224 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which he would receive by going through a course in chemistry would 

 be of value to him. His eye and mind would become somewhat ac- 

 customed to dealing with natural phenomena. His powers of observa- 

 tion would be exercised, and a certain ability to distinguish between 

 the important and that which is secondary would be cultivated. With 

 such preparation, and other appropriate accompanying preparation, 

 he would be much better able to undertake the study of medicine 

 proper than without it. Hence it is much better to introduce the 

 study of medicine by that of chemistry and other allied subjects, than 

 to take up all the subjects together. The study of chemistry should 

 form a part of the preliminary, fundamental training of every medical 

 student. 



That, owing to the arrangements of our medical schools, very little 

 time can be given to chemistry is a misfortune. The amount of the 

 subject usually taught is scarcely worth the trouble of acquiring it. 

 I know what the amount usually is. I remember distinctly that, on 

 the occasion of my graduation as a doctor of medicine, I was asked 

 six questions which any one who had ever looked at a text-book of 

 chemistry could have answered. I answered most of the questions 

 incorrectly, as I have since discovered, but the Professor thought I 

 was right, and I thought so too, and that was all that was necessary. 

 Instead of possessing the "chemical sense," I was the possessor of 

 considerable chemical nonsense. 



But, while it requires no arguments to prove that a chemical train- 

 ing is desirable for the physician, it is not sufficient simply to acknowl- 

 edge the truth of the statement. If it is true, then it is the sacred 

 duty of every one, who has any influence with those who have a medi- 

 cal career in view, to put them upon the right track, to see that the 

 best kind of preliminary training is furnished them. 



By what I have said, I do not mean to imply that the physician is 

 to be a chemist. This is an impossibility. " No man can serve two 

 masters." I mean simply that he should have sufficient chemical 

 knowledge to enable him to see when chemistry can answer a question 

 of importance to medical science, and to know what value to attach to 

 a chemical fact. It is plain that this kind of knowledge, which, so to 

 speak, should pervade the mind of the physician, can only be acquired 

 by studying pure chemistry as a science, and not by taking up the 

 special study of physiological chemistry or medical chemistry. These 

 latter rest upon pure chemistry, and can only be studied intelligently 

 upon this basis. The specialist in medicine does not study eye-dis- 

 eases or lung-diseases or diseases of the nerves, without first studying 

 medicine. The analogy suggests itself. 



But chemistry, even sufficient for the medical man, can not be 

 studied alone by means of lectures and text-books. The medical stu- 

 dent should be brought, in the laboratory, in direct contact with the 

 substances, the relations and properties of which he is studying. By 



