When, in 1859, the Chicago Medical College-Medical Department of the Northwestern University, was organized on the basis of three years of graded medical studies and a moderate standard of preliminary education for admission, it was comparatively rare to find, in the classes attending the medical colleges, especially in the newer States, regular graduates from universities, colleges or scientific schools.
The change that has taken place in this regard was well illustrated by an item in the public Commencement exercises of the above-named College on the 26th inst. Dr. Ephraim Ingals, one of the most enlightened and liberal members of the profession in this city not connected with any medical college, had instituted a prize of $100, to be awarded the member of the graduating class who should attain the highest average standing in the three departments of literature, science, and medicine; the same to be determined by a competitive examination