Reminiscences

Dublin Core

Title

Reminiscences

Subject

Harvard Medical School
Worcester, Alfred, 1855-1951
Typescripts
Reminiscences

Description

At the time of his death, Dr. Alfred Worcester—a member of the Harvard College Class of 1878—was the University’s oldest living graduate. He was also an 1883 graduate of the Medical School. In the 1940s, Dr. Worcester composed his autobiographical memoirs, including this chapter on his experiences during the early 1880s. At that period, the required course of study was still only three years, and the school was housed in the “glum, poorly lighted, badly ventilated, over-crowded building” on North Grove Street. The students faced other difficulties too. Dr. Worcester wrote, “In those years corpses or stiffs as we called them, were so scarce that the students were always behind their schedule for dissecting. This they should have done in their first year, but now in their second year I had caught up with some of them. As in the daytime the tables were so fully in use by first year students we had to do our dissecting by feeble gas lights at night. As that was before corpses were embalmed, the stench was terrible.”

Abstract

Excerpt from the typescript of Alfred Worcester's Reminiscences, Chapter VI, "The Harvard Medical School in the Early Eighties"

Creator

Worcester, Alfred, 1855-1951

Date Created

1944, circa

Rights

The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all materials in this collection. For use information, consult Public Services at chm@hms.harvard.edu

Access Rights

Access to the original work depicted requires advance notice. Contact Public Services at chm@hms.harvard.edu for additional information

Is Part Of

Papers of Alfred Worcester, 1886-1935 (inclusive). GA95.20

Format

text

Extent

excerpt (1 page)

Language

English

Type

text

Identifier

DigID0002421

Provenance

From the Collections of the Harvard Medical Library

Files

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002421_dref.jpg

Citation

Worcester, Alfred, 1855-1951, “Reminiscences,” OnView, accessed March 28, 2024, https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/items/show/6573.