This is a past event
The Postgraduate History Seminar Series will continue on Monday 21st October at 5pm, CB 202 (College Bounds).
Alistair Haggarty will be presenting 'The Curious Case of the St Andrews MD' (abstract below).
The talk will last approximately 20 minutes followed by some time for questions and discussion, after which we will be heading up to the Machar for a drink or two. All welcome.
Abstract: During the second half of the nineteenth century medical students had smorgasbord of options to choose from when it came to acquiring a medical qualification. They could sit the examination of a university, apply for a licence from one of the medical corporations, or they could opt for the Licence of the Society of Apothecaries. While the university qualifications were increasingly considered the best form of medical education, the MD offered by St Andrews was viewed with an almost universal distrust among the wider medical community. Despite its popularity at the time, both contemporaries and historians have ridiculed the degree as nothing more than an easy route into the profession for less-able students.
However, a more in-depth examination of the graduates themselves reveals that there is much more to the story of the St Andrews MD; rather than offering an easy qualification for unworthy practitioners it was often the only option available to them.