History of medicine in Canada

Overview[edit | edit source]

The history of medicine in Canada can be traced back to its earliest beginnings in First Nations oral traditions. Following the arrival of the English and French, however, military surgeons and Western tradition dominated the medical system.

18th Century[edit | edit source]

Dr. David Parker of the Maritimes was the first to operate using anaesthetic. One of the first "modern" operations, the removal of a tumour, was performed by William Fraser Tolmie in British Columbia.

19th century[edit | edit source]

The first medical schools were established in Upper Canada in the 1820s. These include the Montreal Medical Institution, which is today the faculty of medicine at McGill University. In the mid-1870s, Sir William Osler changed the face of medical school instruction throughout the West with the introduction of the hands-on approach. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Upper Canada was established in 1839 and in 1869 was permanently incorporated. In 1834, William Kelly, a surgeon with the Royal Navy, introduced the idea of preventing the spread of disease via sanitation measures following epidemics of cholera. In the 19th century, female physicians Emily Howard Stowe and Jennie Kidd Trout won the right, in 1871, for women to be admitted to medical schools and granted licenses from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. In 1883, Emily Stowe led the creation of the Ontario Medical College for Women, affiliated with the University of Toronto. In 1892, Dr. William Osler wrote the landmark text The Principles and Practice of Medicine, which dominated medical instruction in the West for the next 40 years.

20th century[edit | edit source]

The twentieth century saw the discovery of insulin by Frederick Banting and his colleagues, Charles Best and J.J.R. Macleod, in 1922. Dr. Wilder Penfield, who discovered a successful surgical treatment for epilepsy called the "Montreal procedure," founded the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1934.

References[edit | edit source]

• Famous Canadian Physicians at Library and Archives Canada

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