II. Madras. • Present defici ency, 24; expected letter to the Adju- + Dated 8th May 1856. an octavo work. years' collegiate instruction, they were generally unacquainted with almost every branch of medical service. 4. Thus it would appear that there is not only a paucity of eligible candidates for admission into the medical department, but that even those admitted are incapable of profiting by the system of education pursued. 5. The gradual deterioration, both physically and mentally, in the class of natives desirous of employment in the medical service, has frequently been remarked, and the difficulty of now procuring any but those of the lowest caste (Pariahs), and the most inferior attainments, is known to every one who takes an interest in medical education. The result therefore of the examination would seem not to be accidental or exceptional, but the natural consequence in offering insufficient inducements for natives of a superior description to enter the service, and in affording collegiate instruction to a class of uneducated men of a low order in society, and who generally possess neither inclination nor capacity for the acquisition of knowledge. 6. The above evils are not the growth of a day, they have for years been gradually developing themselves, and have now reached such a point as to be seriously detrimental to the public service.* The medical service is decidedly unpopular with the natives, and in truth there is nothing in the present status or emoluments of a dresser, calculated to induce any one of caste or superior attainments to follow the profession of medicine, while many circumstances connected with the military duties of a dresser, combine to influence young men in avoiding it. 7. Such, I believe, is a correct picture of the native branch of the medical department, and unless some comprehensive measure is carried out for the improvement of the entire class of native subordinates, no material change could be anticipated, and the same description of men will be introduced into the department, entailing disappointment on the Government, and serious discredit upon the Medical College. 8. The College Council, in their letter to the Adjutant General, have already been afforded an opportunity of expressing their opinion upon this subject, and my object in reopening the question is, to propose for consideration two measures of considerable importance, and which I think might now be adopted with manifest advantage to the public service; viz. 1. To institute a class of medical subordinates, who would not be required to receive collegiate instruction. 2. To institute a systematic course of primary professional instruction for the native medical subordinates, previous to their becoming students of medicine. 9. From what has been stated above, it must be apparent to every one, that the indiscriminate admission of all native pupils to the Medical College, for instruction, is a mistake, and it appears little less than folly to expect, that a young man with a mere smattering of English, of inferior intelligence naturally, and a mind quite uncultivated, can derive any material advantage from listening to lectures. In my opinion, a thorough practical education in everything relating to the duties of a dresser, with such other information as could be acquired in the provincial schools hereafter to be mentioned, is all the instruction which the majority of this class of subordinates require, and the best place for the education of such is the hospital and not the college; the careful painstaking elementary teaching of one in the position of a schoolmaster, would certainly be more effective with dull ignorant native lads, than the scientific lectures of a professor, delivered in, to them, a foreign language. 10. It appears that 150 candidates were rejected by the professors during the last five years; now, although I believe that all these lads were justly rejected, as quite unable to benefit by instruction conveyed by lectures, yet I feel persuaded that many of them might have made useful hospital assistants if they had undergone a careful practical course of teaching of the description above alluded to. 11. Medical instruction, consisting of a thorough practical acquaintance with the ordinary duties of an hospital, viz., the compounding of medicines, applying of fomentations, leeches, blisters, dressing of sores, and preparing of ointments and plasters, with elementary knowledge in the practice of medicine and surgery, and materia medica, &c. is all that is required by the great majority of medical subordinates, and I maintain that such instruction may be more effectually imparted in the provinces under teachers, than at Madras under professors. 12. I will now allude to the second proposition. Standard of Qualification. The low standard of preliminary qualification required Reading, not less than 15 nor more than 20 lines of at Madras, has proved injurious to the interests of the college, as well as the public service. Any native canOrthography, not limited. didate is considered qualified to benefit by collegiate Definition of words, the words to be selected from instruction, who can pass through the ordeal even with the part read, or from that given for "writing to dic- difficulty, and thus many young men become native metation," so that the boys may have an opportunity of dical pupils who are altogether unable to profit by instrucseeing the context. tion conveyed by lectures, and it has not unfrequently Writing to dictation,-not less than 10 nor more happened, that after lecturing for an hour, explaining and Arithmetic-to the Rule of Three inclusive. than 15 lines of an octavo work. re-explaining in the simplest possible language the subject before them, the professor has found at the close of his address, the native students profoundly ignorant of the whole matter; they had not, apparently, comprehended a single sentence of the professor's lectures. 13. This fact of itself accounts for the unsatisfactory state, as regards intelligence and progress in professional knowledge, of the native branch of the medical service. .II. Madras. 14. To avoid in future the recurrence of such failures as are detailed above, in simple justice to the professors of the Medical College, and to procure from the institution what the Government are most anxious to possess, a class of natives highly educated in the medical profession, I propose that no native pupil be eligible for collegiate education, unless he has passed creditably through an elementary course of professional instruction, and is proved to possess a respectable knowledge of the English language. 15. Without such preliminary training, the native student will ever labour under serious disadvantages, and will never be able to compete, on anything like equal terms, with his East Indian fellow student. 16. Proposed course of preliminary instruction: 1st year. To attend an English school, and endeavour to acquire an intimate elementary knowledge of the English language, geography, &c. &c. To be taught all the duties of an hospital dresser, viz.: vaccination, leeching, bandaging, fomenting, the application and dressing of blisters, ulcers and compounding of medicines, &c. &c. 2d year. Continued attendance at an English school, and performance of all the duties of the hospital above alluded to, with the additional instruction of anatomy and physiology, medicines, their classes, uses, and modes of administration, &c. 3d year. The same as above, with the addition of elementary knowledge in chemical medicine and surgery. 17. During the first year, I consider that the medical pupil should be attached to a civil hospital, and placed under the immediate charge of the medical officer of the zillah, but that on the expiration of 12 months, the pupils should be removed to the head quarters of the division, and attached to regiments as dressers. There, in addition to their regimental duty, the pupils would be assembled daily in a class room or hospital, to undergo a systematic training in all matters relating to their profession, under an efficient teacher. 18. In my opinion, the best qualified medical subordinate should be selected as the instructor, under the superintendence of a commissioned medical officer; this arrangement would afford the great advantage of vernacular explanation when necessary. 19. At the close of the second or third year, the pupils would be examined by a committee of medical officers, and from amongst those who had profited most by the opportunities afforded them, the most industrious and intelligent of the pupils would be selected the number required by Government, who were to proceed to the Presidency for collegiate instruction. Those who remained, or were unable to pass the prescribed examination, or those who, from personal reasons, were unwilling to remove for three years to the Presidency, but who were considered perfectly qualified for all the ordinary duties of a second dresser, to be at once eligible for departmental duty in that capacity. 20. By the above arrangement, the native medical student would enter college comparatively well educated, with an improved knowledge of the English language, acquainted with the elements of his profession, and familiar with professional terms, and in many respects well fitted for receiving scientific instruction, and acquiring professional knowledge by lectures. 21. Having completed the appointed course of study, the native student should undergo the same examination at the close of the session, as the East Indian, and in the event of his passing creditably through the ordeal, and coming up to the standard of attainmenɩs required of the Eurasian, he should receive the diploma of assistant apothecary. Those, on the other hand, whose qualifications are found to be of a lower order, would continue in the service as dressers, to which grade they would permanently belong. 22. But however desirable the adoption of the foregoing remedial measures may be, it must be admitted that they provide but partially for the difficulty principally to be contended with, viz., the inadequate supply of candidates of a superior description for the native medical service; and I should fail in my duty to Government if I hesitated respectfully to express my deliberate conviction, that nothing short of placing the emoluments and prospects of the department on a more liberal and satisfactory footing than at present, can lead to any permanent improvement in this particular. It appears altogether superfluous to urge on the consideration of Government, that since the department was originally organized, so many new sources of profitable employment of a more congenial description have been opened up in the country, that it is hopeless to expect an adequate supply of natives of respectability and intelligence can be procured for this, the hardest worked and worst paid department of the public service, on the same terms as formerly; and unless the measure proposed by Government, or others equally comprehensive and liberal, are adopted, all minor expedients must end in but continued failure and disappointment. 23. In conclusion, I would only further observe, that in order to render the proposed course of provincial instruction thoroughly effective, it is desirable that the medical subordinates so employed, should be led to take an interest in it, by remunerating them suitably for each candidate who may be passed by the medical committee, as qualified for admission into the public service. Madras, 10 July 1857. (signed) J. Kellie, Surgeon, President Madras Medical College Council. Letter to the Hon. Court of Directors, No. 133, dated 25th Oct. 1855. .II. Madras. No. 46. (No. 1325.) It is observed that the principle discussed in the above letter from the Director of Public Instruction, viz., as to the removal of all restrictions as to race, in regard to appointments in the subordinate branches of the medical service, has already come under consideration in the Military Department; ordered, that the above letter be referred to that department for consideration, and in view to the opinion of his Excellency the Commander in Chief being requested on the changes recommended by the Director of Public Instruction. Fort St. George, 4 November 1856. No. 38. EXTRACT Fort St. George Public Diary to Consultation of 23 December 1856. Received the following (No. 3255.) EXTRACT from the Minutes of Consultation in the Military Department, dated 13 December 1856. Read the following: Extract Mins. Cons. Public Department. Referring to the Military Department a letter from the Director of Public Instruction on the subject of removing all restrictions as to race in regard to appointments in the subordinate branches of the medical service, for consideration, and in view to the Commander in Chief's opinion being requested on the project. No. 39. HERE enter 4th November 1856, No. 1325. THE Governor in Council defers passing orders on the subject of the foregoing papers, pending decision of the Government of India upon the general measures which have been proposed for the improvement of the subordinate medical department. (No. 1503.) Ordered to be communicated to the Director of Public Instruction, in reference to his letter of the 23d August last, No. 697. Fort St. George, 20 December 1856. 18. PAPERS referred to in Madras Public Despatch (Educational), EXTRACT Public Letter from Fort St. George, dated 24 December, No. 33 of 1857. Para. 9. WE have approved the scheme of examination drawn up by the faculty of civil engineering, and the bye-laws for the government of the university passed by the senate, copy of which is now forwarded. II. Madras. FORT ST. GEORGE Public Consultation of 11th August 1857. READ the following Letter from the Registrar of the University of Madras to the Acting Chief Secretary to Government, Fort St. George, dated 3d August 1857, No. 17. Sir, I HAVE the honour to transmit, for the approval of the Governor in Council of Fort St. George, a copy of the report and scheme of examination drawn up by the Faculty of Civil Engineering connected with the University of Madras, and also a paper containing the bye-laws for the government of the University; these documents have both been approved by the senate. No. 69. UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS. Report of the Faculty of Civil Engineering. 1. THE members of the Faculty of Civil Engineering appointed at a meeting of the senate on the 7th April, assembled on the 14th May, and again by adjournment on the 10th and 15th June, for the purpose of considering and reporting upon the conditions to be observed in granting degrees in this faculty in the University of Madras. 2. They have had before them, and have carefully studied the opinions which have been given by several of the authorities in this country to whom the subject had been referred, as well as the resolutions to which, on a consideration of those opinions, the University committee at Calcutta had arrived, and which had received the full concurrence of the Governor General of India in Council. 3. The rules under which it is proposed by the Calcutta University that degrees in Civil Engineering shall be conferred, may be briefly stated thus: 1st. That the student shall pass an entrance examination in common with other members of the University before becoming a member, and not before he is 16 years of age. 2d. That he shall attain to the ordinary degree of B.A., to be conferred not until he has been four years connected with the University. 3d. That after having attained the degree of B. A., he shall pass four years in the study and practice of his profession, two of the years being passed in actual professional practice. 4th. That there shall be an examination for honours held shortly after the preceding examination. 5th. That there shall be but one degree in civil engineering, that of "Master." 4. The committee having carefully considered these conditions, and the various arguments upon which they have been established, are unanimously of opinion that they are unsuited to the social condition and requirements of this part of India; they believe that if the above rules are established and insisted upon (and they were better not established than not maintained when established), no candidates for this degree will make their appearance, and that the object aimed at, viz., the creation of an independent profession in this country will be defeated. 5. They feel it incumbent on them to give their reasons at length. 6. They consider, first, that they have not to legislate for the improvement or extension of a profession, but to create the profession itself in India; that among the difficulties to be expected in effecting this object are the poverty of the people, and the absence of any general demand, such as is calculated to excite competition, and to support professional independence. 7. They observe, that at their first meeting, the Calcutta sub-committee had regard to the existing Government colleges and the Government department of Public Works, and suggested that a college diploma (alluding to those colleges), would be held a sufficient evidence of ordinary attainment, and distinctly kept in view these considerations in framing, subsequently, the rules regarding degrees in that University; one of the main objections to those rules entertained by this committee, viz., the late period of life at which they admit of a young man entering his profession, being thus discerned and got rid of by a reference to a diploma at a Government college. Remembering that the object is the creation of an independent profession, between which and society at large there shall be a certain healthy action and re-action, the committee consider that all reference to, still more any dependence upon Government or its institutions should be carefully avoided; they believe that the greater the influence the Government or the Government departments have upon the members of the University, the less the hope of creating by its means an independent profession of any kind. The question should be, not what will be a sufficient degree to gain admittance into the department of Public Works, but what will place a young man on a just level in the eyes of society, and secure him a position of independence of any particular authority or body of men. II. Madras 8. They have considered the marked difference in the nature and object of the degrees in arts and those in science. 9. Candidates for the former have no special object in view beyond receiving the st mp of well-educated members of society. In the latter it is different, and the degrees are sought with the express view of making a beginning in a profession looked to as a means of living and of rising in life. 10. It is obviously therefore of the highest importance that a young man should have a professional degree, as evidence of his having been professionally prepared, at his entrance into professional life. The first degree in civil engineering proposed in the Calcutta University is that of "Master" at the age of 24; the Madras faculty are of opinion that this is too late for a first degree, though sufficiently early for the degree which stamps a man an efficient practitioner. 11. They have also considered, among the difficulties which the members of the new profession here will have to encounter, competition with the civil engineers of Europe. 12. If we have to look, as heretofore, to Government employment alone for men in this profession, they believe, that though every effort might be made to secure the education and fitness of the several members of the department of Public Works, and much success might attend those efforts, no profession, strictly speaking, could exist. It appears, however, to be generally desired and expected, that a demand for men of this class will, in this country as in Europe, come from capitalists, individuals or corporate bodies, engaged in works of various kinds and degrees of importance. 13. It seems to be expected also that these capitalists will come from England, and that the men interested in these works and engaged chiefly in their promotion will be not men in or belonging to India, but men in England, among whom there will be a strong tendency to employ engineers of their own school. 14. There cannot be a question that a young man educated and distinguished in the manner proposed in the Calcutta scheme, would, at the age of 24, belong, in point of intellectual attainments, to a far higher class than those now commonly found among the junior members of the profession at home, but this is unfortunately not the whole question. There is another point to be considered: are young men in this country likely to be found ready and willing to start in professional competition with those in England under sach conditions? while the one in India is still waiting for his B. A. degree, the other in England has got a footing in his profession, working under the guidance and protection of some experienced member of the profession; and before the one here has completed his education, the other has attained, not only a footing, but probably something of a reputation as a professional man. 15. The committee fully concur in the views so clearly expressed in the sixth and seventh paras. of Lord Elphinstone's Minute of the 9th of November 1855; they believe it to be an object of the highest importance to elevate as much as possible the standard of principle and character among the professional graduates; but with the Bengal sub-committee on law, they think that the Bombay Government is disposed to push the principle too far. Moreover if there be, as the committee believe, some disadvantage, on the one hand, in demanding so much of time and study for a student before giving him any professional degree, they do not see clearly, on the other hand, what there is in the required studies between the ages of 16 and 24 to ensure this elevation of principle and character. 16. They believe that the correct principle for men looking to such a profession as that of civil engineer, would be to divide their education into three periods : 1st. Their preparatory training as members of society; 2d. Their preliminary training fitting them to enter on the duties of their profession. 3d. Their subsequent training, including the early professional practice, qualifying them for the title of Master in the profession, trustworthy practitioners. 17. They think that the first, the most important period of all, may be fairly enough closed at 16. It is at this time, they believe, that the broad basis of a general education should be laid, upon which alone a sound professional superstructure can be raised; and if the seeds of a high standard of principle and character be not sown then, there is much reason to fear they will not be sown at all, or if sown, will not germinate. As the training in this period is the general foundation of the man's education, whatever special direction it is to take, so the education in the second period should form the basis of his professional training, being chiefly confined to a study of the principles on which its practice must be based. 18. The third period should add actual practice, in the application of the preliminary knowledge already attained, to a further advance in theoretical studies. 19. The committee observe, that the principle for which they contend, viz., that of giving the student an earlier entrance into his profession, has been recognised in the rules regarding degrees in medicine. In that faculty the degree of licentiate is to be conferred without the previous degree of B. A. being required. They think a similar system should be followed in civil engineering, and they propose therefore the following rules: There shall be two degrees in civil engineering in this University, viz., a graduate as G. C. E., and a master as M. C. E. The examination for the degree of G. C.E. shall be held in Madras once a year, and shall commence on the Examination |