arithmetic, 
music, dialectics, rhetoric, geometry, and astronomy, which before 
constituted the only ones taught in the schools he had already es- 
tablished at Lyons, Metz, Fulde, Hirshau, Reichenau, and Osna- 
bruck. Riolan, in a singular little volume on the two schools of 
Paris and Montpellier, quotes in proof of the greater antiquity of the 
former, the writings of Hemerus, (De Academia Parisiensi,) who 
says that at a very early period 4 * physicians taught in a house 
situated in the square of Notre Dame, between the Hotel Dieu and 
the Bishop’s house. ” In addition to this, he remarks that Rigordus, 
first Physician to Philip 11. in his history of that monarch, says that 
in his time the physicians of Paris, taught fully and perfectly all 
the branches of medicine. The following remarks deserve to be 
quoted in the original. So early as the year 1163, 44les medecins 
enseignoient avec un tel ravissement et contentement des auditeurs, 
que les religieux sortoient de leurs convens pour venir entendre les 
lecons; ce qui obligea le Pape Alexandre 111., en un Concile tenu a 
Tours, de commander aux religieux, sur peine d’excommunication, 
de se retirer dans leur monasteres avec defense de ne plus aller aux 
lemons des physiciens; ainsi appeloient ils les medecins.” 2 
In his histoi’ical sketch of the faculty of Paxas, Hazon does not assign 
to this school so ancient an origin as others, as we have seen, have 
done; for, after remarking that it was naturally comprised in the as- 
sociation of savans, who, after their exnigration from the monastic 
cloisters, and particularly from the episcopal one, assembled, each for 
his particular object or branch, under the name of study of Paris, he 
adds, “Before this fortunate revolution, which took place towards 
the middle of the twelfth centuiy, medicine in France was nothing 
more than a blind empiricism. Under these circumstances the phy- 
sicians who united in the study of Paris, and were there formed into 
companies, commenced teaching the vai’ious branches of their profes- 
sion in that city.” 
Be the antiquity of the school of Paris, however, what it may, 
medicine, considered in its practical application, and as a branch of 
instruction, was before this period, in France, as in the rest of Eu- 
rope, confined to the monasteries. The monks of the Abbey of St. 
Victor, practised we are told, the principles of the healing art, long 
before France had emerged from a state of barbarism. The com- 
mandery of the Petit St. Jintoine, whose hospitable monks devoted 
themselves to the ti’eatment of epidemical diseases, may also be cited 
as a nursery of medical instruction. But these monasteries in cul- 
tivating the medical science, only preserved the ancient apanage 
of all monasteries; the healing art being in all practised with suc- 
cess,* and considered an act of piety and charity, and as a duty at- 
tached to the religious profession. The school of Salerno, indeed, 
founded by the Benedictines, only revived the science of medicine, 
which had become lost amid the confusion of the dark ages. Before 
the establishment of this school the medical art was only the results 
of chance, and of the experiments of a blind empiricism. At that 
time no physician could bleed a female of noble birth, except in the 
presence of a x’elation, or of servants, under penalty of ten sous. 
The physician was obliged to give security before undexdaking a 
cux’e, and if he did not succeed he was condemned to damages and 
interest. For a long while kings chose their physicians only from 
among the inmates of the cloisters. Even by the immediate pre- 
decessors of Chaxdemagne, education was much neglected. The 
princes of that period had, it is believed, schools established in their 
palaces for the instx’uction of the young nobility; but this plan was 
not sufficiently general and regular. The great monarch afoi'e-men- 
* Hodoaw. Chr. Rec. des Hist, de France, vol. 8, p. 229. Lebceuf. Hist, de 
la ville et du Diocese de Paris, vol. 2. tioned, established a system of education better calculated to diffuse 
instruction through the various classes of but the duties 
of teaching continued as formerly to be retained by the members of 
the clergy. The consequence was that a much greater importance 
was given to theology than to some of the more useful branches j a 
plan indeed which accorded well with the taste of Charlemagne, and 
was therefore encouraged by him. As physicians and philanthropists, 
however, we should not contemn the system he so zealously enforced 5 
since the edict to which we have already alluded shows the impor- 
tance he attached to professional knowledge, and the desire he felt 
of propagating the study of medicine. In the twelfth century the 
savans of Paris, formed the determination of constituting themselves 
into an association, and obtained permission that the schools incor- 
porated in the manner above noticed, should assume the rank of, 
and be chartered as a regular university. The precise period of this 
reorganization is not knownj but we are told by Mathieu Paris, 
that Jean de la Belle, who was elected abbe of St. Alban, in 1195, 
was educated at Paris, and had been associated to the body of 
Masters—ad elecforum consortium magistorium. 
Soon after this epoch the university was placed under the charge 
of a chief, mention of whom is made in an ordinance issued by 
Philip Augustus in 1200. By the same ordinance the university 
was endowed with many privileges and prerogatives. The studies 
were now conducted on a more regular and systematic plan, and in- 
stead of theology and the arts being the sole objects of interest, me- 
dicine began to assume the form of a science, and to be taught by re- 
gular professors. It was about this time that the faculties, in the 
sense we apply to that term, were first established. They were three 
in number, theology, law, and medicine j the professors, as well as the 
whole body of teachers attached to the university remaining ecclesias- 
ticals and the pupils being like those of all other branches, clerical. 
Before this period the only division that had been made of the mass of 
pupils attending to the various branches taught in the schools of art, was 
into nations—a division which still continued even after the for- 
mation of the faculties. These nations consisted of individuals of 
the same or neighbouring countries, including occasionally a few 
from more distant districts, who, whatever might be the nature of 
the studies for which they had resorted to Paris, united together into 
a body, and lived in separate buildings erected for that purpose and 
denominated colleges. Each of these nations framed its own laws 
and regulations, was governed by officers of its own choice, and did not 
necessarily keep up a communication with the other nations, except 4 
when they assembled together to constitute the great council of the uni- 
versity, and to transact business of a common interest. At an early 
period of their formation, (the exact period is not known, some wri- 
ters referring it the reign of Charlemagne, others to those of Louis 
the seventh and of Philip Augustus,) the number of these nations was 
very limited* consisting, as is affirmed by some, of only two, the 
French and the English. In the course of a few years they increased 
in number, so that at the close of the thirteenth century they amount- 
ed to four, those of France, Picardy, Normandy, and England. 
They ranked in the above order. The first, besides the French, in- 
cluded Italians, Spaniards, Greeks, and Orientals5 the last the 
Scotch, Irish* Poles, Germans* and all other northern students. 
Each nation was divided into provinces* and each of these into dioces. 
The provinces had each at their head a dean. These formed the or- 
dinary council of the procurator or head of each nation. The pro- 
curators, in their turn, constituted the ordinary council of the rector, 
who was chief officer of the university. Besides the ordinary 
council just alluded to, there was a great council, consisting of the 
rector* procurators, and deans. Of the causes which led to the 
change in the division of the pupils, and to the formation of the fa- 
culties* we need not here occupy the attention of our readers, and 
must refer them, for all that can be desirable to know on that head, 
to Dr. David Johnston’s work on education in France. It will be 
sufficient to remark that the faculty of theology was the first formed, 
and that that of medicine was soon after modelled upon the former, 
since it is proved that so early as 1270 one of its members was pu- 
nished for contravening one of the statutes. Shortly after this, the 
faculty of law, (canon,) was similarly organized. About the year 
1281, the three faculties of theology, medicine, and canon law were 
confirmed in all their rights and privileges, and thus assumed equal 
rank with the four nations already mentioned, which had not ceased 
to exist, and now received the name of faculty of arts.* 
* There was at that time a curious custom * which was continued for a long time; 
it consisted in giving to each nation and faculty an honorary title. This was not 
merely made use of in common parlance, but was retained in all acts and sta- 
tutes. What these titles were may be seen by the annexed list of deans and 
procurators of the different faculties and nations. 
J. Mullot, Decan. Sacrse facultatis Theologize; Ph. De Buisine, Decan. Con- 
sultissima;, facul. jur. Canon; Guido Patln, Decan, Saluherrimse, fac. med,; J. 
D°Se) Honorandse nationis Gallicx, Procurator; G. De Lestoc, Fidellisimx nat. 
Picard. Procurator; Th. Le Petit, Venerandx, nat. Nor. Procurator; Mac Na- 
hiara, Constantissimss, nat. German Procurator, 5 
The medical faculty of the university, which constitutes the prin- 
cipal object of this article, attained considerable reputation, even 
soon after its definite organization, and was regarded, for a long time 
as the best in Europe, with the exception of that of Montpellier. 
Students flocked to Paris to attend the lectures of the professors, and 
we have already seen the effect produced by them on the young lite- 
rati of the times, who were no where to be found except among the 
inmates of cloisters and monasteries. The founders of this school were 
tinder the impression, that in order to establish a faculty capable of im- 
parting solid instruction, and calculated to do honour to the great metro- 
polis in which the school was located, it was necessary to have recourse 
to two measures. Ist. To insist on the necessity of following nature 
agreeably to the views expressed in the writings of Hippocrates and 
Galen, and 2dly, to profit by the labours of the two more ancient 
schools of Cordova and Salerno. To accomplish these objects they 
had recourse to the various translations then in circulation, of the 
writings of the two fathers of medicine—the original texts having been 
carried away from the continent to Arabia by St. Benedictus and 
others—as well as to the writings and commentaries of the professors 
of the celebrated schools we have just mentioned. It was not until 
about the middle of the fifteenth century, however, that these efforts 
to raise the reputation, and establish the preeminence of the school 
of Paris, were crowned with full success. In their laudable zeal 
to that effect, the professors were much aided by the discovery ot 
printing, which took place about this period, and by the protection 
which the school of Paris, as well as every other in the kingdom, 
received from King Francis the first, who, by his munificence, in- 
duced savans from all parts of the world to collect in the capital of 
his kingdom. From this period to the beginning of the seventeenth 
century, the progress of the school was rapid. During that period 
translations from the original texts were made, and commentaries 
on these, as well as original works, written in accordance with the 
principles of the Hippocratic school, were published. As early as 
1532, Joannes Campegius, in an epistle cited by his uncle Sym- 
phorxanus Campegius, physician to Charles the eighth and Louis 
the twelfth, speaks in terms of high praise of the learning of Parisian 
physicians in the Greek language and in medical science. Riolan, 
from whom we derive this information, states, that in 1551, Casa- 
xus, a learned Scotch physician, expressed a similarly favourable 
sentiment respecting the school of Paris. Lorry, in his preface to 
Astruc’s history of the school of Montpellier, says of the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth century, 64 this era is that of the true 6 
glory and lustre of the faculty of medicine of Paris; no body of phy- 
sicians has produced such skilful interpreters, such illustrious com- 
mentators of our first masters as this faculty. The spirit of obser- 
vation, according to the Hippocratic method, drew forth from its 
members works still precious at the present time.” Were other 
testimony of the high and merited renown of the school of Paris 
necessary, it might be sought for in the first book of Baglivi’s 
work on the practice. It will be sufficient in order to show, that the 
praise contained in these quotations is not exaggerated, to remind 
the reader, that it was at the period in question, that Bouvard, 
Degorrhxs, Bressot, Yasse, Fernel, Cop, Gonthier, D’Ander- 
nack, Hollier, Goupil, D’Allemand, the two Durets, Ballou, 
Akakia, &c. all names of the highest renown in the annals of our 
profession, flourished at Paris, and took an active part in promoting 
the progress of medical knowledge, and raising the reputation of the 
school to which most, if not all, of them were attached. 
As regards the period at which the faculty of Paris began to cul- 
tivate with the greatest success the various branches of medical sci- 
ence, and the progress these made in that city, it would be a waste 
of time to say much in this place. A few words on the subject, how- 
ever, may not be misplaced here, inasmuch as we shall thus be able 
to present a view of the state of the school previous to the French 
revolution, as well as to notice the origin and progress of the college 
or school of surgery, which grew out of that of medicine. 
The first lessons given in anatomy were for the instruction of the 
barbers and surgeons. To the former they were delivered in French; 
to the latter in Latin. This occurred in the years 1498 and 1499, 
(Pasquxer, Rech. surla France, Liv. 9, Chap. 31.) We need hardly 
State that previous to, and even at the period we have mentioned, 
this branch was in a state of infancy, and that these first attempts to- 
wards the delivery of a course of instruction in it must have met 
with but a slender success. This does not in the least detract, how- 
ever, from the praise to which the school of Paris is entitled on that 
head, since the lectures delivered on the same subject in other uni- 
versities of Europe, do not appear to have been superior-, or even as 
good as those of the former. In the course of a few years, works 
were published on this branch, disputations were carried on, and 
many discoveries made. Nevertheless it was not until the commence- 
ment of the sixteenth century that anatomy was properly taught. The 
Paines of Charles Etienne, Gonthier the master of Yesalius, 
Riolan, Fagault, Gourmelin, and particularly of Sylvius, who, 
although a graduate of Montpellier; may, in consequence of his long residence in Paris, be classed among the former—most of whom 
flourished in this or the commencement of the succeeding century, 
will, owing to the zeal they displayed in their dissections, and to 
the degree of perfection to which they carried this important branch, 
ever live in the memory of anatomists, and reflect the highest 
honour on the city and faculty of Paris, To these anatomists suc- 
cessively followed Littre, Duverney, Winslow, Hunan, Petit, 
Lieutaud, and Yicq D’Azyr, who carried the science to still greater 
perfection than had been done by their predecessors. 
Anatomy having much improved, the functions of the different 
parts of the body were explained in a less conjectural and specu- 
lative manner than had hitherto been done. Yet physiology cannot 
be said to have considerably improved at Paris previous to the mid- 
dle of the seventeenth century, when, the circulation of the blood 
having been discovered, and physical and mechanical science 
having made great progress, the former assumed a better direction, 
and new, though not always correct explanations of the phenomena 
of life were offered. The books containing these physiological specu- 
lations, although no longer read but by the erudite, may be regarded 
as productions of great interest. In the progress of time, however, 
physiology emerged from the obscurity in which the Gallenical doctrine 
had long held it enchained, and a Bordeu, a Fabre, a De Gaze, a 
Yicq D’Azyr, and others, gave to the physiological school of Paris 
an impulse which has led to the most beneficial results, and ensured to 
it a reputation equal to, if not greater than that enjoyed by any other. 
Nor was the success of the members of the Parisian school less con- 
spicuous in surgery. In the origin, both medicine and surgery were 
taught under the name of physic. When universities were established, 
the same name for both was retained in Italy, while the term medecine 
was conferred upon them in France. In the twelfth century the church 
prohibited its members from performing operations, on the plea that 
a priest should entertain a horror for blood. Hence the physicians 
who wished to continue the practice of the art, were compelled to 
leave the faculty. In this century and the succeeding one, surgery 
was left almost entirely in the hands of the barbers. A floating banner 
over three pewter basins, formed the significant sign of the barber- 
surgeons. Even women performed surgical operations, provided they 
could obtain permission to that effect from the king’s surgeon at the 
Chatelet. The surgeon-barbers were not members of the university, 
which would not even grant them the title of pupils. In truth, they 
were very ignorant, all their art consisting in setting broken bones, in 
bleeding, in cupping, and in shaving. In addition to this, they some- 8 
times kept warm baths, for the accommodation of invalids and the 
public generally. They were often at open warfare with the regular 
physicians, who reproached them with selling medicines and recipes 
not approved of by the faculty. 
As early as 1272, several surgeons, headed by Pitard, had, as we 
have already hinted, separated from the faculty, in order to institute 
a college, which though distinct from, yet remained under the juris- 
diction of the faculty- The members of this college being considered 
as lay members, (those of the university were still regarded as cleri- 
cal,) had permission to marry, enjoyed all the privileges possessed 
by the masters in surgery, and wore the same costume. Soon after, 
Lanfranc joined this college and became one of its most distinguish- 
ed members. The college was placed under the patronage of the St. 
Come and St. Damiens- From their costume the members were de- 
nominated surgeons of the long robe, in order to distinguish them 
from another set of surgeons, who were called chirurgiens de robe 
courte, and were formed into a community under the direction of the 
head barber of the king, J. Pracontal, They were obliged to study 
medicine for two years, and to submit to strict examinations. Ac- 
cording to Pasquier, (Pech. de la France, ch. 30, p. 817,) the con- 
federation of surgeons was only instituted by an edict of Philip the 
Fair, in 1311, but there are not wanting some writers who prefer to 
this’opinion, that of the author of the Index Funerius Chirurg, Pari- 
siensium, who refers this establishment to St. Louis. Be this how- 
ever as it may, the college of surgeons, from the order given by Phi- 
lip, which enjoined on all the surgeons of France to present them- 
selves for examination before it, and assimilated its members to those 
of the faculty, as well as in consequence of the practical success of 
its members, and the suffrages it obtained from the academy, had to 
sustain a war with the faculty. In this dispute the latter obtained 
some advantages over the college, and exacted a sworn promise from 
the bachelors, before giving them a license, that they would never 
practice surgery; yet the members of the college became more elevat- 
ed in repute and standing than the barbers and stuvists, who, by an 
act of parliament dated 1425, were prohibited from performing ope- 
rations. The faculty, however, who had obtained an edict from King 
John the Good, in 1352, prohibiting all who had not procured a license, 
such as apothecaries, students, and mendicant friars, from practising 
the healing art, took the defence of the barbers, from a spirit of re- 
venge against the college, and taught them the practice of surgery. 
Complaints were made in 1491 and 2, but to little effect; for the fa- 
culty continued, as heretofore, to deliver lectures on anatomy for the 9 
benefit of the barbers. The surgeons on their part reiterated their 
complaints, and obtained that the public dissections should be en- 
trusted to them, and that each among them who would pay an an- 
nual sum of thirteen sous to the faculty, should be entitled to a pre- 
eminence over the barbers. But all their complaints were left un- 
noticed, and in 1505, the faculty still nourishing their inveterate 
hatred of the surgeons, declared the barbers children of the faculty. 
They were enregistered as such, engaged themselves on oath not to 
make use of internal remedies without calling in a member of the 
faculty, and submitted to examinations before obtaining the degrees 
of master. They were now no longer designated by the term Barbi- 
tonsores, but by the less dishonourable one, given them by the facul- 
ty, of Chirurgici a tonstrina, or of tonsores chirurgici. 
In 1515, the college, while under the presidency of E. Barat, 
applied directly to the university, and obtained the abrogation of 
most of the privileges possessed over its members by the faculty of 
medicine, and an edict of the university immediately followed, by 
which the surgeons of Paris were declared members of the faculty. 
About the same time, William Yavasseur, first surgeon to Francis 
I. obtained the separation of the corporation of surgeons from that of 
the barbers, and also a decree by which every master in surgery was 
enjoined to present certificates of his knowledge in Latin and of his 
skill in the science of dialectics before he could obtain a license to 
practice. By these measures the college of surgei’y was raised to an 
equal rank with the learned schools. It finally obtained permission to 
confer degrees of master, bachelor, licenciate, and doctor in surgery, 
and obtained from Henry 11. prerogatives equal to those enjoyed 
by the faculty. In 1557 the decree of 1515 was, however, annulled 
through the. efforts of J. Duhamel, dean of the faculty, and the sur- 
geons were once more forced to submit to the examinations of the latter. 
In 1577 the college again obtained a confirmation of their privileges 
and of the right of conferring academical honours. Two years af- 
ter, the faculty endeavoured to divest the college of the independence 
thus granted to it; but failed, in consequence of the former receiving 
from Pope Gregory XIII. an indulto similar to that sent to the univer- 
sity. The college now prospered so rapidly, that in 1506 it felt pow- 
erful enough to compel the barbers to call in a regular surgeon for 
advice in all severe cases. All these privileges were confirmed in 
1602 by Henry IV. and in 1614 by Louis XIII. 
The eighteenth century is really remarkable for the number of 
brilliant discoveries and improvements that were made in surgery. 
The number of men of genius and talent who flourished in France 10 
during that period is almost inconceivable, and it is no small praise 
to say, that it was at this time the weight of authority in matters 
of science gave way to that of reason and experience. 
In the latter half of the century to which we here refer, two indi- 
viduals equally distinguished by their talents and the rank they oc- 
cupied in the profession, Bienaise and Roberdeau conceived the 
praiseworthy design of promoting the cause of the surgical science. 
They established and maintained, at their own expense, in the schools 
of surgery, which, from a variety of causes were in great measure 
deserted, several chairs for the demonstrations of various branches. 
While this amelioration was effected in the regular surgical schools, 
Louis XIY. reorganized, by a declaration dated December, 1671, the 
royal school of surgery of the garden of plants, of which we shall 
speak by and by, and very wisely ordered that henceforward the 
teaching of that branch, which had been claimed as a privilege by the 
doctors of the faculties of Paris and Montpellier, should be entrusted 
to a surgeon. Dionis was appointed to the chair of anatomy and 
operative surgery,* and gave eclat by his skill and reputation to the 
establishment. 
At the solicitation of Mareschal and Lapevronie, the king, by 
letters patent of the month of September, 1724, ordered the estab- 
lishment in the college of St. Come of five chairs, the incumbents 
of which were charged with teaching all the branches of anatomy 
and surgery. To these chairs Lapeyronie added a sixth, which lie 
himself endowed, and the professor of which was called upon to de- 
liver two courses on midwifery; one for surgeons, and the other for 
midwives. At his instigation also a number of adjuncts equal to 
that of the demonstrators were appointed, the expenses of whom he 
offered, in the most liberal manner, to defray himself. The faculty 
did not limit itself at this time to protesting against the independence 
of the college, but even attempted to overcome it by force. We find in 
Quesnay a ludicrous account of the assault which was made by the 
doctors of the faculty, aided by their pupils, and headed by the 
dean; the doctors being all dressed in their robes and caps, the dean 
decorated with all the insignia of his high office, and a professor 
carrying a skeleton! When they reached the door of the anatomical 
room of the college, an officer or beadle struck with force against it, 
and cried out iivoici vos seigneurs et maitres de la faculte qui 
vdennent reclamer le droit de vous instruire:—here are your lords and 
masters of the faculty who are come to claim the right of instructing 
* Journal Hebdomadaire, Yol. 8, p. 307. 11 
you.” They are come, adds the witty author, to seize upon the 
amphitheatre which you could build only for them, they carry to you 
all the knowledge contained in their books. But from this attack 
no other results were obtained, than exciting the laughter and hisses 
of the populace, who serenaded in this manner the infuriated pro- 
fessors all the way back to their homes. 
In 1743, (23d of April,) the king, by a declaration drawn up by 
Daguessau, and which is in every way worthy of that celebrated 
man, ordered that the society of surgeons should be finally cleared 
of the community of barbers, by an alliance with which it had been 
so long disgraced. Academical degrees were instituted among the 
surgeons, the pupils were required, before being allowed to graduate, 
to present testimonials of having received a liberal education, and to 
undergo several strict examinations in the different parts of that 
branch. Shortly after, by an arreteof the council dated the 4th of July, 
1750, the Ecole Pratique de Chirmgie was established. This school, 
which was intended, as its name imports, for the instruction of pupils 
at the bed-side of the sick, was remodelled in March, 1760, and af- 
terwards established in a small and special hospital, known under 
the name of Hospice de Perfectionement, and which was founded by 
an edict of the king, dated December, 1776. It was in this school 
that Desault commenced his career as a clinical professor, and 
that Chopart taught with such distinguished success. 
But to return from this long digression to which we have been led 
by the circumstance, that the college of surgery at Paris, formed ul- 
timately a distinct school, independent of the university, and as 
such merited more than a passing notice. Following at an early pe- 
riod the example set them at Montpellier, by Guv de Chauliac, 
who had already published a treatise on surgery, Lanfranc, (a na- 
tive of Milan, but long settled in Paris,) Ambrose Pare, Ma- 
rescot, Charpentier, Fagault, Gourmelin, not to speak of other 
individuals of less celebrity, published many valuable works,—the 
two last, treatises on this branch. After these came Lapeyronie, 
J. L. Petit, Morand, Ledran, Garengeot, La Faye, Yerdier, 
Fibrac, Kevin, Fabre, LeCat, Fouhert, Bordenave, Sabatier, 
Puzos, Housted, and Louis, all of whom were members of that ce- 
lebrated academy of surgery, of which Paris has so much cause to 
be proud, and which was formed about this time. 
Paris may also be cited for the success with which midwifery and its 
accessory branches were cultivated by some of the disciples of the 
school, and other individuals not connected with the latter, but re- 
siding and practising in that city. At first abandoned there, as in every other part of the world to ignorant hands, this branch began 
about the sixteenth century, to be cultivated by well-informed 
surgeons. Without stopping to enumerate several early essays on 
this subject, published by authors long since forgotten, it will be suf- 
ficient for our present purpose to mention as deserving a high commen- 
dation—viewing the period at which they were written—a treatise by 
Guillemeau, “Be la grossesse et Accouchement desfemmes, du Gou- 
vernement dHcelles, et moyens de subvenir aux accidents qui leur ar- 
riventf* as well as a dissertation on impotency added to that work, 
by Charles Guillemeau, the son of the preceding author, and who 
for a time was dean of the medical faculty. At a subsequent period, 
the writings of Mauriceau, Puzos, Yiardel, De Lamotte, Lev- 
ret, and particularly of Petit and BAUDELocquE, attest sufficiently 
the early period at which midwifery began to be properly cultivated 
at Paris, and the improvements made in the philosophy of that 
branch, previous to the revolution, by the faculty and practitioners 
of that city. Let it not be forgotten, moreover, that about the mid- 
dle of the seventeenth century the instruction of midwives was be- 
gun, at their own request, and became the source of an establishment 
which has proved of the highest utility to the city and provinces. 
Pathological anatomy was later in being studied with success at 
Paris than the preceding branches; for, with the exception of Bail- 
lou, Ambrose Pare, Fernel and Pineau, and notwithstanding the 
example set them by Eustachius and Morgagni in Italy, Bonetus 
in Switzerland, Dodoneus, Donates and Kentman in Germany, no 
writer had there published any thing of much value on that important 
subject, until the time of Littre, Duverney, Dionis, and L. Pe- 
tit. Soon after, however, Lieutaud, YicqD’Azyr, and some others, 
published works of considerable interest on that branch, and were the 
honourable predecessors of Portal, Bichat, Bayle, Laennec, &c. 
Belon, a physician of Paris, actuated by an unusual degree of 
zeal in the prosecution of botanical knowledge, undertook long and 
perilous voyages, with a view of enriching this department of science. 
He was protected by Fernel, who at that period enjoyed a great and 
merited favour, and was aided by the liberalities of Henry 111. In- 
dependently of Belon; BaRRELIER, FaGON, ToiIRNEFORT, JUSSIEU, 
Yaillant, and other distinguished naturalists ot Paris, procured in 
the four quarters of the world, innumerable specimens of natural 
history, and enriched the catalogue of the materia medica by the ad- 
dition of many articles of more or less value. The establishment of 
the royal garden of plants by La Brosse and Fagon, which was effect- 
ed in the reigns of Louis XIII. and XIY., contributed in promoting the progress of botanical knowledge and of the materia medica; since 
by its means all the treasures of the known world were collected 
in a small space; while learned professors, appointed with the ap- 
proval and at the recommendation of the faculty of medicine, studied 
and explained to a numerous class, the uses and properties of the 
various objects which that garden contained. 
Astrology early met with a decided opposition on the part of the 
faculty of medicine of Paris. The “ Dispensatorium Galinico-Chy- 
micum,” of Renodeus, a work more commendable for the erudition 
it displays, than for the judgment and taste with which it was com- 
posed, is sufficient to indicate that at an early period pharmacy and 
materia medica had attracted the attention of Parisian physicians. 
Ipecacuanha was, as is well known, introduced in Paris as a thera- 
peutical agent, by a pupil of the school of that city, Helvetius, and it 
was extended thence in 1686, to every part of Europe. Peruvian bark 
was used in the case of Louis XII. and soon after employed with success 
by many physicians and professors of Paris. The works of J. A. Hel- 
vetius, the son of the preceding physician of that name, and of 
Monginot, show the success with which this medicine was there 
employed and compounded. As regards mineral articles, it is known 
that the physicians of the Parisian school employed them with as much 
success as those of any other, and prepared them as well as the 
state of pharmaceutic chemistry would allow. The different prepara- 
tions of antimony and mercui’y, met at their hands a cordial recep- 
tion. The reverse of this is not to be argued from the fact, that the 
faculty of the University procured in the year 1566, a decree of par- 
liament against the former of these articles—that Bernier, one of 
its members, was expelled from this school in 1609, for continuing to 
resort to it in his practice, and that a few years anterior to this, the 
celebrated Theodore Turquet of Mayerne, was persecuted for a si- 
milar offence. For such a prohibition was founded on the abuse made of 
this remedy, and on the improper manner in which it was prepared and 
administered; and it is well known that many physicians of emi- 
nence continued, to use it, and to take openly and fearlessly its de- 
fence, Be this as it may, at a later epoch many treatises on the ma- 
teria medica were published, the most esteemed of which about the 
opening of the revolution, were those of Lieutaud, and Des Bois 
He Rochefort. 
In pathology and the treatment of disease, much had been written, 
but little of decided advantage had been effected by the professors 
of the medical school, and by the physicians of Paris, up to the mo- 
ment of the reorganization of the faculty and school; yet the writings 14 
on those subjects of Lieutaud, Bosquillon, Quesnay, Des Bois de 
Rochefort, Raulin, Portal, Lorry, &c. not to mention those of the 
older physicians we have already noticed, must, considering the 
state of science at the period at which they were composed, be re- 
garded as productions of uncommon merit. 
Clinical medicine was not taught at Paris until a short period prior 
to the revolution; the merit of first setting the example in France of 
delivering regular lectures on this branch, being indubitably due to 
Des Bois de Rochefort, chief physician of the hospital of La Charite, 
where he was succeeded in 1788, by the celebrated Corvisart. 
It is proper to remark, however, that although, as we have just 
stated, the necessity of teaching medicine at the bed-side of the 
sick, was not felt in France until the time of Des Bois de Roche- 
fort, the surgeons who flourished in the preceding age, although unau- 
thorized, or rather uncommissioned to that effect, had been in the 
habit of bringing along with them at their visits, or to their operations 
in the hospital, their private pupils, their friends, and strangers, 
whom the anatomical lectures of Duverney, Littre, Mery, and 
Winslow, attracted at Paris, Such was particularly the case with 
Saviard at the Hotel Dieu; with Mareschal and the lithotoraist 
Tolet at the Charite, and with Mauriceau in the lying-in wards 
of the former of these hospitals. * 
Whilst such were the advances made in the different branches of 
medical science by the members of the faculty and the physicians of 
Paris, chemistry remained in arrears, not so much in consequence of 
the indifference in which it was held by the faculty, as owing to the 
state of knowledge at the time, and to the prejudices existing against 
this branch. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, knowledge 
had advanced sufficiently to open the eyes of the public respecting 
the fallacy and absurdity of judiciary astrology and magic, a belief in 
which prevailed to a considerable extent in the preceding century; 
hence we find that the faculty of medicine opposed them with vi- 
gour. But there yet remained much to accomplish, for the purpose of 
enlightening the minds of the multitude to such a degree as to enable 
all to perceive the exact relation existing between different branches 
of inquiry. This was well exemplified by the single fact, that for a 
long time it was found impossible to persuade the generality of the 
people that there existed a vast difference between magic and che- 
mlstry, owing to the circumstance that by the latter, results that ap- 
peared to many extraordinary and even supernatural, were obtained. 
* Dezeimeris. 15 
From this strange prejudice arose the prohibition made by all the tri- 
bunals of Paris, of selecting chemical subjects as the theme of the 
dissertations of the graduates, and of delivering lectures, either 
public or private, on this science. This dislike to chemistry was much 
seconded by the esteem in which the Aristotelian philosophy continu- 
ed to be held, as well as by the prejudices then prevailing against the 
principles of Descartes. Add to this, that the alchymistshad greatly 
contributed to alienate the minds of many, perhaps involuntarily, 
against chemistry, by the obscurity in which they had affected to veil 
their art, and by the interested motives which almost invariably 
guided them in their public and private conduct. 
With the progress of knowledge, however, such prejudices gradu- 
ally disappeared, the prohibition against prosecuting the study and 
teaching of chemistry was withdrawn, and the faculty undertook its 
defence with zeal, neglecting no opportunity calculated to extend a 
knowledge of its principles and of its applications. It is strange that 
even at this period, the most violent opponents of chemistry, 
should have enumerated among their partisans, men of learning 
and talent, such as Guercetan, Angelus, Sala Delannay, 
and P Paulmier. Such were the men the faculty thought it 
necessary to combat, being, as they were, more capable of producing 
an impression on the public mind, and of giving an unfavourable opi- 
nion of chemistry. The opposition of the faculty had not been di- 
rected to chemistry, and particularly to medical chemistry, but to 
the fatal application that was made of it during the whole of the six- 
teenth century, and a considerable portion of the seventeenth, by the 
alchymists, who imagining that every thing took place in the human 
body, exactly as they found them to occur in their crucibles, ex- 
perimented accordingly, very much to the detriment of their patients. 
The medical faculty of Montpellier, situated as it was nearer than 
that of Paris to the Arabs of Spain, applied itself early to the study 
of medical chemistry, and contributed greatly to the diffusion, all 
over the kingdom, of a knowledge in this science. In that city there 
arose several chemists of great distinction, of whom we shall only 
mention Yenel and the two DesMaltes, because in their laborato- 
ries was trained Lemery, who had before commenced the study of 
chemistry under Grazer, at the garden of plants of Paris, and who 
having subsequently returned thither, taught that science with such 
success, that forty Scotchmen are said to have come all the way from 
their country to attend his lectures. Lemery published a work on 
antimony and an elementary treatise on chemistry, a universal phar- 
macopoeia, and a dictionary of simple drugs, from which it will be 16 
easy to form an idea of the extent to which he contributed in clearing 
Chemistry of the obscurity in which it had heretofore remained enve- 
loped. Louis Lehery, the son of the preceding, studied chemistry 
under his father, became a member of the faculty, and was regarded 
at one time as one of the greatest chemists of the age. Towards the 
middle of the seventeenth century, chemistry began to form a part 
of the course of instruction afforded in the amphitheatre of the garden 
of plants by professors designated for that purpose by the faculty, 
and appointed by the king. In the performance of this honourable 
duty, St. Yon, Geoffroy, Lemery, Bourdelin, and Macquer 
succeeded to each other. These names indicate in a convincing man- 
ner the progress which chemistry had made in Paris. About the same 
time the faculty recommended strongly the study of this science and 
established annual courses of pharmacy, which were continued for a 
long time, and were numerously attended.* We need not continue 
this historical sketch of the progress of chemistry at Paris down to 
the period of the revolution, as the names and labours of Lavoisier, 
Guyton Morveau, Berthollet, Fourcroy, Chaptal, &c. are suf- 
ficiently known and appreciated. 
From the preceding account of the old medical school of Paris and 
the brief recapitulation we have ottered of the individuals among 
its professors or alumni, who rendered themselves conspicuous 
in the various departments of the medical science, we are led to 
the conclusion, that the present school of that city need not be asham- 
ed of its parent. Perhaps, indeed if we take into consideration the 
state of science, and compare the men who flourished at both pe- 
riods, we might be tempted to think that the old school would, if it 
came once more upon the stage of the world, entertain a very differ- 
ent feeling towards her offspring, such at least as it was but a short 
time ago. But we must not anticipate here what we have to say on the 
subject of the present school. In the next number we shall com- 
plete our historical notice of this establishment, and offer a brief 
sketch of the plan of instruction adopted in it at the present time. 
* See Hazou, Notice des horames les plus celebres de la faculty de medeclne 
de Paris, p. 92, &c. MEDICAL EDUCATION AND INSTITUTIONS. 
No. 11. 
Jin Account of the Origin, Progress, and Present State of the 
Medical School of Paris. 
[Extracted from the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, for August, 1831.] 
IN the last number of this Journal we presented to our readers a 
sketch of the rise and progress of the Medical School of Paris, and 
attempted to show by an enumeration of those individuals attached 
to that institution who had distinguished themselves as teachers and 
writers in the various departments of the science, that the old 
school of that city was in every way entitled to the high renown it 
had enjoyed throughout Europe to the period of the dissolution of 
the faculty, which took place soon after the commencement of the 
first revolution. We announced at the same time our intention of 
completing in this number our notice of the history of the establish- 
ment in question, and of offering an outline of its present organiza- 
tion. It is with the view to redeem this pledge that we lay before our 
readers the following pages, which will be found by them to form, in 
some measure, the continuation of those that have already appeared 
on the subject. 
In conjunction with the medical school of Montpellier, that of 
Paris held for a long time the first rank among the medical institu- 
tions of France: for during the period that intervened between the 
foundation of these two schools and the end of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, several other faculties had been established in various parts of 
the kingdom. Each of these faculties constituted a branch of an 
university, which by virtue of powers granted to it by the kings, by 
parliaments, but more frequently in former days by the popes, pos- 
sessed to a certain extent the right of framing its own laws and sta- 
tutes. At the moment of the revolution, or before the decree which 
ordered the dissolution of all the schools, there existed in France 
eighteen of those faculties which alone had the power of conferring 
the honours of the medical doctorate. Of these faculties nine only 
were in activity or enjoyed more or less reputation. The others pos- 
sessed merely the name of faculties, and were hardly ever, if at all, 
frequented by students. The former faculties, independently of 
those of Paris and Montpellier, were located at Toulouse, 
Perpignan, Caen, Rheims, Strasburgh, and Nancy. The plan of in- struction, the mode of reception, and the prerequisites for graduation, 
varied in these different faculties, and were fixed by their respective 
regulations. In all, however, the candidate was obliged to submit 
to examinations more or less strict, to furnish certificates of his having 
studied three or four years, and of having already obtained the de- 
gree of master of arts in one of the universities of the kingdom. 
During the period which was devoted to receptions, and which va- 
ried in the different faculties from six months to two years, the 
candidate was obliged to undergo four or five examinations of several 
hours duration each, and to present and defend several theses. The 
expenses of the examinations and theses varied from four to five 
hundred francs in the provinces, and amounted to more than six 
thousand at Paris. Besides these sums which were incurred at the 
period of the license, the pupils paid annual inscriptions during the 
time of their studies; the price of these varied in the different schools, 
but did not exceed one hundred to one hundred and fifty francs for 
the three or four years which preceded the period of examinations. 
Besides these faculties, there were several colleges and communities 
of surgeons, and fifteen colleges of medicine situated at Amiens, An- 
gers, Bordeaux, Chalons, Clermont, Dijon, Lille, Lyons, Moulins, Or- 
leans, Rennes, Laßochelle, Tours, and Troyes. The former were des- 
tined to furnish licenses to surgeons, while the latter were merely in- 
corporate bodies, possessing neither the right to teach medicine nor 
to confer degrees, but in which physicians, after graduating in one 
of the nine faculties we have named, were obliged to enter before 
obtaining a license to practice in the cities in which these colleges 
were situated, or in the provinces of which those cities were the 
capitals. 
M. Beullac, from whose u Code des Medicins” we have borrowed 
much of the Information contained in the preceding pages respecting 
the old faculties of France, presents a sad picture of the irregularities 
and abuses which, in the progress of time, had crept into the mode of 
graduation. He remarks that every intelligent individual had point- 
ed them out to the public, during more than thirty years. Among 
these irregularities he cites in a particular manner the two kinds of 
receptions of doctors intra-muros, extra-muros, and of ibiquiststhe 
denominations of bachelors, licentiates, aggreges, regent, and non- 
regent doctors, as well as the various prerogatives attached to these 
different degrees or varieties of grades. 
“ The internal regime of the medical faculties, which formerly were linked 
to the clerical order, was not free, in 1790 and 1792, of the character of mo- 
nachism which had so long distinguished them. Under the pretext of enforc- 8 
mg" corporate discipline, (discipline de corps,) the members were called to ac- 
count and even persecuted for their medical opinions, as well as for their pri- 
vate conduct. From this regime there resulted no doubt some advantages, 
but it often happened that passions and jealousies concealed themselves under 
the mask of the order and dignity of the medical profession, with a view to 
torment those who distinguished themselves above their colleagues by originality 
of views and brilliant success. Every one recollects the disputes occasioned 
by antimony and inoculation, by the fact of academies of medicine separating 
themselves from the faculties, by the physicians of the court, and by surgeons 
practising medicine. A magistral pedantry, was often united with brilliant 
talents, and infused into them a degree of ridicule which tended to retard the 
progress of the art. Besides, if the two faculties of Paris and Montpellier had 
preserved some severity and dignity in the examinations as well as in the mode 
of reception, the majority of the others had become so lenient towards candi- 
dates, that the title of doctor was sometimes conferred on absentees, and di- 
plomas were occasionally forwarded by mail.” 
Nor were these abuses and irregularities to be met with only in the 
medical faculties of the kingdom: they had crept into the various 
colleges of surgeons, the mode of reception of which presented even 
greater abuses, and was more arbitrary and less strict than that of 
the former. The only exception to this was to be found at Paris and 
in two or three large cities, where examinations were conducted with 
due attention, and whence issued young surgeons of great merit, and 
well-informed in the various branches of their profession. A different 
result could hai’dly be expected in the provincial surgical schools, 
considering the number of communities that had been formed, and 
the privilege they had all obtained of conferring licenses. From this 
there naturally arose a rivalship between them—a desire on the part 
of the professors to obtain auditors and to see their names attached 
to diplomas, which occasioned them to be lenient towards the candi- 
date, and to teach at lower prices than was done in the other col- 
leges, with a view to induce young men to give them the preference. 
These circumstances could not help throwing discredit at some 
period or other on these schools, and promoting a gradual extension 
of the irregularities we have noticed. It is a great error to suppose that 
cheap schools are beneficial to the progress of medical education, or that 
by selling instruction cheaper than its neighbour, a college gains, or 
preserves if it has ever gained, any reputation. Sooner or later other 
schools, in order to maintain their ground, think themselves compelled 
to reduce their prices; gradually, with a view to allure students, either 
to swell the class, and thus obtain pecuniary profit, or to diffuse their 
renown, examinations become less strict, and degrees are conferred 
cm undeserving candidates;—to say nothing of the fact, that cheapness 4 
attracts to a school many persons, who, from their rank in society, 
should never be allowed to study, and still less to practise, a profes- 
sion so honourable as that of medicine. Is it to be supposed that all 
this can occur without attracting the notice of the intelligent mem- 
bers of the community and even of the pupils themselves, and that 
the degree obtained in such schools will be as highly valued as those 
conferred in other schools, where abuses of the kind are not met 
with ? Many facts might here be cited to show that such is seldom 
the case, and that the more expensive schools are generally the best 
and are held in the greatest esteem. The very circumstance, that 
notwithstanding the high price of medical and surgical instruction at 
Paris and Montpellier, where examinations were conducted with se- 
verity and dignity, the schools of these cities retained always a pre- 
eminence over the cheaper ones of the provinces, is a sufficient 
proof of the correctness of the views we have here thrown out on 
this subject. 
A few years after the commencement of the revolution, on the 18th 
of August, 1792, a decree was published and immediately enforced, 
by which all the universities, faculties, and scientific bodies of the 
country were suppressed. The ostensible reason of this extraordi- 
nary act was, that the system of instruction hitherto in operation was 
no longer in harmony with the new order of things. From this pe- 
riod, and for some time after, there was no regular reception of 
either physicians or surgeons, and the most complete anarchy in all 
branches of the profession, succeeded to the organization heretofore 
existing. Patents were required, but they were obtained with equal 
facility by the ignorant as by those who were qualified. In this con- 
fusion, the former were as successful as, sometimes even more suc- 
cessful than, the latter, in obtaining practice, and the regular educat- 
ed physician who had obtained his degree by dint of hard study in 
the old faculties was placed on exactly the same footing with the 
empiric and vile pretender who had not studied at all. It is a 
fortunate thing for humanity, as well as for the progress of me- 
dical science and the dignity of the profession, that the neces- 
sity of procuring well-informed medical officers for the army to sup- 
ply the place of a number who had died while on service, was felt by 
the National Convention. In consequence of this it Mras determined to 
establish schools for the instruction of these medical officers, and the 
celebrated Fourcroy was directed to present a report on the most 
appropriate plan to be adopted in the establishment of these schools. 
Already a decree had been issued, directing the formation of three 
orders of schools, and thus supplying in some measure the deficiency 5 
in establishments for public education, which was sensibly felt 
throughout the country. These schools were denominated primary, 
central, and special. In the latter of these medicine was to be taught 
together with many other branches, as astronomy, geometry and ma- 
thematics, natural history, the veterinary art, economy, antiquities, 
political science, painting, sculpture, architecture and music. This 
plan does not appear to have been tried a long time, if it was at all 
carried into execution.* 
After hearing the report of Fourcroy, the convention decreed the 
law of the 14th Frimaire, an. in. (4th December, 1794,) by which the 
formation of three schools was ordered at Paris, Montpellier, and Stras- 
burgh, for the reception of officers of health, intended for the service of 
hospitals generally, though particularly of military and naval ones. 
The plan of medical and surgical instruction proposed by this decree was 
complete. The instruction of the theoretical and practical branches 
was entrusted to eight professors at Montpellier, sixatStrasburgh, and 
twelve at Paris. To each of the chairs was to be attached an adjunct 
in order to ensure regularity in the lectures. The professors were to 
be named by the committee of public instruction, on the presenta- 
tion of the commission. From each district of France a citizen from 
seventeen to twenty-six years of age was to be selected from among 
those not comprised in the first requisition. Three hundred of these 
citizens were to be sent to the school of Paris, one hundred and fifty 
to that of Montpellier, and one hundred to that of Strasburgh. The 
committee of public instruction were to determine those of the pu- 
pils who were to be sent to one or the other of the schools, and the 
choice of these conscripts was left with two medical officers in each 
district. The travelling expenses of the pupils from their homes to 
the school was defrayed by government. During three years they re- 
ceived a fixed pay. They were divided into three classes, and re- 
ceived the different grades of instruction conformably to the pro- 
* As regards the date of this decree, some uncertainty exists in our minds. 
All we know respecting It is derived from Dr. Johnston’s work on Education in 
France, as it is not found in any of the manuals or codes in our possession. Dr. 
Johnston states it to have been published on the 2d of November, 1795. But this 
appears to be a mistake, as in December, 1794, regular medical schools were 
established, unless indeed the medicine to be taught in these special schools 
was to form only a branch of general education, as that taught now in the col- 
lege of France, and was distinct from that for which the schools of 1794 had 
been established. As, however, Dr. J- had stated the date of the plan present- 
ed by Fourcroy to be 1796 Instead of 1794, he may have made a mistake in the 
date of the other. 6 
gress they had made in a knowledge of the art; and as soon as they 
were thought qualified to practice, (at whatever period of the three 
years this might occur, and however long they might have studied,) 
in the hospitals or in the army, notice to this effect was given by the 
professors to the commission of health, and the pupils were sent to 
their respective destination. By the decree in question it was further 
directed, that such of the professors of the suppressed schools as were 
capable of serving would be reinstated in their chairs, while provi- 
sions were made for recompensing those who in consequence of age or 
infirmities could no longer continue to fulfil their functions. 
This law was undoubtedly good for the time at which it was enact- 
ed, and the plan of medical instruction it established, viewing the low 
state in whichthe science had then fallen, was in many respects enti- 
tled to considerable praise. It placed all the schools of medicine under 
the direction of one administration, thus preventing a recurrence of 
the many abuses which, as we have seen, had resulted, before the re- 
volution, from the rivalship of the different faculties, and the intro- 
duction of persons unqualified to teach. Yet it was far from meeting all 
the exigencies of the case; and was even on many points exceedingly 
defective. Thus’, it did not specify the manner in which the profes- 
sorships that would become vacant by death or otherwise, were to be 
supplied. It did not provide measures calculated to suppress empi- 
ricism and quackery, which, since the suppression of all the laws re- 
lative to receptions and to the practice of medicine, had increased to 
a prodigious extent. Neither did it provide regular medical officers 
for the country and for cities, nor even compel those who were 
destined for civil or military hospitals, to undergo an examination or 
be qualified by preparatory studies, or bind them to a fixed period of 
instruction. Hence the country continued to be infested with quacks 
of all sorts, while some young men, by dint of intrigue, or by de- 
ceiving the professors, gained admission into public establishments, 
without having had time to obtain a sufficient degree of instruction, 
and to digest the information they had acquired in the schools. With 
a view to prevent as much as possible individuals from practising 
without proper qualifications, several of the Prefects established in their 
respective departments medical juries, for the purpose of examining 
every person who wished to practise within their limits. But these 
departmental institutions, besides having the unfavourable effect of 
giving rise to a diversity of administrative measures, favoured the 
introduction of new abuses, arising from the too great facility in the 
admission of candidates, and sometimes from a much more impure 
source. So glaring indeed were these abuses, that the minister of 7 
the interior was sometimes compelled to refuse his sanction to some 
of the arretes of the Prefects relative to these kinds of receptions. 
The necessity for new laws calculated to remedy the defects of 
the existing system, and to suppress the abuses we have noticed, in 
the practice of medicine, was soon felt. Accordingly a project was pre- 
sented to the legislative body and passed into a law on the 11th 
Floreal, an. x. (Ist May, 1802.) By this law it was ordered, that 
the schools of health should receive the title of schools of medicine, 
and that all vacancies occurring in the professorial chairs of each of 
the three schools should be filled by the head of the government, 
who would choose from among two candidates, one of whom was to 
be presented by the faculty of the school in which the vacancy oc- 
curred, the other by the first class of the National Institute. This 
intervention of the institute had a double advantage; it tranquilliz- 
ed the government in respect to the intrigues of the schools, which 
would inevitably have resulted from this mode of presentation, and 
could not but prove advantageous to the schools themselves, since the 
first learned body of the country, which by its position was necessarily 
free from all jealousy and from the influence of the government, could 
not help selecting candidates suitable in all respects to the duties of 
the chair, and acceptable to the rest of the faculty. 
On the 19th of Yentose of the next year, (10th of March, 1803,) 
a decree relative to the exercise of medicine was issued. As we shall 
perhaps have occasion to allude to this decree in some future com- 
munication, when speaking of the pi’actice of the medical profession, 
in France, we must content ourselves with stating in this place, that 
it established two classes of physicians, doctors in medicine and sur- 
gery, and officers of health, (officiers de sante,) prohibited the prac- 
tice of medicine to all but them, and compelled the former to sub- 
mit, before obtaining a degree and a license to practice, to regular 
examinations at the schools, after a fixed number of years of study; 
and the latter to similar examinations before juries appointed for the 
purpose in various parts of France. 
On the 10th of May, 1806, the imperial government issued a de- 
cree, by which the establishment of an university embracing all the 
branches of public instruction, was ordered. This decree was put 
in lorce by another, dated the 17tb of March, 1808. In virtue of 
this law, the schools of medicine assumed the name offaculties, and 
retained the organization they had received by the decree of the loth 
of March, 1803, Public instruction was confided exclusively to the 
university, in which were established five orders of faculties, 1, of 
theology; 2, of law; 3, of medicine; 4, of mathematical sciences, 8 
3, of letters. No school or establishment of any kind for education 
was allowed to be formed unless connected with the university, and 
with the authorization of the chief of this institution. This chief 
was then denominated grand master. Besides him there was a coun- 
cil, a chancellor, and a treasurer. The imperial university was divid- 
ed into as many academies as there were courts of appeal, at present 
denominated royal courts, and the faculties of medicine, (at that 
time five in number, for in 1803 the law of the year preceding au- 
thorizing the establishment of additional schools had been in part put in 
force, and a school at Turin and another at Mayence had been formed,) 
were constituted as branches of the academies existing in the cities 
in which these faculties were located. This decree specified the man- 
ner in which professors should be named, the prerequisites necessary 
in order to become a candidate for the degree of doctor of medicine, 
and many other points we shall have occasion to mention in detail, 
when treating of them in future communications. 
The royal government which succeeded to the imperial, made but 
trifling alterations in the organization of the university or of the facul- 
ties of medicine, excepting, however, in the mode of supplying vacan- 
cies that occurred in the latter, and in the government of the insti- 
tution itself. 
It is not our i ntention to enter here with any degree of minuteness on 
the organization of the university, as this would lead into details quite 
incompatible with the precise object of this communication. We can- 
not omit remarking, however, that the University of France is ad- 
mitted by almost every individual conversant with its organization, 
to present a system of instruction very complete in all its parts. 
Even the English, who, as we all know, are not always ready in 
doing justice to the French or any other foreign nation, have been 
forced to admit the correctness of this opinion, and to confess that 
“ the progression followed in the distribution of the various branches 
of literature; the excellent arrangement of the inferior schools, which 
leaves little to desire on the head of elementary education; and the 
absolute necessity of completing a thorough course of philosophical 
and general study before entering the faculties, merit great and de- 
served admiration. ”* 
A word on the present government of this institution. The situa- 
tion of the chief or head of the university, who, as we have seen, was 
at first denominated grandmaster, was abolished by the king soon after 
what has been called the second restoration, (15th of August, 1815,) 
* Johnston on Education in France, p. 4. 9 
and his duty, as well as that of the council, chancellor and 
were entrusted to a commission of five members, which received the title 
of royal council of public instruction, and was placed under the autho- 
rity of the ministry of the interior. By a subsequent ordonnance,. all 
the suppressed offices were reestablished, and shortly after the powers 
of the grand master were greatly extended, and the latter was promoted 
to the dignity of minister secretary of state for the department of public 
instruction. So much for the executive of the university. As re- 
gards the legislative part, or the council, it differs greatly now from 
what it was originally. Agreeably to the imperial decree by which 
it was created, the commission consisted of titulary members who re- 
tained their situation for life, and ordinary councillors, who were oc- 
casionally changed. At first the members of this council were 
nominated by the emperor, afterwards the vacancies among the 
titulary members were filled from among the rectors and inspec- 
tors—the members being obliged to have been attached to the uni- 
versity during ten years, and to have acted five years as rector 
or inspector. , The ordinary councillors were likewise selected 
at the first formation of the university, and afterwards chosen 
by the Emperor from among the inspectors, and also from among 
the deans and professors of the faculties and the provisors of the 
lyceums. By another article of this decree it was said, “After the 
first formation of the Imperial University, the order of ranks will 
be observed in the nomination of the functionaries, and no one can 
be called upon to fill a situation, who has not filled the inferior ones.” 
By these regulations none but men well acquainted with the in- 
terests and wants of the university could be chosen a member of 
the council or of the executive, and a professor or other functionary 
could look with some certainty to a recompense for his zeal and dis- 
tinguished services, when in the progress of time he would feel de- 
sirous of retiring from the fatigues incident to the duties of his office. 
The royal government followed, however, a different course. The 
council was composed of only nine members comprising the director 
of public instruction and the secretary; and these, as well as the re- 
mainder, were nominated directly by the’government, and often se- 
lected from among individuals, who, from the want of talents and 
former services to the university, had no claims to such preferences. 
Some of them, indeed, were only distinguished by their being passive 
and obedient tools in the hands of the ministry. Were we to present 
here a portrait of the character and standing of the members of this 
council, such as it existed in 1828, our readers would be astonished 
that such men could ever have been raised to responsible and ho- 10 
nourable situations, did they not recollect at the same time that 
during the administration of M. De Yillele, M. Freycinous, and M. 
Corbiere, talents were not so strong recommendations in the eyes of 
these ministers as perfect submission to their views. It is true that the 
ordonnance of the 27th of February, 1821, stated that the members 
of the council would be selected by the king from among candidates 
presented to him by the grand master with the advice of the council, 
and chosen by the latter from among persons most recomrnendable for 
their services in public instruction. But every one knew what mean- 
ing was attached to the word recomrnendable, by the ministry in 
question. With the exception of M. Cuvier and another gentle- 
man, no member of the council was distinguished by his talents, 
and even those are not much deserving of praise for the indepen- 
dence of their political character, having both shown themselves 
ready to bow submissively to the will of the master, and lent their 
aid to the execution of certain acts which have met with almost uni- 
versal reprobation, and to the promulgation of principles to which 
the French nation have lately shown a decided opposition. 
The faculty of medicine of Paris forming, as we have seen, a part of 
the academy of that city, and as such being under the immediate 
direction of the council and of the minister of public instruction, 
could not but experience the baneful effects necessarily resulting from 
a chief such as M. Freycinous; and from a council composed of 
submissive tools. Without mentioning several more trifling exam- 
ples, of vexation which the school had to suffer on the part of the 
government, we will merely cite one act, which will serve admirably 
to show the spirit by which the latter was at the time influenced, and 
the extent to which it could carry arbitrary measures in order to 
attain its object. But our readers must first know, that at the period 
of the restoration, the professors had all been retained. They were, 
for the most part, men of first rate abilities, and had obtained their 
chairs after a public concours, or had been chosen at the organiza- 
tion of the schools, in consequence of their talents and wide-extended 
reputation. The government was well aware that bred up during 
the revolution, these professors were rather opposed to them in their 
political sentiments, and that many of them were distinguished for 
independence of character, as well as for undeviating moral integrity; 
yet they had not given open cause of offence, and without some reasona- 
ble excuse, the government felt ashamed to decide on their expulsion. 
An opportunity, however, presented itself, in the year 1822, 
for the execution of this long-contemplated project, and, as might 
have been anticipated, the government did not allow it to escape. 11 
Seizing as a pretext, a disturbance which took place at the open- 
ing of the School of Medicine, in the autumn of that year, in conse- 
quence of sentiments expressed by Professor Desgenettes, in an 
eulogium of the celebrated Halle, who had died during the recess—a 
subject he had selected for the theme of the introductory lecture to the 
course—the government, notwithstanding the opposition it experienced 
on the part of one or two members of the council, (for the latter was 
not quite so corrupt at that period as it became subsequently, and enu- 
merated among its members a man of rare talents and elevation of 
character, M. Silvestre be Sacy, who, on this occasion tendered 
his resignation,) suppressed altogether the faculty of medicine. The 
royal ordonnance, which announced this unexpected and extraordinary 
decision, bears the date of 21st of November, 1822, and commenced 
in these words, “ considering that scandalous disorders have occurred 
at the public meeting, (seance solennelle,) of the medical faculty of 
Paris, on the 18th of November, 1822, and that it is not the first 
time the pupils of that school have been excited to disturbances that 
may prove dangerous to public order,” ii we have ordered, &c.” 
Here, as it will be perceived, the ostensible cause mentioned is dis- 
turbance among the pupils, unless by the word excited, (entraine,) 
it was insinuated against we believe the true sense of the phrase, 
that the professors had instigated them to it, and for this offence 
committed by the pupils, the professors were unceremoniously ex- 
pelled from the school. What this disturbance among the pupils had to 
do with the professors'—how it could justify this rash and harsh mea- 
sure on the part of the administration, no one could guess, and the 
latter did not volunteer to explain. Since that period, several dis- 
turbances have taken place among the pupils, one in particular among 
those of the College Royal, and yet the professors were not turned out, 
a circumstance which, taken in conjunction with several subsequent 
arbitrary acts on the part of the ministry, as for example, the sup- 
pression, without sufficient provocation, of Messrs. Cousin andYix.- 
lemain’s lectures at the faculty of sciences, plainly indicate in our 
minds, that the disturbance in question served only as a pretext for 
turning out of office men who were obnoxious, and for filling the vacan- 
cies thus occasioned, by others whose political views, religious sen- 
timents and flexibility of character were more agreeable to the 
ministry. 
It was reported at the time, that the intention of the government 
was to establish the school—a plan for the organization of which the 
minister of the interior was, by the same ordonnance, directed to pre- 
sent, at St. Germain, or some other place, situated at a distance from Paris. The cause assigned for this was, that the ministry feared 
the effects of a general insurrection among a class of individuals so 
numerous as that of the pupils of the faculty of medicine, who if united 
to those of the faculties of law, science, and letters, might become 
truly formidable. Be this as it may, the students no longer finding 
any opportunities of acquiring instruction at Paris, and learning that 
the inscription fees of the first quarter were returned; moreover, 
being allowed by the grand master, upon showing certificates of good 
conduct, to resume their studies in the other schools of the kingdom, 
either primary or secondary, on the same footing as they would have 
done at Paris, they immediately left that city and repaired to Stras- 
burgh, Montpellier, &c. 
The faculty of medicine of Paris being thus suppressed, as M. 
Beullac has observed, two laws became necessary; one to supply 
the place of the decrees of the 14th Frimaire and 10th of May, rela- 
tive to the formation of the schools; and the other to supply that of 
the 19th Yentose, of the year 11, concerning the exercise of medi- 
cine. But the government did not wait for the enactment of laws, and 
assuming a power which it did not legally possess, contented itself 
with meeting the first of these exigencies by means of an ordonnance 
under date of the 2d of February, 1823. By this ordonnance a new 
school was directed to be forthwith established at Paris, on a plan 
somewhat different from that heretofore in operation. 
A commission was formed, of which MM. Laennec and Cayol were 
active members. It was very generally believed, that these gentlemen 
had the greatest share in the reorganization, or, as some have not 
unaptly called it, disorganization of the medical faculty, and, if 
some reports are founded, that they contributed powerfully by their 
manoeuvres in causing the suppression of the old school. 
By the aforementioned ordonnance, the faculty of medicine of the 
academy of Paris was constituted of twenty-three professors, and of 
thirty-six aggreges, of which we shall speak more fully hereafter. 
MM. Chaussier, De Jussieu, Desgenettes, Deyeux, Dubois, 
Lallemand, Leroux, (ex-dean,) Moreau de la Sarthe, Pelletan, 
pere, Pixel, and Vauquelin—all of whom were of the old faculty— 
were appointed honorary professors;■—while the teachers who retained 
their chairs, or were lately appointed, were MM. Alibert, Beclard, 
Bertin, Bougon, Boyer, Cayol, Clarion, Deneux, Desormeaux, 
Dumeril, Dupuytren, Fizeau, Fouquier, Guilbert, Laennec, 
Landre-Beauvais, (Dean,) Marjolin, Orfila, Pelletan, fils, 
Recamxer, Rxcherand, Roux, Royer Collard. The chairs were 
directed to be sixteen in number, divided as follows:— 1. Anatomie Bedard. 
2. Physiologic Dumeril. 
3. Chimie Medicale Orfila. 
4. Physique Medicale .... Pdletan, fils. 
5. Histoire Naturelle Medicale - Clarion. 
6. Pharmacologic ----- Guilbert. 
7. Hygieine Bertin. 
8. Pathologie Chirurgicale - - - - 
Roux. 
Marjolin. 
9. Pathol. Medicale ----- 
' Fizeau. 
[ Fouquier. 
10. Operations & Appareils - Richerand. 
11. Therapeutique & Mat. Medica - - Alibert. 
12. Medecine Legale ----- Royer Collard. 
13. Accouchemens, malad. des femmes en couche 
et des enfans nouveau nes. - - Desormeaux. 
Landre-Beauvais. 
Recamier. 
Laennec. 
.Cayol. 
14. Clinique Medicale - 
15. Clinique Chirurgicale - 
Dupujtren. 
Boyer. 
Bougon. 
16. Clinique des Accouchemens - Deneux. 
To the medical clinic was attached, as this shows, four professors, 
to the surgical clinic three professors, while that of accouchemens 
was entrusted to one professor only. 
For several years after this period, no change of any importance 
was made in the school. In 1825-6 the ministry consulted the 
chambers relatively to the propriety of effecting a reorganization of 
the schools of medicine generally, and to the most appropriate plan 
to be adopted. A report to that effect was presented by Count 
Chaptal, but nothing was done. In 1828, the faculties and academies 
were consulted, and the physicians held a meeting, although not 
asked to do so, and recommendations were made—but all to no ef- 
fect, for no change in the organization of the schools was effected, 
with the exception that M. Dubois was reinstated in his chair of 
surgical clinic, on the first of May, 1829. Some new appointments 
were made, t© fill vacancies occasioned by the death or resignation 
of several professors; M. Cuuveillier was called to the chair of 
anatomy, in the place of Bedard j M« Adelon succeeded to Royer- 14 
Collard in that of medical jurisprudence? M. Andral to Bertin, as 
professor of hygieine, and M. Chomel supplied the vacancy occa- 
sioned in the chair of clinical medicine by the death of Laennec. 
The ministry Yillele, and with it the grand master of public in- 
struction having fallen, and the successor of the latter having shown 
evidence of a better spirit, no further reform, no violent measures 
were anticipated, though the friends of the school and of the univer- 
sity generally, perceived with regret that the council was still com- 
posed of nearly the same members as under M. Freycinous. 
The present communication has already been extended so much 
beyond our original intention, that we are compelled to postpone to 
a future opportunity, the account we proposed to offer here of the plan 
ofmedicaljinstruction pursued in the school of Paris, and of the mode of 
electing professors. We must be allowed, however, to hazard a fewge- 
neral remarks on the subject of the University of France, and of the re- 
organization of the school of medicine, of which we have spoken. The 
plan adopted in France of placing the whole corps enseignant under 
a single administration, is we believe entitled to much commendation, 
inasmuch as it affords an opportunity of putting a complete barrier 
to the intrusion of unqualified pretenders to the duties of teachers, 
and of enforcing the adoption, in each of these establishments, of a 
plan of instruction, found by men capable of deciding on matters of 
the kind, and who have devoted their attention in a particular man- 
ner to this important subject, most appropriated to each class of so- 
ciety and to each profession. In no department of public instruction 
could such a system prove of more decided advantage than in medicine, 
since all the schools are thereby placed on the same footing—the plan of 
instruction, the qualifications for graduation, as well as all charges in 
them are fixed by competent judges, and cannot be deviated from 
in any way, except with the consent of the constituted authorities—. 
the royal council and the minister of public instruction. By this 
means the public is assured, that the individuals to whom they en- 
trust their lives, have received a proper medical education; and the 
schools are prevented from underselling each other, and rendering their 
plan of instruction less complicated, and the facility of graduation 
much greater, with a view to attract a large class of students. It is 
not to be supposed from this, however, that we approve of every law 
that has been enacted in France—of every decree or ordonnance that 
has been issued relatively to the organization of the schools, or the 
practice of medicine in that country. So far from this, we hold that 
the admission by law of two orders ot schools-—primary and secon- 15 
dary, of two classes of physicians, doctors of medicine, and officers 
of health, the first of whom are thoroughly, while the other are only 
half educated, is open to severe censure. But even as regards these 
secondary schools, the plan of studies adopted in them is chalk- 
ed out by the same authorities as direct that adopted in the higher 
schools, while the nature and extent of the professional services 
bestowed by the officers of health are in like manher prescribed with 
as much precision as the case will admit of. Nor would we wish to 
be considered as disposed to maintain, that this system of concen- 
trating the power into the hands of a few individuals who themselves 
are placed under the immediate controul of government, is free from 
inconvenience or danger; for we are too well aware, that the views 
of a despotic government would be greatly furthered by a system of 
education which the latter would feel disposed to introduce into the 
schools of the country. Besides, the events of the last ten years, the 
suppression of the medical faculty of Paris, the clandestine introduc- 
tion of the Jesuits into the schools, &c. might be cited as unanswer- 
able arguments against the propriety of such a system. Nevertheless 
we believe that all these inconveniences do not prove that in many 
other respects the plan is not admirable, and not deserving of imita- 
tion in other countries, where, from the nature of the government, 
the inconveniences and dangers to which we have alluded could not 
be feared. We are disposed to think, for example, that advantages 
would be reaped in this country were such a plan adopted—were the 
direction of public education placed in proper hands. Is it unreasonable 
to suppose, that if each state appointed a commission whose du- 
ties would be similar, or nearly so, to those with which the minister 
and royal council of public instruction are entrusted in France, 
greater benefit would result to the cause of education in this 
country, than can be derived from the plan at present in operation. 
Were such a plan, which we believe could not interfere with a 
suitable degree of liberty, to be adopted, we would see all the char- 
latan teachers with which our country is fairly deluged—all those 
cheap schools which have nothing to recommend them, but the low 
price at which they sell their scanty instruction, and we must be al- 
lowed to say, all those petty medical schools where only a limited 
degree of professional knowledge can be obtained—we would see all 
these vanish and give way to schools established on a more extensive, 
rational, and useful plan. While entertaining these views on the 
subject, however, we are free to confess, that we would be sorry to 
see, in our own country, so complete a sway exercised by a coun- 16 
cil, commission, &c. over medical institutions, as would lead to' 
the exclusion of fair competition, and to the establishment of mono- 
poly. Let there be perfect liberty in all individuals to establish 
schools, but while you allow this, let there be competent authorities 
to decide on the qualifications of those who undertake to teach, and 
on the plan of studies that must be adopted in the institutions they 
propose to establish. But we must return from this digression tO' 
the main subject of this article—the medical school of Paris. 
It was often asked whether there was any necessity for a total re- 
organization of the faculty. Some having regard only to the state of 
the school answered in the affirmative; but by far the greater number 
in the negative. For our parts, judging from all we have been able 
to hear on the subject of the old, and all we have seen of the new 
faculty, we are induced to join in sentiments with the latter. The 
establishment of some additional chairs was doubtless required; but 
this could have been effected without unjustly turning out the eleven 
most distinguished professors of the faculty. Perhaps this unprece- 
dented measure would have been excusable, had the choice of the 
successors of these celebrated men been a happy one, and had some 
very useful professorships been established. But so far from this 
being the case, no chair of pathological anatomy was created, although 
every sound-minded physician concurred in pointing out its utility. 
Men of eminence like Broussais and Majendie were kept away, 
while other individuals of the slenderest talents, and heretofore un- 
heard of beyond the limits of a narrow circle, were honoured with a 
professorial cap and robe, and were thereby allowed to pester such 
students who had the courage to listen to their soporific nonsense. 
But were the selection of new professors good or bad—the neces- 
sity of a change indubitable or not, the hour of retribution was des- 
tined to arrive. No sooner had the revolution of July, 1830, broken 
the fetters of despotism in which France had been bound, or at least 
with which she was threatened—no sooner were the political in- 
stitutions of the country founded on liberal principles, and placed be- 
yond the arbitrary controul of the king and his ministry, than the voice 
of the profession resounded from one extremity of the kingdom to 
the other, demanding justice in the case of the faculty, and in- 
sisting on a reform in the school of medicine, and particularly a re- 
peal of the ordonnances of 1822 and 1823, which, it was satisfac- 
torily shown, were the result of an assumption of a power on the part 
of the executive that had not been allowed to it by the charter that 
of suppressing, by means of a simple ordonnance, a law of the state. 17 
for the imperial decree ordering the establishment of the university 
generally, and of the medical schools in particular, should indubita- 
bly be held in that light. 
The Duke of Broglie, who at that time acted as minister of public 
instruction, viewing the great number of petitions that were handed 
to him on the subject, and influenced no doubt by a sense of justice, 
appointed, on the 23d of August, 1830, a commission for the purpose 
of taking the matter into consideration. He charged this commission 
with making a preparatory investigation of all the questions relating 
to the organization of the faculty of medicine of Paris, and ordered 
it to report on or before the 15th of September of the same year. 
This commission consisted of the following gentlemen;— 
Baron Cuvier, member of the Royal Council of Public Instruc- 
tion, President. 
Baron Dubois, Dean of the Medical Faculty. 
MM. Dumeril, professor in the same school. 
Landre-Beauvais, do. do. 
Andral, do. do. 
Jules Clocquet, Aggrege to the Faculty. 
Husson, Physician to the Hotel Dieu, and 
Guerin, M. D. 
Within the appointed time a report, drawn up it is said by M 
Guerin, was handed in to the minister, and in conformity with the 
advice therein contained, the obnoxious ordonnances of the years 
1822 and 1823 were, by an ordonnance of Louis Philip, dated the 
sth of October, revoked; the school was placed on the same footing 
as it was prior to its reorganization; the professors who had been 
illegally expelled were reinstated; the vacancies occasioned by the 
death of some among them were ordered to be filled, as formerly, by 
a public concours; the professors who had been appointed at the re- 
organization of the school in 1823, were, of course, in their turn ex- 
pelled, but those who belonged to the old faculty, and had been re- 
tained at the period in question, together with those who had come in 
since, and had fulfilled the formalities required for admission by the 
act of organization of the school, retained their respective chairs; 
the whole establishment of aggreges was necessarily suppressed, and 
finally a new, legal, and complete reorganization of the school was 
promised. 
By this arrangement, MM. Cayol, Landre-Beauvais, Pelletan, 
Fizeau, Guilbert, Bougon, Deneu, and Clarion have ceased to hold 
chairs in the faculty, while five of the old professors who were ex- 18 
pelled in the year 1822, MM. De Jussieu, Desgenettes, Deyeux, 
Lallemand, and Leroux have been reinstated. Since that event, 
M. Recamier has resigned his professorship of clinical medicine. 
The vacancies to be filled, substracting the number of professors 
who reentered the school, from that of the individuals who retired, 
including M. Recamier, amounted to four. In consequence, four 
chairs were declared vacant; those of surgical pathology, (pathology 
externe;) 2, medical physics; 3, medical natural history; 4, phy- 
siology. These chairs have been successively filled, the first by 
M. Jules Clocquet, the second by M. Pelletan, the third by M. 
Richard, and the fourth by M. *‘ . Each of these gentlemen 
are distinguished in their respective branches, and their success in 
the several trials of the public concours has given general satisfac- 
tion. M. Pelletan, in particular is entitled to great credit; for alone 
of all the professors who lost their chairs in consequence of the repeal 
of the ordonnances of 1822 and 1823, he presented himself to the 
concours as a candidate for the chair of which he had been deprived, 
and proved by his success, that though he was indebted for his former 
elevation to an illegal and arbitrary nomination, he was fully entitled 
to it by his talents and learning. 
* We believe the chair of physiology is now filled by M. Berard, a distin- 
tinguished physician and writer of Paris. But as we have not seen an official 
announcement of his success in the medical journals of that city, we have not 
thought It right to insert his name in the text.. MEDICAL EDUCATION AND INSTITUTIONS. 
No. 111. 
Account of the Origin, Progress, and Present State of the 
Medical School of Paris. 
[Extracted from the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, for February, 1832.1 
IN our preceding communications we presented to the readers of 
this Journal an historical account of the medical school of Paris, as 
well as an outline of its present organization, and promised to offer 
in subsequent essays a sketch of the plan of instruction adopted 
there, and the mode of electing professors. It is with the view of re- 
deeming this pledge that we have undertaken the present essay. But 
before entering on the subject more particularly before us, we must 
be allowed to say a few words on the building in which the lectures 
of the School of Medicine of that city are delivered, j 
This pile was originally built for and occupied by the school of 
surgery. It was commenced in the year 1769, on the designs of the 
architect Gondouin, and completed seventeen years after. The 
school of surgery having, in consequence of the law of the 18th of 
August, 1792, been abolished, the building was left unoccupied un- 
til 1794, when it was transferred to the school of health, or medicine, 
which, as we have seen, was reorganized on the 14th Frimaire of 
that year. It is a noble edifice of stone, built in a quadrangular form 
and inclosing a large court of about sixty feet in depth and one hun- 
dred in breadth. The front of the entire building, on the street, is 
nearly two hundred feet in extent. The wings or sides of the quad- 
rangle are united to each other in front by means of a peristyle con- 
sisting of four rows of lonic columns, supporting a long covered gal- 
lery, in which is located a part of the anatomical museum of the fa- 
culty. The front of the transverse building at the bottom of the court, 
access to which is obtained by means of a passage situated in the 
centre of the colonnade and closed by an iron-grated door, is hand- 
somely ornamented with six fine Corinthian pillars, of rather large 
dimensions, and supporting a triangular pediment, on which Berruer 
has sculptured the allegory of the union of theoretical and practical 
surgery. In this transverse building, which constitutes the main por- 
tion of the edifice, is situated the large anatomical lecture room, or am- 
phitheatre. On the walls of this room, which forms the segment of a 36 
circle, and is disposed in a convenient manner, are found four medal- 
lions, containing portraits of J. Pitard, A. Pare, G. Mareschal, 
and J. de la Peyronie, all of whom, as is probably known to our 
readers, were surgeons of great celebrity. The room is moreover or- 
namented with fresco paintings by Gibelin, and with busts of La- 
martxniere and of La Peyronie, by Lemoine. Upon the wall oppo- 
site the president’s or professor’s chair, is the following inscription: 
“Ad csedes hominum prisca amphitheatra patebant; 
Ut longum discant vivere, nostra patent.” 
The room is sufficiently spacious to accommodate twelve hundred 
students. Extensive as this may appear to those unacquainted with 
the medical school of Paris, it will doubtless cease to be regarded so, 
when it is stated that the students in that city far .exceed that num- 
ber. Indeed, viewing the unprecedented size of the class, it may be 
affirmed with propriety that the room in question is too small; for 
though the students do not all attend the different lectures at the 
same time—though few of the lecturers generally attract a large au- 
dience, and though, in consequence, the benches are far from being 
always well filled, yet on some occasions the room is not only 
crowded to excess, but even a number of students are unable to gain 
admittance. In the council room, in which the faculty holds its 
meetings, and which is situated at the angle formed by the junction 
of the central building with one of the wings, there are many busts of 
the most celebrated French anatomists and surgeons. But the chief 
ornament of this room consists of the famous painting of Girodet, re- 
presenting Hippocrates in the act of rejecting the presents of the 
king of Persia. The rest of the lower floor is laid out in offices and 
lecture rooms. 
On the upper floor of the left wing, as you enter, is placed the li- 
brary of the faculty; while on the corresponding floor of the right 
wing, and in the covered gallery connecting the two side buildings, 
is located the museum. The former is composed of the books of the 
old faculty, of the Royal Society of Medicine, of the Royal Acade- 
my of Surgery, and of the old school of surgery. The collection thus 
formed was enlarged by purchases made by the faculty, from its re- 
storation in 1794 to the moment of its suppression in 1823; and since 
that period by means of funds appropriated for that purpose by the 
university. The number of volumes at present amounts to about 
thirty thousand. The collection consists of works in the Greek, La- 
tin, Arabic, French, German, English, Italian, Spanish, and Russian 
languages, principally on medicine and its accessory branches. They 37 
are well arranged and classed in the following order: Ist. Medicine 
properly so called. 2d. Surgery. 3d. Obstetrics. 4th. Natural 
Philosophy. sth. Chemistry. 6th. The different branches of na- 
tural history. Besides those on the preceding subjects, there are some 
works in the various departments of Greek, Latin, and French lite- 
rature, books of travels and many other subjects having but an indi- 
rect relation with the science of medicine. The library likewise con- 
tains numerous manuscripts of ancient physicians of celebrity, com- 
mentaries in the hand writing of the Deans of the old faculty of medi- 
cine, from 1324 to 1786, the archives of the Royal Society of Medicine, 
of the Royal Academy, and of the old school of Surgery. 
The library is opened three times a week during the hours of lec- 
tures—from 10 to 2. On these occasions, every one who wishes to 
read or consult any of the works contained there, is at liberty to ap- 
ply? but the books must be returned as soon as no longer wanted, and 
are never allowed to be taken out without special leave from the li- 
brarian. On the other days of the week, Sundays excepted, those 
only who have obtained a ticket from the librarian, are allowed to en- 
ter and make use of the books only from 11 to 1 o’clock. They 
consist of the pupils of the Ecole Pratique and of candidates who have 
passed the fourth examination. On these days the library is thinly 
occupied, but on the public days the principal hall is usually filled 
with students and others. They observe the strictest silence and be- 
have with great decorum. It is admitted that the hall in which the 
library is principally situated, though joined to several smaller rooms, 
one of which is made use of as the office of the chief librarian, is too 
small to accommodate the number of volumes already collected, to- 
gether with those left to the establishment by M. Bidault de Yil- 
liers, as well as the crowd of students who assemble there to make 
their respective researches. Hence it has been decided, within a few 
years, to appropriate for the use of the library, independently of the 
rooms it now occupies, those in which the museum is placed, as soon 
as the latter is translated into the apartments which are being pre- 
pared for it in the adjoining building. When this arrangement is ef- 
fectuated, there will be sufficient space for displaying and classing in a 
desirable manner all the books? and it is to be hoped that suitable 
funds will be appropriated by the faculty, the university, or govern- 
ment, for the purpose of enlarging the collection, and of enriching 
it by the purchase of medical works in living foreign languages— 
a department in which it is very deficient. It is to be hoped also, that 
the learned societies in France will be forced to present their publi- 
cations to this useful establishment, and that the professors of the 38 
faculty, in order to set a good example, will no longer refuse, as they 
have but too often done, to enlarge the collection with copies of their 
own works. It remains to remark, in reference to the subject before 
us, that this establishment is confided to the cafe of a chief librarian 
and of one or two assistants. The former, Dr. Macmahon, is the son 
of an Irish gentleman, but a Frenchman by birth. He speaks the 
English language very fluently, and is extremely well read in medi- 
cine. But these are not his only claims to our regard, for we could 
with difficulty point out an individual who combines in a higher de- 
gree all the qualities of the perfect gentleman. Dr. Macmahon’s 
principal assistant is Dr. Bayle, the author of several works of consi- 
derable merit. He is one of the aggreges of the faculty, and a mem- 
ber of the board of editors of the Revue Medicale. 
As regards the museum it will not be necessary to enter into many 
details, inasmuch as it is not in our power to say much in its favour. 
It occupies five rooms, one of which, situated in the covered gallery 
we have already alluded to, is very large. The preparations, which 
consist of specimens of healthy and morbid anatomy, instruments of 
surgery and natural philosophy, and objects of natural history, are 
arranged in the following order:— 
The first or large hall contains all such preparations as are neces- 
sary for illustrating the composition and structure ofthe.human body 
in every possible point of view—bones of all sizes and of all ages, 
healthy and diseased—injections of arteries, veins, and lymphatics— 
preparations of myology, splanchnology, and the nervous centres and 
cords, in health and disease—wax models of various parts of the body 
in health'—-specimens of comparative anatomy—monstrous foetuses— 
mummies, &c. In the second room is found a fine collection of sur- 
gical instruments, new and old. The third room contains a tolerably 
full collection of wax preparations, representing various pathologi- 
cal changes in the tissues and organs, and a .few of healthy parts. 
They were made by Pinson, Laumonier, Jules Cloquet, and Du- 
pont. In the same room are also found casts of the heads of the prin- 
cipal criminals executed within the precincts of the royal courts of 
Paris and Versailles; the skulls of several of these individuals are 
placed in the first room. 
The fourth room contains a rich collection of articles of the mate- 
ria medica. The number of these amounts to upwards of seven hun- 
dred, and the specimens are for the most part good. The fifth room 
contains the collection of instruments of natural philosophy used in 
the demonstrations of the professor of that branch. This cabinet, to 
which the public is not admitted, is said to be the best in Paris. On 39 
the whole it may be said, that the anatomical museum of the faculty.; 
though rich in many departments, is rather deficient in preparations 
of morbid parts, and is not arranged and kept with that degree of 
neatness and cleanliness so desirable in establishments of the kind. In 
both these respects it is vastly inferior to the Hunterian and other 
museums of London. It is open for the public on Mondays, Wed- 
nesdays, and Fridays, from 10 to 2 o’clock. On Tuesdays, Thurs- 
days, and Saturdays, the pupils of the Ecole Pratique, as well as the 
candidates for the first and second examinations, are alone admitted 
frdm 10 to 1 o’clock. 
Of the other establishments connected with the school of medicine, 
we shall speak in detail in some future communication; but to what 
has just been said relatively to the main edifice of the school, it will be 
proper to add, that in a contiguous building, the librarian, the dean, 
&c. have apartments, furnished to them free of expense by the faculty, 
and in which they reside. 
From this digression we turn to the main object of the present ar- 
ticle, commencing with the course of study, which the aspirant to the 
doctorate must go through. It is necessary to premise, that the fol- 
lowing remarks apply equally well to all the medical faculties of 
France. In order to be entitled to a diploma, the candidate must 
furnish certificates, proving that he has complied, prior to his com- 
mencing the study of medicine, with certain prerequisites5 for ex- 
ample, that he has obtained the degrees of bachelor of letters and 
of bachelor of sciences. To receive the former, he must have been 
examined, and have been found competent on, the following branches: 
—Greek literature, Latin eloquence, Latin poetry, French eloquence, 
French poetry, philosophy, history of philosophy, ancient and modem 
history, ancient and modern geography. 
To obtain the second of these degrees—that of bachelor of sciences, 
the candidate must have answered in a satisfactory manner on 
mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, zoology, botany, and 
mineralogy. After obtaining those degrees, and presenting his cer- 
tificate of birth, the written authorization of his father, or if he be a 
minor, of his tutor or guardian, to his engaging in the pursuits of the 
medical profession, a certificate of correct and moral behaviour; after 
presenting these, and furnishing a security, if his father or guardian do 
not reside in the place, any individual may present himself with a view 
of commencing the study of medicine, and is admitted to take his first 
inscription. These inscriptions consist in placing one’s name on a 
register kept for that purpose, and receiving a certificate attesting the 
fact. This ceremony is gone through every three months; and in 40 
order to be entitled to present himself as a candidate for the doctorate, 
the student must have received sixteen inscriptions; from which it 
follows, that the term required by law for the prosecution of profes- 
sional studies, before the degree of doctor in medicine, or doctor 
in surgery is conferred, is four complete years; unless, however, 
these studies have been prosecuted in a secondary school. In such 
cases, the term required is six years, and it is in the same way obli- 
gatory upon the student, previously to have obtained the degrees al- 
ready noticed—of bachelor of letters, and bachelor of sciences. 
Inscriptions received in one medical faculty are of equal value 
in all the other faculties of the kingdom, provided, however, they 
are accompanied with a certificate of correct behaviour, from the 
dean of the faculty, or from the academical council, where they 
have been received. The first inscription can only be taken out 
at the commencement of the scholastic year. The royal council 
authorizes it sometimes to be taken out in the quarter, com- 
mencing in January, when satisfactory reasons for not doing other- 
wise have been alleged by the student; but under no pretext is he 
allowed to commence his studies in the third quarter. The inscriptions 
must be taken out in regular succession; unless the reasons assigned 
for not doing so, are held satisfactory by the faculty. A student 
who takes out an inscription for one of his comrades, loses all his 
own. The inscriptions received as aspirant to the title of officer of 
health, either in a primary or secondary school, are counted for the 
doctorate, provided the candidate presents, before the 13th, his 
diplomas of bachelor of sciences and bachelor of letters. But the 
diploma of officer of health is not admitted as a substitute for inscrip- 
tions in a faculty, if the studies required for obtaining said diploma 
have not been made in a primary or secondary school. The courses 
of lectures given by medical societies cannot supply the place, in 
order to obtain inscriptions, of those given by legally established 
schools. Military surgeons of the second and third classes, who have 
been employed in the armies, can avail themselves of their services 
for the purpose of dispensing with the inscriptions; or if they have 
attended the medical lectures delivered in the military and naval 
hospitals of instruction, (but in no other hospital,) each of these years 
of study are received as equivalent for one spent in attendance on a 
special school. If a young man, after taking out a certain number 
of inscriptions in a faculty, is called upon for his services in the 
army, he cannot, on his return, avail himself of the inscriptions allowed 
him gratuitously for those services, however numerous they may be, 
for any other purpose than to complete those he was in need of, prior 41 
to his departure. Students residing in cities where faculties of 
medicine are established, cannot avail themselves of the studies 
they have made in hospitals, with private teachers, or even in the 
school, without having taken out the inscriptions corresponding to 
the period of those studies, unless they can prove, by means of cer- 
tificates obtained from competent authorities, that it was impossible 
for them to comply with that regulation. Even under these circum- 
stances, only four inscriptions are allowed them. Nevertheless, an 
exception is made in favour of those pupils who, though placed in 
this predicament, have gained premiums in the faculties. 
In our last communication we stated, that the number of branches 
taught in the medical faculty of Paris amounted to sixteen. Unlike 
what occurs in the medical schools on this side of the Atlantic, and, 
we believe, in the English and Scotish Universities; but in conformity 
with the plan pursued in Italy and Germany, the student is not at 
liberty, in France, to choose himself, the lectures he is to attend in 
each year. A regular distribution of the courses, the number of these 
necessary for each student to attend, and the order in which they are 
to be attended during each session, is fixed by the faculty, and 
publicly announced at the commencement of the scholastic year. To 
ensure the observance of this arrangement, each pupil receives a card, 
by which he is enabled to gain admittance to the lectures he is re- 
quired to attend. Yet, though this be the case, no student is actually 
forced to attend the lectures, and all that he is really required to do, 
is to take out his inscriptions at the regular periods, and to go through 
the examinations in a creditable manner. If he does that, he may 
abstain altogether from the lecture room, and seek his knowledge 
where he deems best. Some years ago an attempt was made to 
compel the class of each professor to attend him punctually, by call- 
ing over the roll not less than twice a month. But this plan was soon 
abandoned; for the students, unwilling to submit to it, and determined 
to prevent its being put into operation, answered in full chorus to 
each name that was called, coughed, sneezed, and scraped their feet, 
so as to cover the voice of the professor. 
The duration of the scholastic year is fixed at a meeting of the 
faculty, held prior to the opening of the course. The faculty decides 
on the same occasion, on the days and hours at which the different 
professors will deliver their lectures. But whatever be the duration 
of the full session, the courses are divided into two sets—the winter 
and summer courses. The former commences usually in the early 
part of November; the latter in the beginning of April, and continues 
until the end of August. The following will afford an idea of the 42 
distribution of the courses during the winter and summer sessions of 
the four years of the studies, drawn up by an arrete of the royal 
council, in 1820. 
First Year.—Winter.—Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry.-—Sum- 
mer.—Medical Natural Philosophy, or Hygiene, Surgical Pathology, 
Botany- 
Second Year.—Winter.—Anatomy, Physiology, Operative Sur- 
gery.'—Summer.—Medical Natural Philosophy, or Hygiene, Phar- 
macy, Surgical Pathology, Surgical Clinic. 
Third Year.—Winter.■—Materia Medica, Medical Clinic.— 
Summer.—Operative Surgery, Surgical Clinic, Medical Pathology. 
Fourth Year.—Winter.—Medical Clinic, History of Medicine. 
—Summer.—Surgical Pathology, Legal Medicine, Clinic at the 
Hospice de Perfectionnement, Midwifery. 
Since the period at which this arrangement was made, some changes, 
occasioned by the organization of the school, have been effected in the 
distribution of the courses. The following list, showing the courses 
delivered in the winter and in the summer sessions, though not quite 
satisfactory, since it does not indicate the lectures that must be at- 
tended in each year by the student, is copied from the Almanach Ge- 
neral de Medeclne, for 1830. 
Winter Lectures.—lst, Anatomy; 2d, Physiology; 3d, Medical 
Chemistry; 4th, Surgical Pathology; sth, Medical Pathology; 6th, 
Operative Surgery and Dressings; 7th, Surgical Clinic; Bth, Medical 
Clinic; 9th, Obstetric Clinic. 
Summer lectures.—lst, Medical Natural Philosophy; 2d, Hy- 
giene ; Sd, Medical Natural History; 4th, Midwifery; sth, Surgical 
Pathology; 6th, Medical Pathology; 7th, Pharmacologia; Bth, Thera- 
peutics; 9th, Medical Jurisprudence; 10th, Surgical Clinic; 11th, 
Medical Clinic; 12th, Obstetric Clinic. 
From this it will be perceived that all the clinics, as well as 
medical and surgical pathology, are taught both in winter and 
summer. These double courses are not, however, obligatory in both 
seasons, but have been arranged in that way with a view to accom- 
modate those students who feel disposed to attend them during sum- 
mer instead of winter, and who have thereby more time to devote 
to anatomy and the other branches. 
In old times three grades or titles were successively conferred on 
the candidate for the high honours of the profession; these grades 
were the baccalaureate, the license, and the doctorate. Each of 
them was conferred after a fixed period of studies, and after particular 
examinations and ceremonies; and before being raised to the doc- 43 
torate, it was of indispensable necessity for every individual to have 
passed through the two first. These grades were not conferred by 
the same authorities; those of bachelor and licentiate in medicine 
being obtained from the chancellor of the university, and that of doc- 
tor from the faculty of the school where the individual had prosecuted 
his studies. In the progress of time, however, this arrangement was 
modified, and the faculties assumed the right of conferring all their 
honours; or more properly speaking, of recommending those candi- 
dates they thought entitled to either of the grades we have mentioned 
to the chancellor; for to him devolved the exclusive privilege, in all 
cases, of conferring degrees. When the downfall of all the establish- 
ments of public instruction was effected by the early revolutionary 
governments, the plan of which we have just spoken, was necessa- 
rily abandoned; for, as we shall have occasion to show in a more par- 
ticular manner at some future period, all practitioners of medicine 
being placed on the same level, and neither knowledge nor gradua- 
tion being any longer obligatory, the different grades in the profes- 
sion became useless, and were of course no longer sought after. So 
soon, however, as some order had been reestablished in the practice of 
medicine by the decrees of the convention, and the school had been 
reorganized, one grade, that of officer of health, was instituted, and 
it was only under the consular government of Napoleon, by the law 
of 10th March, 1803, that the doctorate, but the doctorate alone, 
was again conferred—the officers of health, created by the same law, 
being a different order of physicians. By the decree of 1808 relative 
to the formation of the University, the old plan of the three grades 
was revived in the five faculties of which that establishment was com- 
posed. These grades, or titles, were conferred exclusively by those 
faculties after public examinations and public acts. They did not 
confer the rank or title of member of the university, but were requi- 
site before an individual could be entitled to that honour. Whether 
the plan was ever fairly put into execution or not, we have not the 
means of ascertaining; but we believe it may be confidently affirmed, 
that for many years past, perhaps ever since the restoration, only 
one grade, the doctorate, has been conferred. Such is the plan now 
pursued, though, as we shall see presently, this grade is obtained 
after several examinations, undergone at different, but fixed periods, 
in the course of the studies. 
While on this subject we may be allowed to express the opinion, 
that the plan of conferring several degrees, at various periods of the 
studies, on those who aim at the high honours of the profession, was 
always found to be productive of the most advantageous conse- 44 
quences; and it is impossible hot to regret that it has been abandoned 
in France. By means of it the young man is brought frequently be- 
fore the professors who are the most proper—the only judges of his 
capacity and acquirements. He is stimulated to study by the desire, 
hot only of acquitting himself in a creditable manner in presence 
of his teachers, of the exercises required of him before he can obtain 
the desired degree, but also of possessing a diploma, and of being held 
in esteem by the mass of his fellow students. Had the plan been per- 
severed in in France, these advantages could have been obtained 
without detriment to the profession, or to the sick in general; for the 
baccalaureate and license need not, under any circumstances, confer 
the privileges appertaining to the doctorate—that of practicing; and 
the student would have attached as much importance to the title— 
would have sought after it with as much ardour—would have felt as 
much mortified had he failed in obtaining it, as if it really conferred 
those privileges, particularly as he would have known that the honour 
to which, by obtaining it, he had been thus raised, was a stepping- 
stone to the highest in the profession. The inconveniences resulting 
from the abandonment of the plan in question, are, it is true, some- 
what obviated by the multiplicity of examinations, and the period 
at which these are held. But a title and diploma go a great way with 
a young man, particularly in France, and the circumstance of pass- 
ing through an examination will never excite much emulation unless 
success in that examination is to lead to some distinction. 
Unlike what took place before the revolution, medical and surgi- 
cal instruction is now obtained in the same school. There are two 
sets of doctors^—those in medicine, and those in surgery. The stu- 
dies required for these two varieties of the same grade are precisely 
the same, and the only difference in the mode of reception consists 
in some modifications in one or two of the examinations—the exami- 
ners being apprized, in due time, of the intention of the candidate 
to obtain the one or other of those degrees. But of this we shall 
speak more in detail presently. 
We now pass to the subject of the examinations. Before present- 
ing himself to these the pupil must of course have complied with 
every prerequisite for graduation, and roust in particular present the 
diplomas of his degrees in letters and sciences. Nevertheless, officers 
of health, who have served in the capacity of military surgeons, as 
well as those who have taken out inscriptions in a secondary or in a 
military medical school prior to the Ist of January, 1823, are dispensed 
presenting the diploma of bachelor of sciences. The degree ol 
master of arts obtained in a foreign university, cannot supply the 45 
place of that of bachelor of letters. Pupils who on the Ist of Jana-, 
ary, 1826, had more than one inscription, were allowed, until the 
Ist of January, 1827, the choice between two modes of examination. 
Agreeably to the old mode, the pupil who had taken out sixteen in- 
scriptions was, at the expiration of the last quarter, allowed to offer 
himself as a candidate for the degree of doctor in medicine, on sub- 
mitting to five examinations and defending a thesis. Anatomy and 
physiology constituted the subjects of the first examination; patho- 
logy and nosology of the second; materia medica, chemistry, and 
pharmacy of the third. At the fourth examination the candidate was 
tried on hygiene and medical jurisprudence; while the fifth examina- 
tion was appropriated to the medical or surgical clinics, according as 
the candidate aspired to the degree of doctor of medicine or doctor 
of surgery. 
Agreeably to the new mode, the subjects of the examinations are 
arranged in the following order:— 
Ist. Examination three months after the eighth inscription. •—Me- 
dical Natural History, Medical Natural Philosophy, Medical Che- 
mistry, and Pharmacologia. 
2d. Examination three months after the tenth inscription.'---Ana- 
tomy and Physiology. 
3d. Examination three months after the twelfth inscription.—Me- 
dical and Surgical Pathology. 
4th. Examination three months after the fourteenth inscription.- 
Hygiene, Legal Medicine, Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 
sth. Examination three months after the sixteenth inscription- 
Medical Clinic, Surgical Clinic, Midwifery. 
Candidates who have undergone the examinations of the eighth, 
tenth, twelfth, fourteenth quarters, (trimestres,) are alone allowed to 
take out the tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth inscriptions, 
From the Ist of November, 1829, every candidate without excep- 
tion have been compelled to undergo their examinations agreeably to the 
preceding mode. These examinations are conducted by two professors 
nnd an aggrege. Each of them has an adjunct who supplies his place 
m case of his being absent. The examinations take place for four 
candidates at one time, their names being registered according to al- 
phabetical order. They commence at one o’clock, and terminate at 
three; so that each candidate is examined during half an hour, or 
during ten minutes by each examiner. Whether the candidate be exa- 
mined agreeably to the old or to the new mode, he is required to hand 
in, at the fifth examination, the details of six observations collected at 
the bed-side of the sick. Of these, four at least must have been collect- 46 
Ed in the clinics of the faculty, and their authenticity must be certi- 
fied by the professor. Candidates for the degree of doctorin medicine 
present the histories of four cases of internal, and two of surgical dis- 
eases, while those who aspire to the degree of doctor in surgery, are 
required to furnish four of surgical, and two of internal diseases. 
The candidates are classed, for their examinations, agreeably to 
the date of their inscriptions, and under no pretext is the name of 
the examiners communicated to them beforehand. 
For the examination on anatomy and physiology, the candidate 
makes on the dead body an anatomical preparation previously desig- 
nated to him. On a subsequent day he answers to several anatomi- 
cal and physiological questions, having a bearing on the nature of 
the preparation he has made, and gives a demonstration on the ske- 
leton of the different parts of osteology. At the examination on ma- 
teria medica, chemistry, and pharmacy, the candidate answers de- 
monstratively to the questions put to him on medicinal substances. 
The examination on internal and external pathology, (medical and 
surgical,) is conducted in Latin. It takes place at one sitting. The 
same holds in respect to the examination on hygiene and legal medicine, 
in which the candidate is required to write the formula of a report 
on a subject proposed at the moment. 
At the examination on the clinics, questions proposed beforehand 
are drawn out by lots, (tirees au sort.) They have reference to fixed 
and well-known practical cases. To these questions the candidate 
must answer in Latin and in writing. With this view he repairs to 
the school, at least three hours prior to the examination, and there 
prepares his answer without the assistance of any one. In presence of 
the examiners he answers viva voce, in Latin, to all questions which 
his own written answer may elicit. When the candidate aspires to 
the degree of doctor of medicine, a greater number of medical than 
surgical questions are proposed to him at this examination. The re- 
verse is the case when he wishes to obtain the degree of doctor of 
surgery. Under these circumstances he is moreover obliged to per- 
form on the dead body all the operations required, in soft and hard 
parts, for the cure of the diseases which form the object of the exa- 
mination. 
It occasionally happens that a candidate is found incompetent on 
particular branches, and is required to attend to these for some 
time longer. In such case this extension of studies, and the exami- 
nations consequent upon it, must always, unless by special leave, 
fake place in the same faculty. 
When a candidate presents himself with the view of defend- 47 
ing a thesis, after having undergone his examinations in another 
of the French faculties, the president and the examiners must be 
apprized of this circumstance. 
After expressing, by inscribing his name on a register kept for the 
purpose, his intention of defending his thesis, the candidate depo- 
sits the manuscript at the office of the administration, and the dean 
designates a president who examines and signs it, and becomes re- 
sponsible for the principles and opinions it contains, in relation to 
religion, public order, and morals. If he considers the thesis suita- 
ble for forming the subject of the sixth examination, the president 
makes a report to that effect. Should this not be the case, his deci- 
sion is referred to the faculty. He superintends the printing, signs 
the proof sheets of the essay, which cannot be distributed unless he 
certifies that all the formalities have been complied with. Should 
a thesis, when distributed to the public, be found different from 
what it was in the manuscript submitted to the examination of the 
president, or should it have been printed before the manuscript had 
received the sanction and signature of the latter, it would, together 
with the sixth examination, if the latter had taken place, be an- 
nulled. The candidate would be refused his diploma, and obliged, 
before obtaining it, to defend a thesis on another subject, after a lapse 
of time fixed by the royal council; and that too, independently of other 
academic punishments that may be incurred in consequence of any 
objectionable principles contained in the printed thesis. 
The title page of the thesis must express the object of the author; 
whether he aspires to the doctorate in medicine or in surgery. No 
unpublished medical observation can be inserted in a thesis without the 
written approbation of the physician who has attended the patient. 
The dedication of these essays, unless made to a parent, must be au- 
thorized by the person to whom it is addressed. In such cases also, 
the approbation of the faculty must be obtained. The candidate 
deposits a considerable number, (140,) of copies of his thesis, which 
are distributed as follows: 
To the University, 2—Rector, I—General Inspectors, 2—Royal 
Academy of Medicine, I—Faculties of Montpellier and Strasburgh, 
2—-Royal Library, I—First Physician of the King, I—Professors, 
24—Aggreges, 36—Argumentation, 6—Library of the School, 5 
Treasurer, I—-Librarian, I—Conservators of the Cabinets, I—Chief 
of the Anatomical Works, I—Chief of the Chemical Laboratory, 1 
—Assistant Librarian, 1-—-Assistant to the Conservator of the Cabi- 
net, I—Dissectors and Aids of Anatomy, 6—Chief of Clinics, 3 48 
Aid to the chemical department, I—Aid to the botanical department, 
I—-Bureau, s—Dresser, I—Collection in Reserve, 35. 
The same individual is engaged for the printing of all the theses; 
the form of these, the number of lines in each page, and the quality 
of the paper, are designated by the faculty, in order to ensure regu- 
larity in the execution of the rules just mentioned, and similarity in 
all the theses. 
The thesis is defended before the president of the board, several 
of the professors, and two aggreges. The act continues an hour. 
The president has no vote in the decision of the jury of examination, 
but may nevertheless take part in the deliberation. In case of an 
equal division of votes relative to the propriety of admitting the can- 
didate, the opinion of those in his favour is adopted. Every certifi- 
cate of capacity delivered by a faculty, must, before being converted 
into a diploma by the royal council, be approved by the rector, 
(whose office is filled at Paris by the dean,) and the certificate of ap- 
probation refers as much to the moral conduct as to the capacity of 
the candidate. The rector has consequently the right of refusing a 
diploma to one who does not merit it. The diploma is given by the 
grand master, who may suspend the delivery of it, referring this act 
to the council of state. He may also compel the candidate to go 
through his examinations a second time. 
Doctors in medicine who wish to obtain the title of doctor in sur- 
gery, and vice versa, are required to sustain a fifth examination, and 
defend a thesis on a surgical or medical subject, according to the 
nature of the degree they wish to obtain. They are at the same time 
obliged to pay one hundred francs for the fifth examination, one hun- 
dred and twenty francs for the sixth, or thesis, and one hundred 
francs for the seal of the university, making a total of three hundred 
and twenty francs. But a doctor in medicine is not allowed to 
present himself to the fifth examination for the doctorate in surgery, 
before having defended his thesis in medicine, and the examiners 
must be apprized of his intention, of obtaining the one or other of 
these degrees, in their letter of convocation. 
French physicians or surgeons who have graduated in foreign uni- 
versities, or military officers of health, could formerly obtain with 
ease an exemption from the first four examinations. But since the Ist 
of January, 1815, this exemption is no longer allowed, except by 
means of a special ordonnance. By a- decision of the faculty of 
Baris, dated 28th of February, 1822, studies made in foreign countries 
have been assimilated to those ma-de in the secondary schools of 
France, provided, however, they have been made in well known Uni- 49 
versities, or in places where it is ascertained, that a complete Course 
of medical instruction can be obtained. Nevertheless, physicians who 
have graduated out of France, occasionally obtain the above ex- 
emption, and even one from the fifth examination. In that case 
they are merely required to defend a thesis, and to pay two hundred 
and twenty francs—one hundred and twenty for the examination and 
one hundred for the seal. They may also obtain the two titles of doc- 
tor of medicine and doctor of surgery, by defending two theses and 
paying four hundred and forty francs. 
Pupils who have given proofs of capacity in the old schools, 
agreeably to the established rules, and who wish to exchange their 
certificates of provisional reception for a diploma, are obliged to de- 
clare whether they wish that of doctor in medicine or doctor in sur- 
gery. They may then obtain it by paying five hundred francs. 
No one we presume will refuse to admit that the preceding regu- 
lations are wise and just; yet we cannot help thinking, that the pro- 
fessors at Paris have shown rather too exalted an opinion of their 
worth, by assimilating studies made in foreign countries to those 
made in the secondary schools of France. Were this compliment 
levelled at our schools, or even at the English and Scotch schools, 
it would not be a matter of astonishment, because the quantum of 
instruction that may be derived in them is exceedingly limited when 
compared with that afforded in France. But it cannot prove very 
agreeable to the schools of Austria and Italy, where the course of 
studies required for graduation, and placed within the reach of stu- 
dents, is, to say the least of it, as complete as at Paris itself. 
In terminating this account of the requisites for graduation, and of 
the regulations of the schools of Paris, it remains to state, Ist, that 
every mark of disrespect towards the dean or any of the professors, 
is punished by the loss, on the part of the offender, of one or two in- 
scriptions, or more severely if deemed necessary, and that, should the 
offence be repeated, it is punished by exclusion from the school dur- 
ing at least six months, or at most two years. 2d. That it is expressly 
forbidden to the students of a faculty, or of the various faculties of 
the same or of different orders, to form associations, without having 
obtained permission to that effect from the authorities of the place, 
and apprised the rector of the circumstance. 3d. That students are also 
prohibited from acting or writing collectively, as if forming a legally 
constituted corporation or association. 4th. That every student who 
is convicted of taking part, under any pretext whatsoever, in illegal 
assemblies, in revolts, fights, &c. is erased from the register of the 
faculty; his ticket of admission is at the same time withdrawn from him, 50 
and he is prohibited from attending the lectures. sth. That the 
price of medical education in France amounts to one thousand francs, 
independently of the expenses of publication of the thesis. Of this 
sum, thirty francs are paid for each examination, except the sixth, (that 
of thesis,) for which is paid sixty-five francs. The rest, or seven hun- 
dred and eighty-five francs, serve to defray the expenses of the sixteen 
inscriptions, for the first fifteen of which are paid fifty francs each, and 
for the sixteenth thirty-five francs. Besides these sums, one hundred 
francs are charged for the seal of the diploma, and three francs for the 
use of the gown worn at the time of examinations, &c. 
Although the student may have paid for inscriptions at one of the 
secondary schools, he is obliged, if he wishes a diploma from one of 
the faculties, to pay the same sum demanded of other students who 
have not obtained such inscriptions. 
We have thus presented in as small a compass as possible, an out- 
line of the plan of medical instruction pursued in the three faculties 
of France, of the prerequisites for obtaining the title and rank of 
doctor of medicine and surgery, as well as the principal rules adopt- 
ed for the proper government of the school. It will immediately be 
perceived, that many of the latter are of local interest, and only ap- 
plicable to the state of society, to the character of the youths, and the 
nature of the government of France. Notwithstanding this, however, 
we do not know that some of them might not be adopted with advan- 
tage elsewhere, and even in this country. But, without insisting on 
the subject, we may be allowed to express the opinion, that the plan 
of instruction at present in operation in France, so far as regards the 
diversity of branches taught, the division of the studies in each year 
and each section of the full course, the number of the examinations, 
&c. is entitled to much commendation. We are not prepared at pre- 
sent to inquire whether some improvements might not be made in that 
plan—whether some branches of minor value are not taught, while others 
of greater importance are not attended to; for the necessity of reform is 
generally admitted, and occupies still the attention of the government 
and of the profession at large. Yet such as it is, the plan in question is so 
far superior to that in force in our schools—the effects of this superiority 
ai e so evident to every one who has been able to make the comparison 
between the graduates of both countries, and who is not biassed by pre- 
judice, that were we called upon for advice by a young man about com- 
mencing the study of medicine, and were we able to select the place 
where he was to prosecute his studies, we would unhesitatingly giye 
Hie preference to the schools of France over those of our own or of other 
countries, Germany excepted. We sincerely hope that the eyes of 51 
our countrymen will, before many years have elapsed, be open on 
this important matter, and that the necessary reforms will be made in 
the plan of instruction actually in force among us. In making these re- 
marks, it is far from our wish to disparage the merit, the learning, 
and the practical skill of American physicians. Indeed we are ourselves 
too much interested on this subject, to harbour such an intention. 
But let them be candid, and say whether the greater part of the 
knowledge, theoretical and more particularly practical, which the 
most distinguished among them possess, has not been acquired since 
they graduated, and often at the expense of human life? Whether 
they are not now sensible of the imperfection of their medical educa- 
tion? With industry on the part of the young physician, the effects 
of this deficiency may be, and has fortunately been, often remedied. 
But we are all aware that this industry is unfortunately seldom the lot of 
graduates, and painful as the confession maybe, we are forced to admit, 
that the majority of our young physicians, after they have received 
the honours of the doctorate, do not study at all, or do so only in a 
desultory manner;—that they consequently remain very deficient in 
point of information, and hence very inferior to tfie graduates of the 
schools of the European continent. 
As may have been perceived, medical education is only apparently 
cheap in France; for although lectures are delivered gratuitously, and 
the other expenses incident on the studies, as for dissection, &c. are 
but trifling, yet the inscriptions are expensive, and the amount paid for 
these, joined to the fees for examination and graduation, makes up a 
sum equal, or nearly so, to that which a medical diploma costs in this 
country. It is true that the sum, if divided by four—the number 
of years required for the studies, would make only about three 
hundred francs a year, (sixty dollars,) whereas the amount paid here 
for admission to the lectures, the expense of graduation, of dissection, 
of private instruction, without which a student can hardly get along 
with credit to himself, if divided by two—the number of years of at- 
tendance at the school required, would show a much larger annual dis- 
bursement. It is true also, that the expenses of living are much less in 
France, particularly at Montpellier and Strasburgh, than in our large 
cities. Yet, notwithstanding all this, as the difference of living four 
years instead of two, is to be taken into account, as the sum annually 
spent by the student there for his instruction and living, goes a great 
deal further than a much larger one with us; and as the whole amount 
is, therefore, (due regard being paid to this cause,) truly considerable, 
we are justifiable in saying, that medical education is only apparently 
cheap in France. 52 
This dearness of medical education in France, joined to the impossi- 
bility of practising medicine or surgery lawfully without a diploma, and 
of getting admittance to the lectures without a ticket delivered only to 
regular students or to graduates, ensures in general, (for some improper 
subjects will creep in every where,) a bar against the admission in the 
profession, of individuals who are not of respectable parentage, and 
who are not likely to become useful to the community and an honour to 
the profession. Add to this, that in order to be entitled to take out 
an inscription, it is necessary, as we have seen, that the student 
should be a graduate in two other faculties. This of course cannot 
be done without some expense, and further ensures in a powerful 
manner, the effects to which we have already adverted. No- 
thing in our opinion is more injurious than cheap medical schools, al- 
lowing, as they do, particularly when unrestrained by the necessity 
of classical education and long periods of study, many chances to 
the introduction into the profession of individuals, who ought from 
their standing in society and deficient education, to be excluded from 
the honours of the doctorate. Those who contributed in framing the 
plan of studies adopted in France, were probably aware of these cir- 
cumstances. Had they not fixed a high price on instruction, or ra- 
ther on graduation, had they not required of the candidate degrees 
in other faculties, many would probably have been induced to study 
medicine—many would have obtained a diploma, and with it have 
been entitled to practice, who were fitter to cultivate the land or 
work at some trade. By adopting their present system, on the con- 
trary, they have in a great measure secured admission to those only 
whose pecuniary means have enabled them to receive a good educa- 
tion, by which the faculties of the mind are early exercised and 
strengthened, and will not only prevent them from starving in 
the early part of their professional career, but also enable them to 
avoid the company of low and illiterate people, to mix with the more 
polished classes of society, and to govern themselves in their inter- 
course with the public generally, and with their fellow practitioners 
in particular, in accordance with the principles of sound morality and 
the feelings of amity and cordiality which are so strongly implanted 
in the bosom of every well-bred gentleman. Although we are willing 
to acknowledge that few men attain to eminence in the medical or 
in any other profession who have not their fortunes to make, we cannot 
help regarding pauper doctors—physicians belonging to the poorer and 
lower classes of the community, as a great nuisance, not only to the 
profession, but to the public at large; because, in consequence of their 
deficient education, they rarely acquire a sufficiently high standing, 
to obtain for them the advantages derived from professional intercourse 53 
with their more polished and better instructed brethren, and because a 
man who on entering business is destitute of the means of support, or 
moves amongthe lower classes, is but too often induced, sometimes from 
sheer necessity and against his own inclination, at others, because he 
is undeterred by a sentiment of honour and a sense of the dignity of 
his calling, to make a trade of his profession—to endeavour to gain 
business by makingllorwr charges—to play the quack—and to caress 
and humour the whims of the public, in order to creep into notice. 
In our country we unfortunately see too many of these, not al- 
together on account of the cheapness of medical diplomas, for in 
some schools these are expensive; but owing to the facility of gradu- 
ation in them all, though principally to the liberty which every one 
enjoys, in some states, of practising medicine without having received 
a license, to that effect, from competent authorities;—circumstances 
which induce many to tender their services as practitioners of medi- 
cine, though deprived of the desirable degree of preliminary educa- 
tion, and sometimes without any medical or surgical instruction. Of 
these, one out of a hundred may, by dint of industry, emerge through 
the crowd of nullities by whom he is surrounded, and acquire a me- 
rited reputation for learning and practical skill; he may also, by vir- 
tue of an innate sentiment of honour, correctness of deportment, and 
delicacy of feeling, gain the esteem and countenance of his brethren 
and of the respectable portion of the community; but the mass of such 
physicians will continue to grope in the dark, will never conduce to the 
improvement of their profession, but will become mere routine practi- 
tioners, and exercise their art, to the great detriment of the public 
and to the discredit of the profession. 
We now pass to the subject of the professors of the medical facul- 
ties of France, and of the manner in which they are selected. Pre- 
vious to the first revolution, there was, we believe, but one order of 
professors in the various medical schools of the kingdom. These 
professors were appointed after a concours or public trial, by the king, 
on the presentation of the judges, who consisted of the chancellor, 
when there was one, (as at Montpelliei', where the school of medicine 
was held, though improperly, in the light of an university,) of the 
dean, and of a number of the professors. The chancellor, who was 
the chief of the school, was appointed directly by the king, without 
the formality of a presentation. In those faculties, where there were 
no chancellor, the duties of chief devolved on the dean, who was se- 
lected in the same way. 
When, in 1794, the schools of Paris, Montpellier, and Strasburgh, 
which, like all the other establishments of the kind, had been abolished 
a few years before, were reorganized, a professor and an adjunct were 54 
attached to each chair. In the progress of time, however, these ad- 
juncts became assimilated to the titulary professors. From this, it 
followed, that the number of these was doubled; and that, as the 
number of chairs was not increased, except at Paris, where a pro- 
fessorship of medical bibliography was created, there were, in fact, 
two professors for each chair. By the same law, (4th Dec. 1794,) 
the professors were directed to be appointed by the committee of 
public instruction, on the presentation of the commission of public 
instruction. By the general law on that subject, dated 11 Floreal, an 
x, (10th May, 1802,) it was directed that the professors should be 
nominated by government, from among three candidates; the first of 
whom was presented by one of the classes of the Institute, the second 
by the general inspectors of the studies, and the third by the profes- 
sors of the school. This arrangement continued in force until the 
period of the organization of the university by Napoleon, on the 17th of 
March, 1808. By the decree of that date, it was ordered that, at the 
first formation of that gigantic establishment, the grand master should 
nominate to all the chairs in each of the faculties; but that at subse- 
quent periods all vacancies occurring in them, should be filled by in- 
dividuals selected after a public concours. 
Shortly before the return of Napoleon from Elba, on the 17th of 
February, 1815, a royal ordonnance, based on the report of a commis- 
sion appointed by government to inquire into the state of the instruction 
imparted in the medical schools of France, and to suggest the modi- 
fications required in those establishments, appeared in the Moniteur 
and Bulletin des Loix, by which the concours was abolished in the 
faculty of medicine of Paris. By this same ordonnance, it was or- 
dered, that the professors should henceforward be selected from 
among four candidates, two of whom were presented for that purpose 
by the faculty, the other two by the academical council. But this 
arbitrary change was not effected without eliciting an expression of 
disapprobation on the part of the entire faculties of Montpellier and 
Strasburgh, which, in conjunction with the dean of the faculty of 
law, and several individual professors attached to the medical fa- 
culty of Paris, defended courageously the mode by concours. On 
the 30th of March of the same year, this ordonnance was annulled by 
an imperial decree, and the university was reestablished on the same 
footing as prior to the restoration of the Bourbons. But this decree 
in its turn, was repealed, and the ordonnance of 17th of February, 
1815, was reinforced in what relates to the subjects in question, by a 
royal decision, dated February, 1816* 
By the ordonnances of November, 1822, and February, 1823, 
which effected the dissolution of the old faculty, and the reorganiza- 55 
tion of the school of Paris; and by subsequent ordonnaaces, which 
occasioned similar changes in the schools of Montpellier and Stras- 
burgh, a new arrangement was made in the board of teachers attached 
to these establishments, and in the mode of nominating them. This 
arrangement consisted in appointing two sets of teachers—professors 
properly so called, and aggreges, or adjuncts. 
The mode of election by concours was rejected for the former; but 
admitted for the latter. This occasioned at the time, and for a long 
period after, much discontent among the members of the profession, 
and the medical journals were clamorous in their demands for the 
readoption of the concours for the selection of the professors them- 
selves. 
While on this subject, we may be allowed to express the opinion, 
that the method of choosing a professor by concours, presents many 
advantages over the other, or that by presentation, but is not itself 
free from disadvantages. An individual, who is aware that he is to 
appear before a large and enlightened assembly, and that he must 
there answer to all questions put to him by judges appointed for that 
purpose; that this severe trial is to be repeated several times, and in 
various ways; and that the subjects on which he is to be examined are 
diversified in their nature; that independently of his examiners, a 
large concourse of individuals will judge of his capacity; such an in- 
dividual, we say, will take very good care not to present himself, 
unless well qualified on all the branches on which he is to be ex- 
amined. This proves a source of emulation to all those who aspire 
to the honour of the office to be filled, and the persons who make the 
final selection of the professor, are certain of choosing among men 
who are qualified, and have given public proofs of their capacity 
and learning. Add to this, that a bar is put to every thing like 
favouritism; since the government, if it retains the power of the final 
decision, can only chose among the most distinguished of the candi- 
dates, and must, unless it tramples on every principle of justice, be 
guided in its selection by the opinion of the judges. The method of 
selecting on simple presentation offers none of these advantages, 
inasmuch as the candidates may often have given no public proof of 
capacity, and the choice may be made merely to gratify private feel- 
ings, or reward private services, and not in consequence of a decided 
superiority on the part of the successful candidate. 
Indeed, we shall not be easily induced to believe with Dr. Johnston, 
that the voice of the public, and the wish of supporting character, will 
act sufficiently in preventing this abuse, (nomination of unqualified 
persons by interest and favour,) fronrbeing carried too far,* “ and that 
it is to be supposed that, in general, the council of instruction is too 56 
enlightened, and too anxious to obtain the good opinion of the country, 
to allow, in many cases, power to triumph over merit.” The appoint- 
ments in 1823, of seven or eight professors, totally unqualified for 
fulfilling the duties of the responsible offices to which they were thus 
raised, is a sufficient proof of the disadvantage of the method by simple 
presentation. Nor is it to be supposed that such an occurrence, 
though happening at the time of the reorganization of the school, was 
not to be apprehended afterwards ; for no effectual bar to a repetition 
of it was established, and there is little doubt that had the plan then 
adopted, continued in operation, the selection of improper individuals 
would have frequently happened—a circumstance which could not 
have resulted from the mode of selecting after a public concours. 
Even in admitting that such effects were not to be feared from the 
method by presentation, and that those entrusted with the duty of pre- 
senting candidates, might always have been guided by principles of 
justice, it may be doubted whether they could always have had it in 
their power to discover among numerous competitors, such individuals 
as possessed all the qualifications requisite in a professor, or that 
they themselves would have been competent to decide on candidates 
to teach branches totally different in their nature from those entrusted 
to them. How, for example, could a professor of midwifery decide on 
the qualifications of a chemist, of a botanist, &c. ? 
The concours is certainly more efficacious than this method, because 
every candidate gives a public specimen of his qualifications, of his 
learning, eloquence, talents in imparting his knowledge, &c. and be- 
cause a narrow field is offered for the operation of intrigue, coteries, 
personal antipathies, and partialities. “Ha I’avantage de mettre au 
jour des talens qui peut-etre seraient demeures inconnus; il fait dis- 
tinguer surtout les qualites les plus necessaires a un professeur; la 
nettete dans I’exposition, cette chaleur d’elocution qui s’empare des 
etudians, qui les attache ala science.” The concours is, for the same 
reasons, superior to the mode of nomination by the directors, or 
trustees of a school; for these are not generally members of the 
profession, and cannot, therefore, judge of the qualifications of indi- 
viduals destined to teach one of the branches of that profession. They 
must rely on the opinion of the public, and we know that the public 
pronounce individuals to be great physicians, who are possessed of the 
slenderest talents and acquirements, and who would, therefore, make 
but poor professors; or they must rely on the opinion of the members 
of the faculty, or of physicians generally* But in the first case, the 
disadvantages and difficulties to which we have alluded when speak- 
ing of the mode by presentation, would inevitably result in the 
second, men too advanced in age would be regarded as the fittest; for few physicians would feel sufficiently free from jealously and antipathy 
to recommend for so high a station, individuals younger than them- 
selves, or even of their own standing—there being, in general, a dis- 
position in the elderly members of the profession to look down with 
a sort of contempt on their younger brethren, without appearing to 
be aware of the fact, that all improvements in the science have been 
effected by physicians in the prime of life, and that the best professors 
are to be sought among the enthusiastic, zealous, active—in other 
words, never among the old. 
But as we have said, the mode of electing by concours is not free 
from some disadvantages; the principal of which is, that individuals 
of slender talents, but who possess considerable firmness and com- 
posure, and a ready mode of answering questions—in a word, 
who are endowed by nature with a good share of impudence, 
will often show to much greater advantage in a public examination, 
than persons of ten times more talents, but who are timid and 
diffident of their own powers. Another disadvantage results from 
the natural unwillingness of persons who have already secured 
some reputation and fame, by their writings or intercourse with 
society, to enter into competition with younger, less learned, but 
more active and ready individuals, and thereby run the risk of 
losing both. Some disadvantage may also arise from the par- 
tiality of judges; but it is easy to guard against this by rendering the 
concours public, and composing the jury, which ought to be in part 
selected by the candidates themselves, not only of professors of the 
faculties, but of a certain number of physicians not attached to the 
latter. On the whole, however, neither this disadvantage, nor the 
others to which we have alluded, can be compared with those pre- 
sented by the other methods. 
But we return from this digression. If after the reorganization of 
the schools, the advantages of the concours were not enjoyed, the disad- 
vantages of the mode by presentation, were in some measure ob- 
viated by the fact, that after the first nominations, in virtue of which 
so many unqualified individuals got admittance into the school of 
Paris, professors were chosen only from among the aggreges, who, 
as we have seen, were appointed after a public concours. 
Such being the case in regard to these aggreges, and the organiza- 
tion of this body of subordinate professors being x’ather complicated, 
and without a parallel in any school with which we are acquainted, 
we shall doubtless be excused for dwelling a few moments on the 
subject. After doing this, we shall present an outline of the changes 
that have been effected in the mode of selecting professors since the 58 
revolution of July, 1830, and terminate with some remarks on the 
body of professors, their pay, and the duties assigned to them. 
At the period of the formation of the new school, at Paris, in 1823, 
twenty-four aggreges were appointed by government. Put the full 
number of these attached to the school amounted to thirty-six; the 
twelve additional ones, whose duties were to commence three years 
after, being directed by the ordonnance of the 2d of February, 1823, 
to be elected by concours, before the completion of the first scholas- 
tic year. In virtue of this decision they were chosen on the 19th of 
November, 1823, and definitively nominated in July of the next 
year. Those first appointed were divided into three sections, each 
section being subdivided, as we shall see presently, into several se- 
ries. The whole body was divided into three classes: Ist. The sta- 
giaires, comprising those lately elected, who during three years were 
not called upon to perform any duty. 2d. Jlggreges en exercise, 
or those who performed duty, or were liable to be called upon for 
that purpose—to supply the place of a professor—take part in the 
examinations, &c. Their period of duty extended to six years—-one-half 
of their number being renewed every three years. The third class 
comprised an unlimited number of aggreges—all those who had be- 
come free, after passing through the two first grades, denominated in 
French le stage and Vexercise. At the period of the first formation of 
the school, the twenty-four aggreges who were then appointed were 
directed to enter forthwith on duty, en exercise, and it was directed 
that one-half of their number, whose names would be drawn by lot, 
should be renewed at the expiration of three years. It was further 
ordered, that the subsequent renewals should be effected in such a 
way, that at each of them twelve new aggreges would be elected and 
enter the stage, twelve would be ready to perform duty, passeraient en 
exercise, and twelve would become free. The aggreges of the three 
classes had equal and the exclusive right of becoming candidates for 
any vacant chair in the faculty. The aggreges en exercise were di- 
vided into fjiree sections—lst, medicine; 2d, surgery; Sd, acces- 
sory sciences. The first of these comprehended ten—namely, two 
for pathology, one for hygiene, one for therapeutics, four for the cli- 
nics, one for legal medicine, and one without any special branch. 
The section of surgery was composed of eight aggreges—pathology 
two, operations and dressings one, clinics three, midwifery one, mid- 
wifery clinic one. The section of the accessory sciences consisted of 
six—of whom one was attached to anatomy, one to physiology, one 
t° medical natural philosophy, one to chemistry, one to medical na- 
tural history, and one to pharmacologia. It results, therefore, that 59 
every three years, five aggreges for the first section, four for the se- 
cond, and three for the third were elected, unless some promotion to 
a professor’s chair took place from among the aggreges en exercise, in 
which case the vacancy thus occasioned was filled by the election 
of an additional aggrege. 
The aggreges were alone allowed to deliver private lectures. This 
privilege was enjoyed by the three classes, the stagiaires, those en 
exercise, and the free; and no authority could deprive them of it, ex- 
cept by virtue of a decision of the council of the university. We have 
said that after the first formation of the school, the situation of ag- 
grege could only be obtained after a concourse to this it is necessary 
to add, that the grand master of the university still retained the 
power of giving, with the approbation of the faculty, of the council 
of the academy, and of the royal council, the title of free aggrege to 
doctors in medicine or surgery, who had attained the fortieth year 
of their age, and who had distinguished themselves by their writings 
or by their success in the profession. The number of those could not, 
however, exceed ten, and they only enjoyed the privilege of becoming 
candidates forthe chairs of clinic. The aggreges received no regular 
salary, but were paid whenever called upon to perform duty in the 
school. Those who were required to lecture for a professor, obtain- 
ed from the latter a sum equivalent to one-half the regular salary re- 
ceived by him, during the time they performed duty; as well as half of 
examination fees, &c. 
The following is an account of the regulations of the concours. Three 
months before the opening of the latter, which was announced in the 
public prints, the aspirant, who was required to be a Frenchman by 
birth, and to have attained the twenty-fifth year of his age, caused 
his name to be inscribed at the bureau of the faculty, depositing there 
at the same time, Ist, his diploma of doctor in medicine or surgery; 
2d, his certificate of birth; Sd, a certificate of good conduct and good 
morals, signed by the mayor and confirmed by the prefect of the de- 
partment; 4th, a certificate signed by three doctors and countersigned 
by the rector, attesting that he had not been instrumental in circulating 
addresses on the public roads, &c. and had not sold secret remedies. 
A few candidates, (not more than three for each concours,) were 
dispensed, by the grand master with the advice of the faculty in which 
the concours was held, or of that in which they had obtained their de- 
grees, with being of the age required. Two months before the open- 
ing of the concours, the list of candidates was temporarily closed at 
a meeting of the faculty, and forwarded to the grand master of the 
university. The royal council, after investigating the claims of each 60 
candidate, closed the list definitively and forwarded it to the dean, who 
two weeks before the commencement of the examinations, gave no- 
tice to the candidates of their being admitted to take part in these. 
The board of examiners was composed of at least seven members and 
a president, who had the casting vote in case of an equal division. 
They were all named by the minister of public instruction. Some of 
the judges could be chosen from among physicians not attached to 
the faculty; but there was always required to be a majority of pro- 
fessors. Three judges were appointed to supply the place of the 
others in case of absence from sickness or other causes. Five judges, 
independently of the president, could pronounce in regard to the 
merits of an aggrege, and to his claim to election, or the reverse. The 
names of the candidates were called over on the day and at the hour 
fixed upon for the concours; those who were absent at that time being 
excluded from the examinations. The candidates could reject any of 
the judges, but were obliged at the same time to state their reasons 
for doing so; the remainder of the judges being authorized in pro- 
nouncing whether or not the reasons assigned were of sufficient 
weight to justify the rejection. In case the decision of the board was 
unfavourable to the candidate, he could still appeal to the royal council. 
Two relatives of the candidate, uncles, brothers, or first cousins, 
could not sit as judges or supplementaries at the same concours. 
The rank among the candidates was determined by the priority of 
their admission to the honours of the doctorate. 
The concours was divided into three parts. Ist. Medicine. 2d. 
Surgery. 3d. Accessory sciences. The principal exercises had refer- 
ence to these three objects, and the candidates were accordingly di- 
vided into three series. When the interest of the school required it, 
the royal council, at the request of the faculty, established special 
exercises for each of the accessory sciences. 
Each part of the concours was composed of three exercises. Ist. A 
written composition. 2d. An oral lesson. 3d. A thesis. 
Of the written composition.^Three questions prepared by the 
judges were thrown into an urn, from which the oldest candidate 
drew out the one to be proposed. This being done, all the candidates 
were shut up in a room, under the superintendance of two of the 
judges, and were there required to compose a dissertation in Latin on 
the subject stated in the question proposed. After a period of from five 
to eight hours, during which they were not allowed to communicate 
with any one, or consult any books, they deposited their compositions, 
to which they previously affixed their signature, into a box, which the 
president sealed up. This first exercise was not public. Those 61 
that followed took place in the lecture room and in presence of all 
who were willing to attend. 
Of the Oral lesson.—The judges designated as many subjects as 
there were candidates. Each of these drew one of the subjects, and. 
prepared upon it a lecture of three-quarters of an hour in duration, and 
for the composition of which he was allowed three full days. During 
the lecture only simple notes could be made use of. Several of these 
lectures occupied the attention of the judges during each sitting, 
which lasted three hours. After this exercise of the oral lesson, the 
written compositions were read out by their respective authors. 
Of the thesis,—'The judges designated as many subjects as there 
were candidates; each of whom drew one on which he was obliged to 
compose, and print at his own expense, a thesis in Latin. Of this 
thesis, ten copies were sent to the grand master, and one to each of 
the judges and candidates three days prior to its defence. This took 
place only after an interval of twelve days from the moment the sub- 
jects were distributed. The argumentation was conducted in Latin 
among the candidates. The three hours which this exercise occu- 
pied were divided in such a way, that each candidate discussed the 
subject during at least half an hour, and never more than one hour. 
If the candidates were numerous, only six were allowed at one time 
to take part in the discussion. If, on the contrary, there was not a 
sufficient number of them to occupy the three hours, the president 
designated some of the judges, or the dean, to argue with the candi- 
dates. When the argumentation took place among the latter, it al- 
ways commenced with the one who was to defend his thesis imme- 
diately after. In this argumentation the disputants could attack the 
principles developed in the thesis—the solutions which the author had 
offered to the questions proposed. They could likewise propose other 
questions on the subject of the thesis, and combat the answers given 
by the defendant. 
Within twenty-four hours subsequent to the last sitting of the con- 
cours, the judges assembled, and elected, by a secret ballot, and by 
a majority of the whole, those they considered entitled to preference. 
The minutes of the operations of the concours, after being signed by 
all the judges, were forwarded to the grand master. The nomina- 
tions might be impugned by the unsuccessful candidates, but only on 
the ground of a violation of the prescribed forms. These appeals were 
addressed to the grand master, judged by the royal council, and 
could not be received after the tenth day following the termination 
of the concours; one day more being allowed for every twenty leagues, 
(ten myriametres,) from the place where the faculty was situated, 62 
The final nomination of the candidate did not take place before the 
expiration of this term, or the rejection of the appeals, (reclama- 
tions.) Whenever the nomination was annulled, the concours was 
gone over once more, but only among the same candidates. 
It is from among the aggreges, and from them alone, that the profes- 
sors were selected by the grand master—the choice being made out of 
six candidates, three of whom were presented by the assembly of the 
faculty, and three by the academic council. In these presentations 
the professors and aggreges of the other medical faculties of the king- 
dom might be included. 
It has already been remarked, that the disadvantages of the me- 
thod of appointing professors on presentation was somewhat obviated 
by selecting them only from among the aggreges, who were obliged be- 
fore obtaining this situation to pass through the ordeal of a concours. 
These disadvantages were not all obviated, however, for as only very 
young men, who are as ill-suited as old men to undertake the respon- 
sible office of public teachers, were likely to feel disposed to submit 
to these public trials, the selection of professors would almost inva- 
riably have been made from among the junior members of the profes- 
sion unless vacancies had not occurred soon in the faculties, and the 
aggreges had thereby had time to advance in age. The other alterna- 
tive would have been in case of a vacancy in a chair of clinic, to se- 
lect one of the aggreges who had been elected without the formality 
of the concours, by virtue of the right vested to that effect in the grand 
master of the university. But in that case the advantages of the con- 
cours would have been annulledj for if some individual could be ap- 
pointed to a professorship without undergoing the trials of a public con- 
cours, where was the necessity of requiring these trials of others? But 
as every three years an addition was made to the number of these 
subordinate professors, there would always have been a large number 
of young candidates for every vacancy that occurred in the facul- 
ties, and intrigue, influential protection, and a thousand other causes, 
might have induced the faculty in which such vacancy occurred, as 
well as the academic council, to present, and the government to 
select one of them in preference to an older, and more experienced, 
and more worthy competitor. It might also have happened, and did 
actually happen, on several occasions, as in the appointment of M. 
Cruveilhier, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of 
Beclaud, and of M. Moreau as successor of Desormeaux, 
that with a view to please the government, the faculty or the acade- 
mic council would place at the head of the list of presentation an 
individual agreeable to the former, and thus give an apparent sane- 63 
tion to the preference of him over more deserving candidates. This 
circumstance was particularly to be feared at an early period after 
the reorganization of the schools? since the majority of the members 
of the faculties were mere tools in the hands of government, and the 
greater number of aggreges had been appointed directly by the lat- 
ter, and were, with some exceptions, less distinguished for talents 
than for subserviency to the ruling power and to the priesthood. 
Physicians who had attained a certain degree of eminence as practi- 
tioners, who had acquired considerable reputation by their writings, or 
as lecturers, could not feel disposed to enter in competition with young 
men at a minor concours, who, nevertheless, might have made excel- 
lent professors, and would willingly have gone through all the exer- 
cises of a concours opened for the purpose of supplying a vacancy in 
a faculty, and particularly if they had had to compete with men of 
equal standing with themselves. Indeed, the establishment of the ag- 
greges, with the privileges accorded to them, at the same time that it 
was unjust, led to great disadvantages, for it not only prevented the 
physicians to whom we here allude from delivering private courses of 
lectures—from acquiring the habit of teaching as well as obtaining re- 
nown and profit—and from beinguseful to students? butprevented them 
from ever becoming candidates to a chair in the faculties? while it ac- 
corded these privileges, at the first formation of the schools, to some 
individuals unknown as writers, lecturers, or even as practitioners. 
The monopoly, therefore, remained for some time, agreeably to the plan 
adopted, in the hands of a few who in the commencement had all been 
appointed by government? and the nominations to vacant chairs was 
sure to be made from among these, until no more of them remained to be 
promoted. On the whole then, we believe that the old plan of electing 
professors themselves by concours is the best that can be devised— 
far preferable to the one adopted in 1815, and even to the one 
substituted in 1823. 
From the preceding account of the manner of conducting the con- 
cours—of the different exercises to which the candidates were ob- 
liged to submit, it will be perceived that it was not the easiest thing 
in the world to become an aggrege—that it required much prepara- 
tion, and was well calculated to excite emulation. The consequence 
of this was, that the greater number of these aggreges were men of 
talents and information, and would one day have become compe- 
tent to the task of assuming? with credit to themselves, and advan- 
tage to the school, the duties of a professorship. The exceptions to 
this were found principally among those who at the period of the or- 
ganization of the schools were appointed without a concours, and had 64 
obtained the situation through means of protection and intrigue. The 
result in question would have been greatly enhanced by the training 
they underwent during the period of the exercise. Nothing can we be- 
lieve point out more forcibly the excellence of the plan and method 
of instruction pursued in the schools of France, than the fact that 
young men recently from the benches of the lecture rooms can place 
themselves on the list of candidates, and go through the whole of the 
exercises with considerable aplomb, and often with success. We fear 
that a similar result would not often be obtained in our medical schools, 
from which young graduates issue with a comparatively small stock 
of theoretical, and generally without the least practical knowledge. 
Clever as many of the members of the profession in America become 
as practitioners after a few years attendance on the sick, we are in- 
clined to think that few among them would acquit themselves with 
honour of the arduous duties to which the aggreges of France were 
subjected. The medical education obtained in this country is too su- 
perficial, and in general our habits of study are too desultory, to al- 
low us to look forwards for any other results. We cannot help think- 
ing that our schools, and even the science of medicine among us, 
would be much improved were a number of aggreges or adjuncts to 
be appointed, and were the selection of professors to be made from 
among them. So far we have nothing of the sort, and if we mistake 
not, the few adjunct professorships in our schools give no additional 
claim to the chair when the latter becomes vacant. But as things 
now stand the arrangement is perhaps the most proper, as these situ- 
ations are obtained, not after public trials, but through protection and 
favouritism. Some private associations of lecturers in our country are 
viewed by many as the legitimate nursery of professors. But we con- 
fidently hope, that those who have charge of nominations will never 
regard the subject in this light. It would be encouraging monopoly, 
since the vacancies occurring in these institutions are filled, not after 
a concours, where all physicians would be admitted as candidates, but 
by a simple appointment made by the existing members. The whole 
power is placed in the hands of a few individuals who are likely to be 
guided in the choice of their future colleague, more by friendly feel- 
ings and interest, than by the consideration of talents. Whenever the 
chance of admission is not equal for all, the pretensions of these in- 
stitutions, of being the source whence professors are to be obtained, 
should be discountenanced, for if once admitted, it might establish 
claims, or confirm pretensions, that might hereafter be productive ol 
incalculable mischief, and even transfer the right of appointment 
from its legitimate source to others, or at least render it a nullity. 65 
Important, however, as we may regard the addition of those aggreges 
to the regular members of the medical faculties of France, and their 
election after a public concours, viewing the mode in which profes- 
sors themselves were elected, we do not wish to be understood as 
bestowing praise on every detail of the organization of that body. 
There was indeed a point in which it would ultimately have failed* 
and which would have tended to defeat the object for which they 
were instituted. It has already been stated, that twelve new aggreges 
were added every three years to the number already existing. Be- 
sides this, all the vacancies occurring, either in consequence of death, 
resignation, &c. were immediately filled up at a new concours. It 
resulted as a natural consequence of this circumstance, that in the 
course of some years, the number of aggreges would have been very 
considerable, and that, if some modification to the plan in force had not 
been adopted, the number would have embraced all the physicians of 
the cities where the faculties are located, or at least all those who 
felt disposed to aspire to either the honour of the aggregation, or of 
a professorship. Under these circumstances, the chance possessed 
by each, of being chosen to fill a vacancy in the faculty, would have 
been no greater than that enjoyed before by the members of the pro- 
fession generally? since, instead of choosing among a privileged few, 
the faculties, the academic councils, and the government, would have 
had to make a choice from among the privileged all. This choice 
would then often have been just as much the result of intrigue and 
management, as if the candidate had been selected from the mass of 
the physicians within the precincts of the academy? and the other pri- 
vileges attached to the situation would have ceased to be of any ad- 
vantage, since they would have been enjoyed by all. In fine, things 
would have been just as if there had been no aggreges; except, how- 
ever, that to become a professor, it would have been necessary 
to pass through two ordeals—the concours, and the presentation, 
instead of one as formerly. We suspect also, that occasionally 
fewer applicants would have appeared than there were places to be 
filled, and that the severity of the exercises would have been neces- 
sarily relaxed, in order to ensure the admission of as many candi- 
dates as were required by law to fill the twelve places of the stage 
for it would have proved an awkward position to have had a defi- 
ciency in the number of these. It would have destroyed the sym- 
metry of the whole arrangement, and not permitted the possibility of 
affording substitutes for those whose term of duty had expired. This 
actually took place in one of the provincial faculties. Already, in- 
deed, before the last revolution, the number of these aggreges at 66 
Paris, and in the other faculties, was too large, and the source whence 
candidates to vacancies in the schools were to be derived had been 
too much extended, so that, in the choice for a professor, the ad- 
ministration was left too large a field for the exercise of its partiali- 
ties, which could not help falling often, as it occasionally did, on the 
less worthy individuals. 
Such was the organization of the faculty and the mode of electing 
professors when the revolution of July, 1830, broke out. In our last 
communication we stated that by the ordonnance of Louis Philip, 
dated the sth of October, which revoked the obnoxious ordonnances 
of 1822 and 1823, it was ordered that vacancies occasioned by the 
death of some of the old professors, who were reinstated in their 
chairs, should be filled, as formerly, by a public concours. It re- 
mains now to state, that the same formality was enjoined in all sub- 
sequent elections. This measure, which was demanded by a con- 
siderable majority of the profession, not only as a matter of right, be- 
cause it had been established by law and abolished illegally by an 
ordonnance, but also as the most proper to ensure the admission into 
the faculty of men of talents, and the exclusion of ignorant pretend- 
ers, was, however, opposed by some who preferred the mode by pre- 
sentation—by others again who advocated the method of simple nomi- 
nation by the academic council, by general election among all the 
physicians of the place, &c. But the partisans of these methods were 
few in number in comparison with those who advocated that by con- 
cours, a circumstance which doubtless contributed in confirming the 
government in the idea of prescribing the latter in all vacancies that 
might subsequently occur in the faculties. 
But before we proceed any farther we must be allowed to correct 
an error which crept into our last article. It is there stated, that in 
consequence of the changes effected in the faculty of Paris by the or- 
donnance of October, 1830, the body of the aggreges was necessarily 
suppressed. We should merely have stated that thejprivileges conceded 
to these supplementary professors—of being alone allowed to deliver 
private lectures and the only class eligible to professorships, both of 
which were violently opposed as unjustifiable monopolies and as pre- 
venting emulation, were suppressed by that ordonnance. 
The body itself, thus shorn of its obnoxious privileges, and reduced 
in its functions to supplying the place of absent professors, and to a 
participation in the examinations, was retained. 
** Cette institution,” to use the language of the Duke of Broglie, in his report 
to the king, “ offre de grands avantages sans aucun inconvenient: les concours 
par lesquels on y parvient mettent au jour les talens naissans; ils fournissent a 67 
la faculte des sujets qui se formant sous la direction de professeurs espcrimen- 
tes, deviendront d’excellens candidats pour lea concours aux chaires, et 
n’excluront pas cependant ceux qui auraient pu se former par d’autres moyens; 
il n’est par indifferent non plus que ces jeunes aggreges assistent aux examens 
des docteurs, et que par le mode de rotation ctabli, ils changcnt successive- 
ment, tandis que le corps de professeurs demeure permanent; e’est une sur- 
veillance bonne a exercer sur la severite des examens et qui aura meme in- 
directement de I’influence sur les cours, car les examens, les questions que 
I’on y fait, les reponses que I’on obtient, sont un excellent moyen de s’assurer 
que les lemons des professeurs suivent les progres de la science, et que les 
colliers une fois prepares, ne demeurent par la base des cours, lorsque des 
decouvertes importantes ont change les doctrines qui en faisaient le fond.” 
But while reestablishing the concours for all the chairs in the fa- 
culties of medicine of France, (for the minister states, in his report 
to the king, from which we have made the preceding extract, that the 
principles on which the projected ordonnance, that of the sth of 
October, is based, must be equally applicable to the schools of 
Montpellier and Strasburgh,) the government introduced some modi- 
fications in the mode of conducting it- The argumentation is omitted, 
on the plea, that in the heat of the debate, candidates are sometimes 
carried beyond the bounds of decorum. Among the elements on 
which the judges are to establish their decision, a discussion on the 
anterior services and writings of each candidate is introduced. The 
trials at a concours for the chairs of clinic are in great measure limited 
to the above discussion, and to a few other exercises of a very trifling 
character. The whole exercises are gone through in French, and 
government, in order to place things on the old footing, gives up the 
right of selection from among several candidates} a right which was 
held by the former government in the concours for the aggreges. 
The following will present a full view of the regulations of the 
concours. 
Article Ist. The jury of the concours is composed, Ist, of eight professors of 
the faculty of medicine of Paris; 2d, of four doctors in medicine or surgery, or 
academicians who are not professors of the faculty, and who are selected in a 
manner presently to be mentioned, in the Royal Academy of Medicine, in the 
Academy of Sciences, or among the physicians and surgeons of the hospitals. 
Section I.—Composition of the Jury of the Concours. 
Article 2d. The judges selected from among the professors, are, Ist, for the 
chairs of natural philosophy, chemistry, medical natural history, pharmacy, and 
materia mcdica; the professors attached to these chairs, and in addition to them 
the professors of anatomy, physiology, hygiene, and legal medicine. 
2d. For the chairs of surgical clinic and surgical pathology, operations, ob- 
stetrics, of obstetric clinic, and of anatomy; the professors attached to these 
chairs, less one of surgical clinic, who will be excluded by lot. 68 
3d. For the chairs of medical clinic and medical pathology; the professors 
attached to those chairs, and in addition, the professors of physiology, materia 
medica, and hygiene. 
4th. For the chairs of physiology, hygiene, and legal medicine; the profes- 
sors occupying those chairs, and the professors of anatomy, natural philosophy, 
chemistry, obstetrics, one of the six professors of surgical clinic and pathology 
drawn by lot, and one of the six professors of clinical medicine and medical pa- 
thology, also chosen in the same way. 
If by rejection, (recusation,) or any other cause, one or several professors of 
the four preceding series are prevented from performing duty, substitutes will 
be provided from among the professors of the three other series. 
Article 3c?. The judges selected out of the faculty are as follows: 
For chairs of anatomy, physiology, medical and surgical clinics and pa- 
thology, obstetrical clinic, surgical operations, obstetrics, hygiene, mate- 
ria mcdica, legal medicine, and pharmacy, four doctors in medicine or sur- 
gery, chosen by the academy of medicine in the corresponding section or sec- 
tions of that body. Two of them must be selected from among the physicians 
and surgeons of the hospitals. 
2d. For the chairs of natural philosophy, chemistry, medical natural history; 
four members, of the Academy of Sciences chosen by that body, to wit, for the 
chairs of natural philosophy and chemistry in the two sections of natural phi- 
losophy and chemistry; for the chair of natural history in the three sections of 
natural history. 
Article 4th. To these twelve titular judges will be added three supplemen- 
tary ones, (suppleans,) two of whom will be selected from among the mem- 
bers of the faculty, and drawn by lot, and one chosen by the Royal Academy 
of Medicine. 
These supplementary judges will attend at all the sittings of the concours, 
and will supply the place, the two first of the professors of the faculty, and the 
thii’d the place of the judges not attached to that body, whenever these may 
be obliged to absent themselves during the continuance of the concours. Un- 
der no other circumstances are they allowed to take part in the deliberations 
of the jury. 
Article sth. The titulary and supplementary judges elect by ballot the pre- 
sident and secretary of the jury. 
Section ll.—Of the Conditions required of Candidates. 
Article 6th. In order to be entitled to present himself as a candidate to a 
chair in the faculty of medicine of Paris, every individual must be, Ist, a French- 
man by birth or by letters of naturalization; 2d, full twenty-five years of age at 
the moment of the inscription; 3d, and either a doctor in medicine or a doc- 
tor in surgery. 
Section lII.—Of the Trials of the Concours. 
Article 7th. The concours is composed of four kinds of exercises or trials:— 
Ist. The appreciation of the anterior claims of each candidate, made at an 
assembly of the judges, and at which the merit of his writings and services is 
ftdly discussed. 69 
2d. A printed dissertation handed in to the jury twenty days before the open- 
ing of the concours, and the subject of which consists in general views on the 
disputed chair, and on the plan and method that should be adopted in teach- 
ing the particular branch. 
3d. A written answer to a question drawn by lot, and which is the same for 
all the candidates, made in a close room, (a huis clos,) and during a space of 
time which is the same for all. The candidates afterwards come in rotation, 
and read their compositions at an assembly of the jury. 
4th. A lecture delivered after a day’s preparation, on some subject connect- 
ed with the object of the chair—each candidate drawing by lot the subject on 
which he is to lecture. 
sth. A lecture delivered after three hours preparation, on a subject drawn 
by lot, and which is the same for all the candidates who can go through that 
trial on the same day. 
Article Bth. The candidates for the chairs of clinic are exempted from these 
last mentioned trials, to which is substituted two clinical lectures delivered in 
the lecture room of one of the clinical hospitals of the faculty, after the visit of 
some patients selected by the jury. 
Article 9th. The lectures are an hour in duration—they rtffist be oral, and the 
candidates cannot make use of any other than simple notes. 
Section IV.—Of the Judgment of the Concours. 
Jlrtick 1 Oth. Immediately after the last sitting of the concours, the judges 
assemble and elect by secret ballot, and by a majority of the whole, the suc- 
cessful candidate. Nine constitute a quorum. In case of equal division, the pre- 
sident has the casting vote. The judgment is immediately announced to the 
public. 
Article 11 th. The mode of ballotting is the same as for the election of mem-' 
bers of the academy of sciences. 
Article 12th, The candidate elected at the concours receives the investiture 
of the office from the grand master of the university. 
Each of the professors received, and we believe continues to re- 
ceive, a fixed salary of three thousand francs, besides ten francs for 
every examination at which he is present. The president at the 
last examination, (thesis,) receives fifteen francs. Every professor 
who is designated to be present at any act of the faculty, and absents 
himself without leave of the dean, is fined. If he absents himself 
without leave, and does not perform his duties at the school, he loses 
his salary during the whole time of his absence. Professors who in 
their lectures, discourses, or in their social intercourse, disregard the 
respect due to religion, morality, or government, or in any scandal- 
ous way compromises his reputation or the honour of the faculty, is 
referred by the dean to the academic council, and the latter, accord- 
ing to the extent of the offence, pronounces either his suspension 
from duty or his final expulsion. The punishments to which the 
professors are amenable, are, Ist, arrests; 2d, reprimand in presence 70 
of the academic council? 3d, censure in presence of the council of 
the university? 4th, transfer to an inferior office? sth, suspension 
from their functions for a fixed period, with or without a total or par- 
tial privation of their emoluments? 6th, leave of retirement before 
the time of emeritus, with emoluments lower than the pension allowed 
under the latter circumstance? 7th, erasure from the list of mem- 
bers of the university. This is a most severe punishment, as it pre- 
vents the individual subjected to it from ever filling an office in any 
of the public departments. 
Two weeks before the commencement of the scholastic year, each 
professor submits for the examination of the faculty the programme ot 
his course. Each of the courses must be completed before the termi- 
nation of the year, the faculty determining, before the commence- 
ment of the lectures, the duration of each course. The general pro- 
gramme is then published and posted up. 
The dean of the faculty is chosen every five years by the grand 
master of the university from among the professors. His functions 
are revocable. He is the chief of the faculty? and is charged with 
the administration and police of that body. He superintends the ex- 
penditures? calls and presides over the meetings of the faculty? ap- 
points all the committees? orders when necessary the suspension of a 
course? and has the casting vote in case of a division of sentiment re- 
specting nominations, presentations, &c. Independently of his emo- 
luments as professor, the dean receives a -salary of three thousand 
francs per annum. The faculty appoints every year two of its mem- 
bers to aid him in fulfilling his functions, to supply his place in case 
of absence, &c. 
To this account of the members of the faculty, it remains to add, 
that when on duty the professors were obliged to wear peculiar cos- 
tumes. Those costumes were two in number, the one richer than the 
other. The first of these was only worn on grand occasions, and con- 
sisted in the following articles: Ist, a black, French fashioned coat? 
2d, a crimson satin robe with black silk facings? 3d, a cambric cra- 
vat with long ends falling in front of the chest? 4th, crimson silk cap 
ornamented with a gold band? the dean’s cap had two? sth, crimson 
silk breeches trimmed with ermine. The second, or little costume, 
was worn only at the private meetings of the school. It differed from 
the other only in the robe, which is made of black etamine, with 
crimson silk facings? the rest of the dress was the same. When the 
members of the faculty assemble'd together to transact business, they 
had at their orders a beadle, dressed with a black coat and a cloak 
ol same colour, and carrying a silver mace. In their lectures, how- 71 
ever, the professors did not adhere very strictly to the regulations 
respecting their costume; for they often appeared before the class in 
a common black suit, without robe or cap, and we never perceived 
that any of them wore crimson breeches. 
We are now met with a question on which the ingenuity of wri 
ters on medical institutions has been exercised, and on which we 
believe opinions are diversified. Whether the plan of allowing 
regular salaries to the professors of medical faculties is a good or a 
bad one? Without enlarging much on this subject, we must be permitted 
to remark, that so far as we are prepared to decide, we believe that 
the plan pursued in France, is better than is generally admitted. 
Some we are aware will say, that if a professor receives a regular 
pecuniary remuneration for his services, he soon loses all the emu- 
lation and activity he displayed in the beginning; while on the 
contrary, a man who knows that his emoluments depend on the 
number of his pupils, strives to render his course better and 
more attractive every year. All this is, to a certain extent, 
very true; but it would be easy to point out instances in America 
where the very reverse of these results occur—where regularly paid 
teachers, (in other departments of knowledge,) perform their duty with 
praiseworthy zeal and talent, and where, on the other hand, teachers 
whose emoluments are derived from students attending their lectures, 
have from a knowledge that the purchase of their tickets is essential for 
graduation, or from other causes, become negligent in the extreme, 
and have finally performed their duty in a manner little creditable to 
themselves or profitable to their class. 
The system of regular salaries ensures the power on the part of the 
administration, to enforce on the professors the performance of their 
duty and the observance of the rules of the school, a point on which 
much difficulty will often be experienced when the other system is 
adopted. Besides, in France the emoluments of the professors are not 
limited to a fixed salary, which we are willing to admit would be at- 
tended with some inconvenience. They have, as we have seen, an 
eventual pay, as it is called there, arising from graduation and exa- 
mination fees, &c. The result of this is, that the teachers arc as much 
interested in making their lectures attractive and instructive as those 
of our own schools, while the regular salaries they receive, place them as 
effectually under the surveillance and direction of the administration as 
if they had no other sources of emolument. Were this surveillance, 
and this subjection of the faculty productive of no other result than that 
of preventing aggreges and professors from countenancing quackery, 
it would show the advantage that may accrue from it. 72 
But other advantages of the plan of regular salaries can be 
pointed out. It ensures in small schools a sufficient compensa- 
tion to the professors, without which they cannot be expected to de- 
vote that time and attention to their lectures which is absolutely ne- 
cessary for success; and in large schools it ensures the latter a source 
of profit which may be applied to the improvement of the building, to 
the establishment of clinical wards, and in various other ways. 
If we examine what happens in our country, we shall find that in 
the small schools, the professors are obliged, in order to live, to go 
through all the drudgery of the profession, and have often no time 
to read and prepare their lectures; and 2d, that few men of talents 
will leave their practice in one city to join a school in another part 
of the country. We find that in large schools, on the contrary, the 
professors receive emoluments comparatively disproportionate to the 
services they render, and naturally enough oppose the introduction 
of any modification, which though likely to benefit considerably 
the cause of instruction, would curtail them of some portion of 
their receipts. In such cases the schools themselves are depriv- 
ed of a source of revenue that might be applied more usefully than in 
enriching a few individuals, who often finally lose the zeal they might 
have at first displayed. In our opinion, the most effectual stimulus 
to emulation, among professors, wherever a system of remuneration 
similar to ours prevails, will be found in the existence of rival insti- 
tutions, in different sections of the country. Where this incite- 
ment to exertion does not exist, on the contrary, apathy will soon 
succeed to zeal in the professors, and efforts at excellence will 
seldom be made by them. 
While entertaining these views on the subject, however, we 
willingly admit, that in our country, so long as the present laws 
respecting the practice of medicine continue in force, the plan 
of having professors paid by schools, would, instead of proving 
beneficial, be attended with bad effect, especially if the lectures 
were gratuitous; because young men who at present cannot afford 
to study medicine at all, would be enabled to do so for a few months, 
free of expense, and would then practice without license, and with 
only a smattering of knowledge. Be this as it may, however, it is 
certain that the plan adopted in France, in relation to the mode of 
selecting professors, is better than the one pursued in Great Britain 
and America, and we terminate this article with the expression of the 
hope that some beneficial changes may take place before long on that 
point, in the medical colleges of both countries. R. LA