An historical sketch of the medical profession of Toronto

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Anderson, Harry Bertram

A historical sketch of
the medical profession of
Toronto

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Reprinted from

TEE CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

1926, XVI, 446-452

AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF T
MEDICAL PROFESSION OF
TORONTO

By. H. B. Anderson, M.D.,

Toronto

After the Peace of Versailles, in 1783, the en-
forced migration of United Empire Loyalists
brought some ten thousand exiles, who had risked
and lost all for their attachment to king and
country, to seek new homes in the northern wilder-
ness, and this constituted the first considerable
settlement of the province of Upper Canada.

The sudden influx of a class cemented by the
rigours of war, the harshness of the victors and
the hardships of the pioneer; the extent to which
they acquired possession of the lands of the
province and the control of affairs in general
which naturally fell into their hands, were un-
fortunately, perhaps inevitably, the source of
many difficulties and much discussion in later
years as the population increased by the immigra-
tion of more diverse elements from the mother
country.

According to Sabine, their American historian,
the Loyalists included a large representation of
the official classes and the professions of law and
divinity, the latter mostly of the Episcopal
church. The remarkable fact that few doctors
accompanied these exiles, is accounted for by
Sabine on grounds reflecting no discredit upon the
medical profession. "The physicians who ad-
hered to the Crown were numerous and the pro

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"3 / <V

portion of Whigs was probably less in the prof es- / 's %

sion of medicine than in either that of law or
theology. But unlike the latter callings, most of
the physicians remained in the country and
quietly pursued their business. There seems to
have been an understanding that though pulpits
should be closed and litigation suspended, the
sick should not be deprived of their regular and
freely chosen medical attendants; . . . their per-
sons and property were generalh' respected in the
towns and villages, where little or no regard was
paid to the bodies and estates of the gentleman
of the robe and surplice. "

A few medical officers of disbanded Loyalist
regiments settled in the Lower Provinces, especi-
ally in New Brunswick, but some of these removed
to Upper Canada at a later date. To Canadians
the best known of these American colonial regi-

Iments was the old "Queen's Rangers" com-
manded by Colonel John Graves Simcoe during
the Revolutionary War. At the close of the war
the regiment went out of commission, but on being
appointed first governor of Upper Canada, Simcoe
received authority from the Crown to organize a
military force for service in the province. He
named this regiment the "Queen's Rangers" in
honour of his old command, and the important
service it rendered in the settlement of York and
the opening up of Yonge Street, before it was
finally disbanded in 1802, is recorded in the early
history of the province.

The medical needs of the small settlements
gathered at first around the military posts and

(along the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, were
supplied by the medical officers of the garrisons.
As population increased and settlements spread,
the dearth of properly qualified practitioners,
.especially at a distance from the garrisons, led to
(/the springing up of many quacks and irregulars,
who menaced the lives of those by dire necessity
obliged to consult them. In 1788 an Act, known
as the Quebec Ordinance, was passed by the par-
liament of Canada, which provided under severe

2

//

penalty, including fine and imprisonment, that
no persons should practice medicine without a
license from the governor or commander-in-chief
of the province, upon certificate of examination
and qualification by a board appointed by them
for that purpose. University graduates in merli-
rinejmd warranted army and navy surgeon^were
excluded from the necessity _of__cxaminatio_n.
This attempt at control, however, did not have
the desired effect, and a further legislative enact-
ment occupied the attention of the first session of
the parliament of Upper Canada at Newark
(Xiagara-on-the-Lake) in 1796. This Act pro-
vided for the appointment by the governor of the
province of a medical board, to be composed of
the surgeon to his Majesty's hospital, with the
surgeons of his Majesty's regiment doing duty in
the province, and all other authorized surgeons
and practitioners, or ami two of them, of whom the
surgeon to his Majesty's hospital must be one, to
examine and approve candidates for license to
practice. This Act likewise proved unsatisfac-
tory and was repealed in 1806.

That more effectual control was necessary is evi-
dent from an editorial in the York Gazette, Octo-
ber 8, 1808: "The opinion we maintain of such
a public want, arises from the conviction we feel
and the knowledge we possess, that the health,
nay, frequently the existence of a fellow crea-
ture, is lost, being too often sacrificed to the pre-
tentions or cannibal ignorance of empirics, quacks
and imposters. " The deplorable state of affairs
continued and later engaged the interest and
trenchant pen of the redoubtable Bishop Strachan
and other public men, and finally resulted in
legislation establishing the Medical Board of
Upper < Janada in 1818.

The creation of the Upper Canada Medical
Board was the beginning of effective control of
medical practice in the province. The board
began its duties January 4, 1819, and continued
to hold regular examinations and grant licences

close ot wlncn lie went to St. John. New liruns-

5

V

until 1839, when an Act of the provincial parlia-
ment was passed, constituting "The College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Upper Canada" with
power to examine and licence and otherwise con-
' rol medical affairs in the province.

This Act was claimed to infringe the rights of
the Royal College of Surgeons and after a heated
controversy, it was disallowed by the Imperial
parliament. The College of Physicians and Sur-
geons of Upper Canada held its last meeting in
1841 and control of the examination and licensing
of practitioners reverted to the Medical Board of
Upper Canada and continued under its control
nnti] 18fin.- In 1841 the board appointed by the
governor general. Lord Sydenham, consisted of
Christopher Widmer, William C Hwynnp, TEnhaH-.
Hornby, Walter Telfer and Henry Sullivan. This
medical board was subjected to many bitter
attacks, and much criticism on the part of the
profession during the period from 1833 until it
finally went out of existence.

In 1865 the parliament of Canada passed "an
Act to regulate the qualifications of practitioners
of medicine and surgery in Upper Canada" by
which was constituted the "General Council of
Medical Education and Registration of Upper
Canada, " and this body began its duties January
1, 1866, and after Confederation, under authority
granted in 1869 by The Ontario Medical Act, the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario was
created.

In order to maintain uniformity of examina-
tions and control, provision was made for the
admission not only of regular practitioners but
fljso— of— p**Wfig ■ n,nd hnmenpnthir: pra.etitirmpjft
who had been in practice before 1850. Each of
these was to have a fixed representation on the
council as the executive body of the College was
called. This was brought about b}>- an agreement
between the homeopaths, eclectics and regular
practitioners to the repeal of Acts passed in 1859,
1861 and 1866, under which respectively, they

4

had obtained legislation, with authority to ex-
amine and grant iicence to practice in the prov-
ince. The representation of the eclectics ceased
without special enactment about 1875.

The population of Upper Canada at the time
York was chosen as the capital in 1793 was about
12,000, composed almost wholly of United Empire
Loyalists, disbanded soldiers, the garrisons and
official personnel. During Simcoe^s four years as
governor, the population increased to about
30,000. The only evidences of a settlement at
York at the time of Governor Simcoe's arrival,
were the ruins of the old French fort Rouille.
(established in 1749 to protect the southern en-
trance to the overland trade route between Lake
Ontario and the Georgian Bay), and a few wig-
wams of wandering Mississauga Indians.

Dr. James MacAulay, the progenitor of some //
of the most prominent families in the later his-
tory of the province, was induced to come to
Upper Canada by his friend, Colonel Simcoe, as
physician to his household. Arriving in 1792 he
was appointed surgeon to the "Queen's Rangers"
and after the regiment was disbanded, he was
made Deputy Inspector-General of hospitals of the
province. His own name, that of his wife, and
other members of his family are commemorated
in the streets (Teraulay, Hayter, James, Bu-
chanan, Alice, Edward, Elizabeth) of the district
early known as MacAulay Village — later St.
John's Ward. On the establishment of the Upper -n
Canada Medical Board, he was elected chairman .
and continued to act in this capacity until his
death in 1822. The name "Teraulay" was de-
rived from the last syllables of Hayter (Mrs.
MacAulay's maiden name) and MacAulay.

Dr. John Gamble, an Irishman, born 1755,
graduated at Edinburgh and came to New York
in 1779, as Dr. MacAulay's assistant surgeon.
For a time he was attached to the old "Queen's
Rangers" during the Revolutionary War, at the
close of which he went to St. John, New Bruns-

5

wick, where he practised for ten years. In 1793
Governor Simcoe appointed him assistant sur-
geon to the new "Queen's Hungers". When
the regiment was disbanded he removed to
Kingston where he had a large practice until his
death in 1811. One daughter married the Hon.
Wm. Allen, and another Sir James Buchanan
MacAulay, a son of Dr. James MacAulay and
afterwards chief justice of Upper Canada.
Neither Dr. MacAulay nor Dr. Gamble engaged
in private practice at York, though in their official
capacity, no doubt they were called upon at
times to minister to the sick of their community.
i William Warren Baldwin was the first civilian
doctor to settle at York — about 1800. He was a
graduate of Edinburgh and had practised for a
year or so in the old land before coming to Canada.
The field of his professional work for a man of his
energ\r and capacity was obviously too restricted,
and as there was an insufficient number of lawyers
at this time to carry on the work of the courts,
Governor Hunter in 1803, designated William
Warren Baldwin and three others as fit and proper
persons to practise the law. "Having sprung
Minerva-like at once into being in full professional
maturity, these gentlemen were afterwards some-
times alluded to by less favoured brethren of the
robe as the "heaven descended barristers. " The
various important duties which Dr. Baldwin
undertook, however, is evidence of his energy,
ability and versatility — characteristics which he
had in common with others of the early doctors of
York. He was one of the founders, later a
bencher, and for man}r years treasurer of the Law
Society of Upper Canada. An interesting inci-
dent is related of his receiving an urgent call on
one occasion to attend a lady when he was plead-
ing a case before Mr. Justice Willcocks. The
latter adjourned the court and on the doctor's
return inquired for the patient. On being assured
of her successful accouchement, the less pressing
judicial proceedings were resumed, thus cstablish-

6

ing an early Canadian precedent for the pre-
eminence of medicine over the law. Dr. Baldwin
laid out Spadina Avenue, as a splendid approach,
160 feet in width, to the family residence, Spadina
House, on the site of the present building of the
Provincial Board of Health — the old Knox Col-
lege. Hon. Robert Baldwin, who distinguished
himself in the political struggle for constitutional
government in Upper Canada was a son of
William Warren Baldwin.

Intimately associated with the ruling families
of that day and connected by marriage with
many of the prominent families in Upper Canada,
Drs. MacAulay, Gamble and Baldwin exerted a
wide and salutary influence, socially and profes-
sionally on the medical interests of York and the
province in general.

Dr. David Burns was one of the first settlers of
York, obtaining the patent of a park lot on
Dundas Street, later know^n as Lot Street, now
Queen Street. Soon after the organization of the
government, he was appointed clerk of the
Crown in Chancery for the province of Upper
Canada. There is no record of his having en-
gaged in practice. His name appears in the list
of subscribers to a fund for the opening up of
Yonge Street, in 1801. He died in 1806, lamented
as an esteemed citizen.

William Lee, a military surgeon attached to the
Indian department came to York in 1807. He
ministered to the Indians, making visits through
the forests as far as Penetanguishene. He was
relieved of his strenuous duties in 1815 and
shortly afterwards was appointed Gentleman
Usher of the Black Rod to the legislative council
and for some years was secretary to the Upper
Canada Medical Board.

Available records do not mention the names of "?
any other doctors practising in York before *
1812, but when it is remembered that it requires
a community of from five hundred to a thousand
to maintain the services of a physician, it is

7

evident that the needs of the restricted field were
already well supplied. When Dr. Strachan re-
moved from Cornwall to York in 1812, the town ,1
was "only a quiet little parish" and according to '
Bishop Bethune the population in 1819 was less
than 1,200.

There was a new-comer to York in 1812 in the
person of Dr. Grant Powell, son of Hon. Justice
William Dummer Powell. He had received his
medical training at Guy's Hospital, and practised
for three years in New York state and for five
years in Montreal, where he was familiarly
known as "the little doctor with the gold spec-
tacles. " He was not enamoured of practice in
York, but it was well known that he took an inter-
est in medical affairs, and was one of the first mem-
bers of the Upper Canada Medical Board. He
was also clerk of the legislative assembly, princi-
pal of the Court of Probate, and later judge of the
Home District and clerk of the legislative council,
holding the latter post until his death in 1838.
His son, William Dummer Powell, died in early
manhood and his widow married Dr. William
Clarke of Guelph, the father of the late lieutenant
governor of Ontario, Hon. Lionel Clarke, Esq.

Incidentally, it is of interest to recall. the visit
of Dr. William Beaumont, celebrated physiologist
and pioneer in the experimental physiology of
digestion, who arrived at York, April 27, 1813, not
to minister to the inhabitants, but as surgeon to
the American forces attacking the town. He
wrote a graphic account of the attack on York and
the subsequent treatment of the wounded.

In 1814 William Dunlop, then a youth of
nineteen attached to the 89th (Irish) regiment,
was at York for a time and describes the place as
"a dirty, straggling, village of about sixty
houses, the church — the only one — being con-
verted into a general hospital during the war."
This was the first hospital at York. Dr. Dunlop
afterwards went to India with his regiment, but
returned to Canada in 1825 with Mr. John Gait

8

and entered the service of the Canada Company
as warden of the Forest. He was one of the
founders of Guelph, and a pioneer of the Lake
Huron district. As an official of the Canada
Company, he was a frequent visitor and a fam-
iliar figure in York during the thirties. He was a
warm friend of John Gait, author and philosopher,,
who as manager of the Canada Company, did
much to settle the western part of the province
and was ill-requited for his labors. Herculean
in size, witty, kind-hearted and eccentric, Dunlop
was a notable character familiarly known as the
Tiger. He had considerable literary ability being
a contributor to Fraser's, Blackwoods and other
magazines and the author of several books. He
served as member for the Huron district in the;
provincial legislature. An extract from his extra-
ordinary last will and testament sufficiently indi-
cates his peculiarities: "I, William Dunlop, of
Gairbraid in the township of Colborne, county
and district of Huron, Western Canada, Esquire,
being in sound health of body, and my mind just
as usual, which my friends who flatter me say is
no great shakes at the best of times, do make this
my last will and testament, etc. "

He died in 1848 and the citizens of Goderich
erected a monument to the memory of "a man of
surpassing talent, knowledge and benevolence. "

Dr. William Keating, an Irish graduate, prac-
tised in York for a short time about 1816.

He and Powell were succeeded by Dr. Christo-
pher Widmer, F.R.C.S. (Eng.) a distinguished
practitioner who was the first to devote his entire
time to practice in York. His name is associated
with every medical enterprise, and his energy,
ability and foresight made him a dominating
influence from the time of his arrival until his
death in 1858.

Widmer was educated in London and gained a
wide experience as surgeon to the 89th Light
Dragoons during the Peninsular War. He cams
to Canada about the close of the War of 1812 and

9

began private practice in 1816. He was a
martinet — forceful in language as well as in bear-
ing; bluff and cavalier, but nevertheless an able,
farseeing, diplomatic man and a born leader. He

0 initiated the movement in 1817 for establishing
the York General Hospital, was chairman of the

** Upper Canada Medical Board from 1823 until his
death in 1858, was early interested in medical
education, receiving students as apprentices; he
was a chief mover in the establishment of the

m College of Physicians and Surgeons of Upper
Canada (1839), and one of the founders of the
medical department of King's College, (1843),
besides taking an active interest in the affairs of
York generally. For a time he was a member of
the legislative assembly, and was one of the
founders of St. Andrew's Masonic Lodge. He has
justly been called the "Father of Surgery" in
Upper Canada and until 1830 practically con-
trolled the practice of York.

About 1816 Dr. Robert Charles Home, a
military surgeon came to York from Kingston
where he had married a daughter of Dr. Gamble,
He did not take up private practice, but became
King's Printer and editor of the Official Gazette.
After retiring from these appointments, he entered
the service of the Bank of Upper Canada, but
remained a member of the Upper Canada Medical
Board from 1823 to 1831, and at a later date was
elected treasurer of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Upper Canada. His house was
burned by order of the rebel leaders during the
Rebellion of 1837, the family barely escaping with
their lives.

In 1828 Dr. Peter Deihl an Edinburgh graduate
(1809) came from Montreal to be associated in
practice with Widmer and later became a member
of the Medical Board. He married a daughter
of Dr. James MacAulay. For a short time he was
an attending physician to the Montreal General
Hospital before coming to York.

From the foregoing remarks it will be noted

10

that the military surgeons played an important
part in the early clays of the medical profession in
Upper Canada. They were men of education and
culture, with an excellent practical training and
knowledge of the world obtained during their
military service. They had received their chief
education in London and Edinburgh, and some
of them had studied in Paris as well.

After 1825 civilian doctors from I lie motherland,
Canadians educated in American schools, or at
McGill University in Montreal, or under the
system of apprenticeship, began rapidly to increase
in numbers; nevertheless, the control and direc-
tion of medical affairs for many years remained
largely in the hands of the military element.
Family ties, church and political sympathies,, all
inclined the early doctors of York toward the \
party afterwards known as the Family Compact. \
whose dominating influence was challenged as the
population of the province rapidly increased after
the War of 1812.

Of 260 doctors whose biographies appear in
Canniff's History of the Medical Profession of
Upper Canada from 1783 to 1850, seventy-one
were graduates of the Scottish universities, forty-
three of English, twenty-eight of Irish and forty
of American. Thirty-nine had their training
wholly or in part under the old system of appren-
ticeship, ten were graduates of McGill, eleven
of the Rolph School, and a few of King's College.

The estrangement of the American colonies
from the motherland had an important bearing
upon the subsequent evolution of the medical
profession of the United States and Canada re-
spectively which should not be overlooked. After
the Revolution the tendency on the part of
American graduates was to no to Paris,. and at a
later period to Vienna or Berlin for further study,
rather than to the British schools. For this
reason continental influences exercised a more
powerful influence in moulding the ethics, educa-
tion and practice of the American than of the

11

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.. . ^a7.

Canadian profession, for medicine in Canada had
its origin and received its impetus from the
medical centres of the motherland — especially,
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin.

The political, religious and family affiliations
before noted, will suggest the causes of a cleavage
in the stormy days before and after the Rebellion
of 1837, in the ranks of the medical profession of
York corresponding to that of the population in
general.

Dr. John Rolph became an outstanding figure
among the malcontents. He was the son of Dr.
Thomas Rolph who came to Canada from
Gloucestershire about 1810, settling in Norfolk
county where he acquired a large tract of land.
As a youth of nineteen, John Rolph was in York
in 1812, and during the war acted as paymaster to
the forces. At the close of the war he returned to
England and took up the study of law and medi-
cine concurrently, the former at the Inner Temple,
the latter at Guy's Hospital under Sir Astley
Cooper. He returned to Upper Canada and
began the practice of both professions in Norfolk
county, though he did not pass the Upper Canada
Medical Board until 1828. At first his interest
centred in law and politics. In the former he
rose rapidly until he was recognized as a leader
at the bar; was a bencher of the Law Society of
Upper Canada and his political advancement was
marked by his election as Reform member for
Middlesex in 1824. In 1828, being dissastisfied
with a judgment of Mr. Justice Sherwood, he
threw off his gown and in company with Dr.
William Warren Baldwin and his son, Robert
Baldwin, left the court. At this time, it is
stated, he thought of entering the church but
finally decided to devote his energies to medicine.
He practised for a short time at Dundas but re-
moved to York in 1831. The year after Rolph's
arrival in York is notable in the medical history
of the town from the fact that it was visited by
an epidemic of cholera, the infection following the

12

stream of immigration from Quebec to Montreal,
Kingston and finally to York.

Dr. Strachan, who rendered notable service to
the stricken population states that the epidemic
raged from June to October, during which period
one-fourth of the inhabitants suffered from the
disease, of whom one-third died.

Shortly after Rolph's coming to York he was
appointed a member of the Medical Board of
Upper Canada and when the town was incor-
porated as the City of Toronto in 1834, he was
elected an alderman. The Reformers had gained
a majority in the council, and as the aldermen at
that time selected one of their own number as
mayor, it was expected that Rolph would have
received the honour of being chosen first chief
magistrate. As the result of a caucus, however,
William Lyon Mackenzie was selected and Rolph
resigned from the council.

One need not dwell on his entanglement in the
political dissensions culminating in the Rebel-
lion of 1837, his hurried flight, facilitated by two
of his students, Henry Hoover Wright and James
H. Richardson, afterwards distinguished as pro-
fessors and practitioners in Toronto. He prac-
tised for six years in Rochester, when he was par-
doned and returned to Toronto in 1843. The
remainder of Dr. Rolph's career is intimately
associated with medical education, and will be
referred to later in that connection. He died at
Mitchell in October, 1870, at the advanced age of
eighty-three years, regarded generally in his pro-
fession as an outstanding figure, and the most
brilliant teacher among the many distinguished
men of his time.

The necessity for providing facilities for the
training of students of medicine was in the minds
of those who obtained the charter for King's Col-
lege in 1827. Though for political reasons it was
deemed unfortunate, yet young men of the prov-
ince entering the profession of medicine were
forced by circumstances to go to American schools,

13

of which Fairfield, Geneva, Dartmouth and
Jefferson were usually selected; some went to
McGill after its establishment in 1824.

Christopher Widmer, John Rolph, John King
and other prominent doctors of York received
students as apprentices for the whole or part of
their training. Rolph's capacity as a teacher was
early recognized and he was urged to establish a
medical school towards the maintenance of which
the governor, Sir John Colbornc, encouraged him
with the promise of public support.

In 1834 Dr. David Lithgow, a recently arrived
graduate of Edinburgh University, announced the
opening of a school for the teaching of anatomy,
surgery and medicine, but nothing came of this
premature enterprise. The delay in the establish-
ment of King's College, and Rolph's flight from
Canada after the collapse of the Mackenzie
Rebellion (1837), postponed for a time the
movement for a medical school, though the Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons of Upper Canada
(1839-1841), strongly urged the necessity for
action. Widmer, especially, was active in formu-
lating plans for a medical department in King's
College, and, due largely to his efforts, a teaching
faculty in medicine was organized when the
institution was opened in 1843.

John King was appointed professor of medi-
cine; William R. Beaumont of surgery; George
Herrick of midwifery; William B. Nicol of materia
medica; Henry Sullivan was placed in charge of
practical anatomy; W. C. Gwyne of anatomy and
plrysiology and James H. Richardson was made
demonstrator of anatomy. In 1845 Lucius
O'Brien was appointed professor of medical juris-
prudence, and E. M. Hodder was added to the
staff.

On Rolph's return from Rochester in 1843 he
opened a school in opposition to the newly
created medical faculty of King's College, and
between these institutions naturally there de-
veloped a keen rivalry. Rolph was ably sup-

14

ported by Dr. Joseph Workman who afterwards
attained a distinguished position among the medi-
cal men of Toronto. Other members of the staff
of the Rolph school were T. D. Morrison, James
Langstaff, W. T. Aikins and W. B. Geikie.

In 1849 King's College was secularized and the
name changed to the University of Toronto by the
Baldwin Act.

In 1850 the Upper Canada School of Medicine
was organized by Edward M. Hodder, James
Bovell, Francis Badgley, Norman Bethune, Wil-
liam Hallowell and Henry Melville and soon after
it became the medical department of Trinity
University, which had just been established
under Anglican auspices by Bishop Strachan.
There were, therefore, three medical schools in
Toronto in 1850: (1) the medical department of
the University of Toronto; (2)"tKerToToiifo School
of Medicine, commonly known as the Rolph
School: and (3) the Upper Canada School of
Medicine.

This multiplicity of schools naturally did not
lessen the rivalry; the unhappy case of the medical
student of that time is indicated in an extract
from an editorial in the Medical Chronicle of
Montreal in 1855: "Be he ever so brilliant his
fate may be doomed when it is whispered that he
did not attend 'our' school and his examinations
cannot be begun without first discovering whose
classes he followed. Rolph men sitting in judg-
ment on the Trinit}'- youths and the Trinity men
on the Rolph youths. The ex-professors of
Toronto University struggling against both par-
ties, or joining either one as the diversion seemeth
most delightful." That we have not overdrawn
the subject, we quote from the correspondent: "no
candidate is examined by his own teachers but
by some of the other members present, who are
chiefly connected with rival institutions. " The edfc
torials in the Medical Chronicle, however, indicate
that there existed a strong rivalry, not only
between McGill and the Toronto schools, but also

15

between the medical boards of Upper and Lower
Canada.

In 1853 Rolph became a member of the govern-
ment of Sir Francis Hincks and due largely to his
influence, the medical department of the Uni-
versity of Toronto was disestablished along with
the other teaching departments in 1854. All the
medical schools of the province became affiliated
with the provincial university thus reorganized,
which remained only an examining body after the
pattern of the UniverskVy of London.

The Toronto School of Medicine (Rolph 's
School), became the medical department of Vic-
toria University in 1855 with a strong faculty
including John Rolph (surgery), Joseph "Work-
man (midwifery), and W. T. Aikins (anatomy).

The medical department of Trinity went out of
existence in 1856 and the same year the charter
of the Toronto School of Medicine was revived by
a number of doctors who organized the institu-
tion in affiliation with the University of Toronto
with Edward M. Hodder as Dean.

In 1866 the Ecole de Medicin et de Chirurgie
of Montreal, was constituted a medical depart-
ment in Quebec of Victoria University and con-
tinued in this relationship until Victoria federated
with the University of Toronto in 1890.

In 1868 the medical faculty of Victoria was
constituted as follows: John Rolph, medicine and
pathology; Walter B. Geikie, midwifery; Walter
Berryman, materia medica, therapeutics and
jurisprudence; John N. Reed, institutes of medi-
cine; John Sangster, chemistry and botany; Wil-
liam Canniff, surgery and surgical anatomy; John
Fulton, anatomy; John King and Christopher
Widmer Rolph, clinical medicine and surgery;
Michael Barrett, demonstrator of anatomy;
Thomas May, curator of the museum. The Vic-
toria medical school was a strong institution
until 1870 when a disagreement arose ; "Rolph and
Geikie resigned from the staff and the faculty was
eventually broken up in 1875. .

16

The Trinity faculty was re-established in 1871,
Hodder leaving the Toronto School to become
Dean of the resuscitated institution and he was
joined by W. B. Geikie, Norman Bethune, Wil-
liam R. Beaumont, William Hallowell, John
Fulton, James A. Temple, Arthur Jukes Johnson,
Charles Covernton, William Kennedy and Mc-
Larty. In 1878 Trinity obtained a charter as an
independent teaching body, closely associated
with Trinity University but affiliated with other
Canadian universities. Under the leadership of 1
W. B. Geikie, Trinity opposed state aid for
medical education and a long and acrimonious
controversy resulted before such assistance was
finally recognized as necessary. Dr. J. A. Temple
was Dean of the Trinity Medical School at the
time of amalgamation.

For many, years the Toronto School of Medi-
cine continued to draw closer to the University
of Toronto and finally became re-established as
its medical department in 1889.

The Women's Medical College was organized by
Michael Barrett who was Dean from 1884 to 1887.
It is somewhat bewildering to trace the fortunes
and kaleidoscopic changes of the various schools
and their university connections between 1850
and 1875 when the Trinity School and the Toronto
School emerged as the only survivors of the
struggle for existence in an overcrowded field.

The movement toward federation of the uni-
versities continued to gain strength and a growing
appreciation gradually developed of the difficulty
of adequately supporting the requirements of
modern scientific training in medicine by private
means; a sentiment opposed to proprietary schools
with a desire to pave the way for an era of expan-
sion, reconstruction and reorganization, lead
eventually to the amalgamation of Trinity and
the Women's Medical College with the medical
department of the University of Toronto in 1903.
This school thus constituted has become one of the
largest and most important on the continent with

17

between 600 and 700 students and over eighty of a
teaching staff*.

The evolution of the medical school as an
integral part of the University, the provision of
modern hospital buildings, laboratories, equip-
ment, adequate financial support, the oppor-
tunities for better staff-organization, represent
the realization of the visions, the efforts and the
sacrifices of men -who had done their best under
more primitive conditions. Those who enjoy the
fruits of their labours cannot in fairness fail to
recognize the good work of the old proprietary
schools in training practitioners who served well
their day and generation.

The recent epoch making discovery of insulin
by Frederick G. Banting and his collaborators —
Professor J. J. R. Macleod, Charles H. Best,
J. B. Collip and others, has directed the atten-
tion of the medical world to Toronto, and is too
well known to require further comment. It
serves as an indication of the scientific activities
of the present time, and the impetus given to
medical research by the generous support of the
province of Ontario, the citizens of Toronto and
the Rockefeller Foundation. During the past
year, under the leadership of Sir William Mulock,
Chancellor of the University, a half million dollars
was raised to establish the Banting [Medical Re-
search Endowment.

*Dr. R. A. Reeve was first Dean of the amalgamate 1
institution and discharged the duties of the office at a
critical period with marked ability and satisfaction.

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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

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T6A65

Anderson, Harry Bertram

A historical sketch of
the medical profession of
Toronto

BioMed.