History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

Medical Education in Illinois 423highest order of excellence but had a standard that was altogether too highfor the public to appreciate. It was eventually transformed into an ordinaryhigh class dental school and was called the Chicago College of DentalSurgery, and in this form became one of the largest dental schools in theworld.It seems to have been, all through the history of Rush Medical College,the impression of its friends that it ought, if possible, be attached to astrong university. Very early in its career, negotiations were entered intofor a union with a Catholic university projected for Chicago, but thisuniversity never was created. Early in the 1870's, a union was formed withthe first University of Chicago, but it was a union in name only. Thecollege treated the union as a tentative arrangement and the relation soonceased. In June 1887, the college made another alliance, this time with theLake Forest University, a Presbyterian institution at Lake Forest, Illinois.This union did not involve any close university relations; the college retainedits autonomy and conducted its work and business in its own way.The relationship was entirely amicable but the friends of the college neverceased to wish that it might be closer and more helpful toward a highermedical education and more scientific research.The system of instruction began to assume the graded character in 1880,and by March 1883, definite conditions of admission into the school weredefined whereby all applicants for admission would be examined "in theelements of physical science as taught in common school text books." Laterthe conditions were changed so as to admit, without examination, graduatesof colleges, academies and high schools, holders of county and state teachers'certificates, and special students not seeking the degree. These conditionsstood without change until 1888, when the acceptance of a teacher's certificatewas limited to that "of the first grade." The following year (1889),the character of the examination was changed to cover "the branches of agood English education, including mathematics, English composition andelementary physics." In 1891, the specified branches to be covered by admissionexaminations included "the elements ofalgebra and geometry,English composition, elementary physics, rhetoric and logic and the rudimentsof Latin." In 1895, students found deficient in any of the brancheswere allowed to make up their conditions during the freshman year.When it became apparent that more space would be required for laboratoryand recitation rooms, a new brick and stone laboratory building waserected in 1893 directly opposite the main college building. The AnatomicalDepartment was situated on the top floor,the floors below beingoccupied by the laboratories of chemistry, pathology, physiology, histology,bacteriology, materia medica; by recitation rooms and offices. This made themain building more useful for the increased clinical instruction.