56 Alumni Reunion 



less difficult ; and the idea that our standards would ever 

 be adopted generally by other schools was scarcely reck- 

 oned among the probabilities. Yet, to-day, this school 

 has 300 students upon its rolls, and for many years past 

 there has been a steady approximation on the part of 

 other good medical schools toward the standards estab- 

 lished here. Many agencies have undoubtedly contributed 

 to the great improvement in medical education which has 

 taken place in this country during the last generation 

 volunteer organizations among high-minded physicians, 

 the effective action of our State Boards, etc., but I 

 believe it will be admitted that the actual example held 

 before the eyes of the medical public, in the successful 

 experiment carried out here under Mr. Oilman's direction, 

 has been the most potent influence of all in strengthening 

 the weak faith of those who doubted the feasibility of such 

 a reform. 



Many speakers and writers have commented upon the 

 timeliness of the foundation of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity. The University was started at a time when the 

 country was ripe for the opportunity to obtain genuine 

 graduate instruction. Certainly the same observation 

 may be made with even more justice in regard to the 

 appropriateness of the movement inaugurated by the 

 foundation of the medical school. The country was pre- 

 pared, indeed had been prepared for some years, for a 

 development of this kind. Mr. Gilnian and his colleagues 

 had the wisdom to understand this, and the courage to 

 make the experiment on a scale befitting the reputation of 

 the University and worthy of the unique opportunity 

 afforded by the existence and close affiliation of that 

 splendid sister institution, the Johns Hopkins Hospital. 



Mr. Oilman's devotion to the affairs of the medical 

 school in its early history was unfailing. He gave to it 

 on the administrative side an ideal organization which 

 has been the envy of other schools, and which will eventu- 

 ally, I believe, be generally adopted. The central feature 



