At the Medical Department of the College, students were able to receive their bachelor's degree or a doctor's degree. In order to obtain a bachelor’s degree students had to prove that they were proficient in the subjects of medical science. Students had to complete one course of lectures in anatomy, Materia Medica chemistry, and the theory and practice of medicine. They had to observe at the Pennsylvania Hospital for one year. Finally, they had to be examined by the school’s trustees, professors and then the public. To earn a doctor’s degree, students had to undergo more examinations. First, they had to be at least twenty-four years old and have their bachelor’s degree. They also had to be examined by the school’s trustees and professors. In addition, they had to write a thesis and be able to defend that thesis to the public in order to earn their degree.
John Morgan’s Medical Department of the College was the first step into establishing an American medical system. Like the beginnings of most establishments, problems existed. Historian Whitfield Bell Jr., highlights some of the issues that existed within the school. Whitfield wrote that the first batch of teachers at the school was questionable. He
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Both schools were a product of the countries’ desire to establish an educational system that was going to set them apart from the older schools. However, both schools were replicas of the older schools. Edinburgh replicated Leiden while Philadelphia replicated Edinburgh. These schools had the same approach to medical education. The schools offered lectures in the subjects of Materia Medica, chemistry, anatomy, botany, medical practice, and theory. They also put students in clinical settings such as hospitals and anatomical theaters. With both lectures and clinical settings, experimentation was supposed to occur. At both Edinburgh and Philadelphia, experimentation was not implemented but only