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8 The Infant Faculty THE STORY of the founding of the University itself is, of course, another story altogether (and the reader may refer to The University of Hong Kong - The First Fifty Years to which reference has already been made) but the very existence and success of the College of Medicine was a foundation upon which to build. The travail attending the birth of the University was prolonged and difficult (though perhaps not unduly so compared with the present day) but the foundation stone was laid in 1910, the University was formally constituted and incorporated by ordinance in 1911 and formally opened its doors to students in 1912. The Faculty of Medicine, created out of the old College of Medicine, was accorded (as a necessary condition) the position of premier Faculty in the University. Though few appreciate this, it remains so today in spite of the institutional growth which has taken place around it. But in the transition, the underlying spirit remained; though most of the teachers of the old College transferred their loyalties to the University (and six of them became members of the Senate of the University as of right), the structure remained basically the same. New buildings were erected, through the generosity of a multiplicity of donors but principally of a small number of Chinese businessmen who gave handsomely. The change from College of Medicine to a Faculty within the University had, however, two important and fairly immediate consequences: first, the Faculty had a home, though naturally clinical teaching necessarily continued in the Alice Memorial and Nethersole Hospitals, later in the Tung Wah Hospital and, from 1914, the Government Civil Hospital. But the Faculty had an identity. It also began the slow change towards a permanent staff of teachers whose primary function was to teach in place of practitioners for whom teaching was a secondary and for some years a gratuitous function. The latter situation was not only necessary but was also as desirable then, as it is now, in that it brought in to the teaching arena a wider range of skills and specialties than could possibly be secured in full-time staff. But no medical school in modem times could survive on the basis of part-time staff (though some English medical schools did in fact survive on this basis long after the Faculty of Medicine in Hong Kong based its teaching establishment on full-time staff with parttime assistance). 46 Constancy ofPurpose Thus, thirteen practitioners who taught at the College of Medicine continued to teach in the new Faculty as indeed they were entitled to under the terms of the agreement between the University and the College, provided funds were available (and, as has been seen, six of them became members of the new Senate of the University as of right). The agreement also provided for their replacement as and when full-time were appointed. The first permanent 'professional' medical staff arrived in 1913 (a full-time lecturer in physics had been appointed in 1912) and more came in the next few following years in spite of the fact that the First World War was raging on the other side of the world. They necessarily inherited the course structure and teaching facilities from the old College but with the advantage of the new specialist buildings which were erected on the new University campus. Their clinical duties did, however, tie them to the hospitals in which they taught. As events turned out a decade later, the difficulties engendered by the absence of a teaching hospital as such were to prove a continuing thorn in the Faculty's side. So far as the degree curriculum was concerned, the basis lay in the College of Medicine curriculum and the Faculty's original 'scheme of study' shows a curriculum extending over five years with four examinations in all. The first year was designated 'pre-medical' and consisted of courses in biology and physics with practical courses in each. The second year was designated 'pre-clinical' and the student was introduced to anatomy and physiology, again with practical classes. The third year was mixed while anatomy and physiology continued to be taught, the student began to study medicine and surgery also. The last two years were the properly 'clinical' years with attendance in the wards undertaking various tasks. Three months were spent as a surgical dresser and three months as a clinical clerk, including attendance at no fewer than twelve labours under the supervision of a registered medical...

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