He was the first to
introduce into this country the system of delivering clinical lectures,
or lectures at the bedside of the patient, whose ailments were operated
upon during the course of his remarks. This system is naturally the most
repugnant to the patient, but its advantages to the student are so great
that they outweigh all other considerations. Other professors had shrunk
from subjecting their patients to such an ordeal, but Dr. Mott had seen
enough, during his attendance upon such lectures abroad, to satisfy him
that it was the only method by which a thorough knowledge of the
profession of surgery could be imparted, and immediately upon
establishing himself in this country he introduced it. He met with
opposition at first, but he gradually overcame it, and made the
advantages of his system so apparent to all that at length the
opposition entirely ceased.
The greatest difficulty to which American medical schools have always
been subject has been the almost utter impossibility of procuring dead
bodies for dissection. It was this want that compelled Dr. Mott, as it
has compelled so many others, to seek a practical education in Europe;
and when he came back to the college as professor, he was met by the
same drawback to thorough instruction.
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