Medicinska fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani 1919–1945 - Univerza v ...

esult of the forceful promotion of the tertiary education model
in Austria that was based on the Bavarian model from the times
of Joseph II� The two levels of this area of education: lyceum and
“erudite” (university) level study gave an entirely new meaning in
the non-German lands of the Monarchy to the small, philosophy-
and theology-oriented, lyceum-type educational institutions
throughout the provinces that were treated with mistrust by the
enlightened reformers of the second half of the 18 th century�
As opposed to the true universities involved in scientific work,
lyceums focused predominantly on educating for professional
(vocational) practice as their primary goal was the training of
priests, who were supposed to possess practical agricultural
knowledge in addition to the theological knowledge, as well as
barber surgeons, managers of large estates and teachers� In this
sense, lyceums were divided into degraded universities, which
could only award doctoral degrees in philosophy and theology,
and lyceums created as a type of stunted gymnasium that replaced
the former Jesuit study and became scientific and educational
institutions in provincial centres that, however, did not possess
the right to award doctoral titles� The Ljubljana Lyceum was
one of those that did not have the right to award academic titles
and was a semi-university institution and represented a sort of
intermediary link between a gymnasium and a true university� It
provided three fields of study, namely the study of philosophy,
medical-surgical studies and theological studies as well as a
multitude of elective courses ranging from agriculture and history
to philosophy and modern languages�
II
In the first half of the 19 th century, medicine could be studied
at two levels� Surgical studies for civilian and rural barber
surgeons (Chirurgische Studium für Civil- und Landwundärzte)
lasted two years and were predominantly limited to surgery and
obstetrics, which also included midwifery� Most of the lyceums
did not exceed this scope of the learning on offer�
The study of folk medicine and higher barber surgery (Studium der
Arznaykunde und höheren Wundarznaykunst) lasted four years
at first and could be completed within the Habsburg Monarchy at
the famed universities in Vienna, Prague and Krakow�
The faculty-level study of medicine was extended to five years
in 1804 with the change of curriculum: instruction during the
first three years involved theory, while years four and five were
devoted to practical bedside instruction� The study of surgery
remained a two-year programme, however, the teaching content
was expanded somewhat, whereby they primarily strove to raise
the quality of this vocational education�
The study reform of 1810 increased the number of study courses
at both levels of education� The individual parts of study gained
a certain level of independence (chemistry, pharmacy, ophthal-
98
mology, dentistry, veterinary medicine and obstetrics)� It was
veterinary medicine especially that achieved enviable success after
the inclusion of the veterinary science institute (K.k. Thierarzney-
Institut) in Vienna into the Vienna Faculty of Medicine in 1808�
Enrolment to the Veterinary Medicine Department of the Vienna
Faculty of Medicine was conditional upon the completion of the
study of medicine (physician or barber surgeon)�
The Faculty of Medicine was otherwise the only faculty to obtain
a new curriculum in 1833� The study of surgery was extended to
three years, while the study of pharmacy was extended to two
years� The Court Study Commission was asking professors at the
Faculty of Medicine as early as in 1836 what kind of improvements
they would like to see� The proposals were gathered by
Ludwig Freiherr von [Türkheim], deputy to the Study Director
of the Vienna Medicine and Surgery Studies� His fundamental
thought was “that the current arrangement, according to which
two types of medical staff were being trained, namely physicians
and barber surgeons (Doctors of Medicine and Surgery and
Masters or Patrons of Surgery), was untenable from the scientific
point of view”, which is why he proposed that they would “in the
future train only one type of medical staff possessing the same
level of education and training, namely Doctors of Medicine and
Surger y”�
In 1845, the Court’s Study Commission set up a special
commission tasked with preparing a new curriculum� It was
composed of Joseph Skoda, Karl Rokitansky and Joseph Hyrtel,
while its clerk was Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher� The report
compiled by this commission in 1846, which was not realised,
also focused on future development�
III
Ljubljana already had three teachers teaching medical-surgical
studies since the end of the 18 th century� One of them had to hold
a PhD in medicine and taught simple botany, some chemistry and
the Collegium Clinicum Arte Medica course as instruction on
internal diseases� The second teacher taught anatomy and barber
surgery with anatomy and obstetrics, while the third teacher
taught veterinary science and was later tasked with also teaching
forensic medicine� The two-year study course was divided into
two parts� The first year dealt mostly with theory, especially
anatomy and theoretical bases for other courses, while the second
year included instruction on surgical operations, wound dressing
and obstetrics, which allowed the students to practice bedside
activities of “both surgery and internal medicine”�
In the first Pre-March Period up to 1806, Dr� Karl Bernard Kogel
taught internal medicine (instruction on diseases) and veterinary
medicine, Dr� Vincenc Kern taught surgery, anatomy and obstetrics
until 1805 (he later became a Professor of Surgery in Vienna), Dr�
Franc Melzer taught surgery and midwifery until 1805 and Anton
Melzer taught anatomy and physiology until 1806�