This panel bearing the Medical School motto (Ars Longa, Vita Brevis) came from the Surrey Street building which housed the school from 1812 to 1888. The motto is from an aphorism of Hippocrates (400 BC) which begins "art is long, life is short ...". It refers to the difficulty in acquiring and practising the art of medicine: the physician, patient, attendants and external circumstances must work together towards a cure