THE UNIVERSITY AND ITS PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY.

Evening Star, Issue 4313, 22 December 1876, Page 1

THE UNIVERSITY AND ITS PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY.

S »J fl~? c * mi ?'">i<»tion before the ConJSl this I received no reply. And Ido not Odkk 1* £ wjnfartml brethren rtKtririSTiKuS has been «*»rfd«aUy impSS-tfKtoSSS? state that unless this SstSfhKStt mwmch I have heretofore pointed out, and alwava B 1 I may sayit is with'ebme reSSt 8 been forc . ed fato thifl ««me, but to Sn. sidarmg the manner in which 1 have been thwart in many of my efforts to found a Medical SohoblS consulting the best interests of the public totandsE mg my resignation .-I have, &c., P «"«"!«• MILLBH COU«HTE»T. University of Otago, Q . T . ~ , December 12,1878. i S r, "" I . h £T ß a the ho *<* to acknowledge your lett^i^ f *2 Sld nltimo ' Awarding a rwolutiS passed by the memiws of the Otago Branihof t£ New Zealand Medical Association, asking ihJ Council' whether the Pro'essorof Anatomy prn£ tises medicine its knowledge and oowjnfc? The question of the Professor of AnatomyVZeU.ing medicine was on a former occasion brought under fee notice of the Council, wnich led respondent with that gentleman, when the follow. v g /Ji 8 & utl ?S;* ado P, ted b * the o°™»a on the lstof November, 1875, and a copy uf which I am now ' directed to send you, was then conveyed to the Loughtrey that he has rot. except in the case* referred to in his letter of the ISth OcloberTen. tered into private practice, and consent that the said letter be withdrawn; but they insist upon the maintenance of the condition of Dr (JouAtre-rV appointment that he >hall iot enter into practice, whether that practice be " 'jonsultation" or " ©rdl! nary practice." That the Council do not objeoi te : Dr Coughtrey's gratuitous assiata- ee to the i **.— 1 nave, etc., " m„ -, , „ w - H > Mabsfoiib, Begistrar. T. M. Hocken, Esq., President Otago Branch New Zealani Medical Association. - w „„ , . Dunedin, November 25,1878. To W. H. Mansford, Esq., Ee?i'strar Otago University. Sir,—Herewith I have the honor to forwar* copy of a motion passed by the meiubers of the Otaco Branch of the New Zealand Medical AsaociatienM their monthly meeting held yesterday.—l have, txj- ' T. M. Hockes, . President. [COPT.J That the Society, threugh its President, respectfully asks the University Council whether the Professor pf Anatomy practises medicine with its knowledge and consent. J. OIIXIEB. William Baows. The Chancellor : That letter of the 12th inst. is construed into an affront. I cannot see that it is so. The Vice-Chancellor : Nor I either. The Chancellor : If Professor Coughtrey thinks so, there is only one course. He points out an alternative, which is either to. withdraw tLat letter, which I will net <• consent to, or to accept his resignation. Dr Hplme: There ia no charge against him in that letter. . The Chancellor: I presume that the i Council would not think of withdrawing a Utter which it has written with due deliberatvon, therefore the only alternatire is to accent his resignation. I would propose that in to.e answer the Begistrar ic in> *trucfc«d to write to that letter, we should •commence by stating that we are utterly at aloes **> ascertain from the terms of the letter .of which he complains that any slur or iretiection is cast upon him whatever. But as he interprets it in another- way, the only course are have is to accept his resignation. Dr MuljsE:: I say "Aye " to that. The Chancellor: The other mode.is - siiMply to accept his resignation, as we cannot comply with his request to withdraw the letter. The Vice-Chancellor : As far as my knowledge of the Council goes, Dr Coughtrey has been assisted in everything. Hn has not asked for anything from this Conn* cil without getting it. Since he was appointed he suggested to the Council that tt might be helpful to the new school were he allowed to go Home. He was allowed to do ao, and his expenses were liberally provided jjitorhim." He was allowed to secure in Lon«d«k' and Paris all that would be useful for the juew school. Everything was done to he\p £we Medical School. On his return the Chawegilor was in Wellington, and I arranged lor a meeting. To give the school all ithe Mat possible, the Council invited the community to Professor Coughtrey's inaugural lex&ure, and I announced the Afcedical School from that time as being founded. But, to my,horror, I ascertainedthat Professor Coughtrey was not in the condition to .teach, and that if fee did a certificate, of his ! twould not hold good ju the Home schools. The Rev. Mr Stanfo&d: lam not quit* * ,suk> whether we can go into that, or refer to .itin our answer. - I never could,underatan& in what way the Medical School has been thwarted. I have heard it stated outside .that fair play has not been shown to 'but I have always given that my flattest .contradiction. The Chancellor : My feeling has always ibeea favorable towards, him. ' • Dr Hulme : Both medical members of the Council supported him in his wish to go Home, where he was to get his recognition I to further the interests of the University.. % The Vice-chancellor : I know you did* Dr Hulme : It is not necessary,to.go.jntjp that now. The Eev. Mr Stanford.: Some must be taken of this quasi-charge. It is. not a charge; a charge would implythat v* I knew he was in private practice. When wi formed that reply we did not take notice of

that. We merely reasserted formally that It was not in accordance with the conditions. We simply 'stated that the conditions were Dr Burns : It stated that the Counci', 58 a Council, had no knowledge of the viola tion of the conditions. - The Rev. Mr Stanford : A charge would imply that there was fault. i The Vice-chancellor : The resolution ] oonveyed to him our interpretation of the tontract. It was merely an answer to the queries put us. The following letter was here read : Superintendent's Office, Dunedin, 20th December, 1876. (Sir,—l hare just received iutimation of a special meeting of the University Council to be held to-morrow t'ji. ro Professor Coujjhtrey. As I shall not be in town, I shall be unable to attend the meeting. Being unacquainted wi'h the causes which have led to the dispute with Dr Coughtrey, I cannot, of course, judge as to the merits of the case. I may gay, however, that my endeavor, if at the Council to-morrow, would be to throT oil upon the troubled waters, and to overcome the difficulties which lnve capped up in the attempt to establish a Medical School iu connection with the University. I look upon such a school as feeing quite attainable, and in fact as holding out in many respects the greatest practical benefit to the peeple of New Zealand which could at this moment accrue from the University. I venture to hope, therefore, that matters may be so arranged that any misunderstanding with the Professor of Anatomy may be got over, arid that all may work cordi illy together in making the most of the materials at our disposal towards the establishment of a Medical ' School.—l have, &c,

J. Macasdrew. The Chancellor of the University of Ota<o. The Chancellor : I do not think the difficulties will be got over. My impression is that Professor Coughtrey wishes to resign, and go into private practice. The Chancellor : L think we must wait till Mr Macandrew is present, as he is strongly in favor of a medical scrool. Dr Hulme : It has proved a failure. The Vice-Chancellor : I think, that Mr Macandrew should be here. Mr Cargill : There is an impudent assumption about his effort to found a medical school. The Chancellor : A little vanity is pardonable. The Rev. Mr Stanford : Is there any letter on record asking certain things to be done, and which have been refused ? The Registrar replied in the negative, and was understood to remark that he had heard another professor say that Professor Coughtrey could get anything he wanted. The Vice-ChAncellor : He complained much about our neglecting some instructions ] which he left about preliminary exaiuina- I tions; but that is an entirely different j thing. ! Dr Burns : That forgetfulness of ours was atoned for by his failing to get his recognition for his first year. The Vice-chancellor : He wrote a letter to the 'Guardian,' in which he charged me with neglecting 1 , that. Professor Black got his recognition a couple of years ago. Dr. HuLiiiß remarked that Professor Coughtrey generally took legal advice. The Vice-Chancellor : I was anxious to support him to the last. He sent me a private invitation to attend his course of lectures oh Physiology. I consented to attend the first, but I could not undertake to attend the whole course. ■ I was glad to see him do something of that sort. It was a step in the right direction. •The Hon. Mr Reynolds : Since I have heen here I must say that he received every consideration at the hands of the Council. I do not know wbat took place before. The Vice-ChAi<cellor : In looking over the plans for the new building, we gave him accommodation for 100 students. How many medical students have passed the preliminary examination ? . The Registrar : One. Dr Hulme : Two. It was remarked that there were two, but that one of them (Mr Selomon) had decided to study law instead of medicine. Jhe Chancellor: 'We could not supply le wanted, as he wished to have eight professors and lecturers besides. Dr Hulme: The Medical Association made no charge either against Professor Coughtrey. The Hon. Mr Revnolds : There is no other course, as far as I caa see. I have looked over the correspondence, and I cannot see the least grounds for the complaints made. The Vice-Chancellor : I am sure there is not. Among all men a difference of opinion will prevail, but no man could construe that into a charge of thwarting him. I have differed on some minor mattirs with him again and again, and so have others. Dr Hulme: Since he got his license, we supplied him with " a subject." We did not Kill a man on purpose. The man killed himself. The following resolution was then unanimoußly agreed to : The Council having considered the letfer ef Professor Coughtrey, and the previous communication to *hich it refers, is unable to see that any charge whatever against his character is implied in the resolution of the Ist November, 1875, or in the handing of a copy of the same to the President of the Medical Association, as ,the most appropriate reply to the letter received from him. Further, the Conncil considers give an unqualified contradiction to the Professor's allegation that he has been thwarted by the Council in his efforts ■ to found a Medical School, inasmuch as the Council has given him uniform and hearty support in the performance of the duties which have been oommitted to him for that, and has faiily met every demand preferred by him, and for providing the necessary accommodation and assist ance. Under the-e circumstances, and looking at the whole tenor of the Professor's letter, the Council resolves to ac cept his resignation. The Council thauks Professor Coughtrey for his offer to continue Mb services for a period of six or nine months upon certain conditions, but it does not consider it necessary to accept the same.