The Montreal Medical Institution, was established in 1823 by four physicians, Andrew Fernando Holmes, John Stephenson, William Caldwell and William Robertson, all of whom had been trained at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, and were involved in the foundation of the Montreal General Hospital. In 1829 it was incorporated into McGill College as the new College's first faculty; it thus became the first Faculty of Medicine in Canada. A highly didactic approach to medical education called the "Edinburgh curriculum", which consisted of two six-month courses of basic science lectures and two years of "walking the wards" at The Montreal General Hospital, was instituted. From 1833 to 1877 the Faculty followed the pattern set by the University of Edinburgh and required graduating students to submit an 'inaugural dissertation' - a database of these is available.