Charge to the Graduates of Jefferson Medical College of Phila-
delphia, delivered at the public commencement, held March 9th,
1850. By J. K. Mitchell, M. D. Published by the Graduat-
ing Class.
The Charge of Professor Mitchell, gives an interesting history
of the early establishment of Medical schools in Philadelphia, as
far back as the year 1765, the first being the medical department
of the “ College Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia.”
It details the founding of the University of Pennsylvania in 1779, in
which the old school was merged; of their separation again by
legislative enactment in 1789, and of their final union in 1791
under the title of the “Medical Faculty of the University of
Pennsylvania.” The History of Jefferson Medical College from
its foundation in 1824 till the present date, is also briefly given,
together with some valuable statistics, from which we learn that,
“ For the last seven years, the whole number of matriculants has
been 3,184, making an average annual class ol‘ 454, whilst the annual
average class of the oldest and most distinguished school of our country
is 455. Our average class for sir years, is even higher than that, being
474 ; whilst the highest average for the same time, in any other school,
is 461. It is gratifying to us to perceive from these statistics, that
our success has not retarded the progress of our eminent rival, whose
average class is steadily on the increase, never having been so high as
it is now, in any other six consecutive years of its brilliant existence.”
At this particular juncture, when shoals of graduates are emerg-
ing from their chrysalis state, it may not be amiss to show by
figures, that the danger of being overwhelmed with doctors, which
seems to be so much dreaded by the community, is not so immi-
nent as they suppose. By comparing the statistics of Professor
Mitchell with those of Professor Tucker, in this number, the views
of both, and the close approximation in the calculation of two
careful statisticians, cannot fail to strike the reader.
“The number of medical men in the city and suburbs of Philadel-
phia is four hundred and ninety-seven ; which, supposing the popula-
tion to be three hundred and fifty thousand, gives one physician for
seven hundred and four persons—a proportion about equal to that of
the capital of Prussia. If we suppose that the same proportion extends
to the country at large, there should be, in a population of twenty-two
millions, thirty-one thousand two hundred and fifty physicians. This
result is singularly confirmed by the fact that a great publishing house
in this city distributes a gratuitous medical monthly paper to upwards
of thirty thousand physicians, of whom it has the names and addresses.
If each of these physicians continued to practise until he died, and if
none of them abandoned the profession, from indolence or the tempta-
tions of more lucrative occupations, and if professional exposure and
unhealthy places did not exalt the proportional mortality beyond that
of the most salubrious residences, four hundred and thirty-nine physi-
cians would die annually in the United States. If we suppose that old
age, bad health, the seductions of other employments, and the acquire-
ment of a competency, may carry out of the profession not more than
two individuals of every one hundred, or two per cent., the profession
will, from all these various causes, lose six hundred and twenty-five
persons annually. The increase in the population of the United States
by birth and immigration, amounts now, to not less than seven hundred
thousand souls annually ; for whom, according to the rate assumed,
there will be required not less than nine hundred and ninety-four
doctors. Thus then, to supply the loss by death, by desertion, and by
the annual increase of population, there should be created every year,
two thousand and fifty-eight graduates. But the army and navy are to
be supplied with physicians, and there must be a large migration of
medical men into the newly-acquired territories of the nation. Adven-
turous physicians are also scattered over the world. One of my
private pupils is practising medicine in China, another at Manilla, and
a third in California, while two of them are seeking for knowledge in
the capital of France.
A great number, perhaps a tenth, of the existing practitioners of the
United States, who are among the enumerated 31,250 doctors, are, by
ignorance, totally unfit for the duties which they have assumed. They
have never seen a college, and many of them have scarcely entered a
school of any kind. To supersede such men would demand the crea-
tion of at least three thousand graduates in medicine. To say, there-
fore, that twenty-five hundred physicians should be annually created
would be to make an assertion much within the bounds of truth.
A reference to the statistics of the medical schools of the United
States, made by an able committee, to the National Medical Association,
in May last, shows that the mean number of graduates for the last five
years, was twelve hundred and eighty-three, the greatest number
being, in any one year, fourteen hundred and twenty-one, and the least,
one thousand and thirty-one.
Thus you perceive that scarcely half as many persons receive a
degree in medicine, as the wants of the country demand, and that the
growth of empiricism is unhappily on the increase, because the expenses
of a medical education place its proper attainment beyond the reach
of most of the practitioners of the country, or because the masses are
not yet sufficiently educated to perceive the priceless value to the
community, of a well-instructed physician.”
We cordially commend this document to our readers, as it con-
tains much valuable information, and return our thanks to the
Professor for the pleasure we have found in its perusal.