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Show A Plain Statement of Fact w By Geo. F. RobertsITH the gradual growth of the University of Utah, the Utah Medical School is quickly passing from the formative embryonic stage to that position where the highest efficiency in the primary branches of Medicine is attained.When the medical work was first started at the State School five years ago the curriculum offered was practically the same as at present, with the exception that all the courses were greatly hampered by the lack of funds. As the interest in the School increased, as the people of the State began to realize that they needed within their own borders an institution where their sons and daughters could secure at minimum cost the primary branches of the great Science of Healing, the funds of the School, through the State Legislature, were increased. With the enlargement of the much needed means the heads of the University secured from other institutions men of highest standing in the Medical World. With the coming of these men the laboratories were remodeled, new equipment was added, additional space was obtained for the work in all of the departments and the entire scholastic attitude of the University was changed.These new additions, however, did not lead to the necessary recognition for the Utah medical students in schools of the East at which they were obliged to complete their work. Through the careful study of the men in the largest medical institutions in the United States it has been found that in order to make a student the best possible physician his brain must be trained by thorough preliminary education to grasp the difficult problems of Medical Science. In order to make her life secure, Utah at first was forced to admit students who had only secured a high school education. As the strength of the School increased, however, the entrance requirements were raised and the Medical Department began to receive recognition in the greatest colleges of medical science in the United States. These requirements have been enlarged from time to time until, with the beginning of the coming year, the entrance credits of the Utah Medical School will be equal to those of the most conservative schools in the United States. These requirements mean much for the Utah School. They mean, first, that both the medical students and the state yearly save large sums of money that would otherwise be spent for preliminary education; second, that Utah men are receiving an education as thorough as that given in any institution in the country; and, third, that the men who leave Utah will be able to compete successfully with men from the best colleges in the United States.The possession within her midst of an institution where the great Science of Medicine is taught so creditably is one of the greatest achivements along educational lines ever made by Utah.(100) |