History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

Medical Education in Illinois449after be known as the Northwestern University Woman's Medical School. It isconducted as a regular school of medicine for the education of women only."Dr. Byford, who had been so active in promoting this union, did not liveto see its completion. The alliance lasted until 1902, when NorthwesternUniversity declared the school non-existent. Whatever the cause of thisdecision it could not have been due to any deterioration in the standingof the school. Possibly there were financial reasons. Matriculation of studentshad decreased slightly as all the regular medical colleges in the cityhad become co-educational.It was a shock to the alumnae that their beloved Alma Mater had closedits doors forever. The younger generation in the large educational institutionswill never know the close, friendly relationship existing in this smallerschool where teachers and students struggled together and together wona great victory.OTHER MEDICAL SCHOOLS IN ILLINOISESTABLISHED DURING THE 19TH CENTURY 12By OTTO F.KAMPMEIER, Ph.D., M.D.INhis report on medical education in the United Statesand Canada,Flexner 13 recorded that between 1810 and 1840, twenty-six new medicalschools were founded in these two countries; between 1840 and 1876, fortysevenmore, and that the number actually surviving in1876 more thandoubled since then. The United States and Canada in a little more than acentury produced 457 medical schools, many of which were short-lived andperhaps 50 were stillborn, while 155 survived in 1910. Illinois was the "prolificmother of 39 medical colleges and still harbors in the City of Chicago,14." Not long after Flexner wrote these words in 1910, the number of survivorsdiminished to less than half, and most of the original 39 in Illinoishad closed their doors before the turn of the century.Some of these institutions were inferior in their ideals, motives, aims andperformance at their beginning; some were even fraudulent, while othersintheir conception vied with the best of the present survivors and suc-12This material has been transposed and extracted from the monograph on medicallibraries in Illinois which Dr. Kampmeier contributed fin this volume.—Editor13Flexner, Abraham: Medical Education in the United States anil Canada. CarnegieFoundation Report, Bulletin 4, New York City, iuiu.