Medical schools proliferated in America during the nineteenth century; between 1810 and 1875 at least seventy-three such institutions opened for business. Most of these schools were proprietary, meaning they were owned by one or more physicians who operated them in order to make a profit. Both entrance and graduation requirements were low. Classes consisted solely of lectures by professors. Clinical, laboratory, and library resources were either inadequate or, most often, nonexistent. Those who could not afford even these rudimentary medical schools could apprentice themselves to established physicians and then call themselves doctors.
Throughout the nineteenth century many doctors condemned the quality of medical education in the United States. At an 1846 meeting in New York City, where more than one hundred physicians had gathered to form a national association, a committee was appointed to study and recommend changes in medical education. Although sweeping reforms.....
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