J R Coll Physicians Edinb 2004; 34:153159 153
HISTORY
The international influence of Scottish medical
education has long been one of its distinguishing
features.1This was particularly evident at the end of the
nineteenth century when British expansion overseas
provided new areas of influence for Scotlands medical
schools and enhanced opportunities for students from
abroad wishing to study medicine in Scotland. The
interface that developed then between medical
education in Scotland and the overseas world was
vibrant and multifaceted. Awareness of the educational
challenges and emerging professional medical
opportunities hastened the engagement of Scotlands
universities, and the Scottish Extra Mural Schools, with
the healthcare needs of evolving communities abroad.
The contribution of Scottish trained doctors to global
healthcare during this period is well recognised, but the
institutional dynamics that moulded their interests and
shaped their careers abroad have been little studied.
Focusing on the University of Edinburghs Faculty of
Medicine, then the largest in Scotland, this article
examines how one Scottish medical school responded
to the health and social challenges posed by the growth
of an Empire on which the sun never set.
The University of Edinburgh has had a long history of
contact with scholars and academic institutions outside
Scotland. Nowhere was this more marked than in
medical education, where Edinburghs position was both
as a centre of theoretical learning and vocational
training.2The academic and clinical achievements of men
such as Simpson and Lister were complemented by
practical improvements in hospital and teaching
accommodation. A new medical school was opened in
premises adjacent to the then new Royal Infirmary in
1884 (see Figure 1). At the same time, the curriculum
was progressively overhauled to ensure an academic
culture and framework appropriate for a new imperial
age. Certificate and Diploma courses in the diseases of
tropical climates, and in tropical medicine and hygiene,
for example, were introduced in 1899 and 1905
respectively.3Moreover, ad hoc courses were provided
for medical students seeking appointments in India,
Africa and elsewhere.4
Contemporaries certainly recognised the importance of
the overseas world to the Faculty of Medicine. Britains
expanding Empire not only reinforced a web of
established relationships and employment opportunities,
but also provided opportunities for students from newly
colonised areas. At the present time the largest number
of our students is not derived from Scotland, the Dean
of the Faculty of Medicine and subsequently a President
of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh,
Professor Sir TR Fraser, told a luncheon meeting in 1884,
Many come from England, and a very considerable
number from the great Australian colonies, and from
India, Canada and South Africa. We must no doubt
anticipate that the formation of well-equipped
(medical) schools in countries that greatly assist in
filling our classrooms will result in . . . lessening our
supplies from these sources. [But] if any gloomy
forebodings should be entertained, I think they must
be removed by the consideration that large areas of
the Earths surface still remain uncolonised . . . 5
That Edinburghs medical school had an influential and
ongoing overseas role was a theme often rehearsed. As
Great Britain stands in the relation of Mother to the
Colonies, the Dean of the Faculty of Law noted in
1902, so amongst British Universities this University
has long been par excellence the Alma Mater of colonial
'THE MOST POWERFUL MEDICAL MAGNET IN EUROPE':
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITYS MEDICAL SCHOOL AND THE
OVERSEAS WORLD, 18801914
I Wotherspoon, Freelance Historian and Writer, Edinburgh
FIGURE 1
The New Edinburgh Medical School in 1884. Courtesy of Edinburgh University Archives.
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