The article considers the condition of medicine in St. Petersburg in 1827-1828 as presented in memoirs of English physician A. B. Granville about his visiting the capital of Russia. The prominent physician and naturalist, familiar with condition of medicine in main countries of Europe, he provided substantial and objective characteristic of condition of medicine and health care in Russia. This characteristic, coming from independent and competent observer, permits to correct conceptions about condition of Russian medicine during the period when the results of modernization of the Russian Empire of XVIII-early XIX centuries manifested in full measure effecting becoming of Russian school of medicine.