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AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 555
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
IT was not until the 18th century that the system of medical
education in Austria got rid of those features characteristic
of the middle ages, which had exercised a restricting and
narrowing influence upon its development. It had up to
that time rested exclusively in the hands of the doctors'
guild—the union which included all medical men entitled
to practise, and which was designated as the Faculty.
From amongst the members of this society the professors
were chosen, and their election was confirmed by the
University Consistory. The latter, which corresponded
nearly to the University Senate of the present day, had
been dominated by the power of the clergy ever since the
Order of Jesuits had, by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1623,
acquired a preponderating influence in all questions of
education.
The professors of medicine drew but miserable salaries,
and were therefore obliged to support themselves by
medical practice. At the same time their scientific work,
except in the case of a few, was of an insignificant character.
In a report upon the University of Vienna, laid before the
Government in 1688, it is remarked " that in this University
of Vienna for so many years hardly anything has been heard
from its professors of law and medicine, who have neglected
to bring forward or publish any subject connected with
their sciences. The University of Vienna might as well be
asleep, or no such seat of learning exist in Vienna at all.
On the other hand, it is notorious how indefatigable and
industrious the professors at other high schools in Germany
are, what fine books they write, and what useful works they
get printed and published."*
There was a complete lack of the appliances and estab­
lishments required for the study of medicine, and even the
* KINK :. Geschichte der Universitat zu. Wien, Wien 1854, i, 398.