Medical Education in the Age of Improvement: Edinburgh Students and Apprentices

By the 18th century, Edinburgh University was the centre of medical education in the English-speaking world, admired and imitated by medical schools in Europe and America. This is a study of the people most affected by and influential in Edinburgh’s success – the students themselves. Lisa Rosner gives a “students’-eye” view of life as a medical student. She argues that the students were in no way passive recipients of a set curriculum, but that they helped shape the courses they took, based on their assumptions of the best way to prepare for medical practice. As a result, the Edinburgh training became the most up-to-date and flexible medical education available, responding quickly to changes in society and science. This text features matriculation records, surviving lecture notes and student letters and diaries.