THE REFORM OF THE MEDICAL 

 CURRICULUM : 



A REJOINDER 



By JOHN WADE, D.Sc. Lond. 

 Lecturer on Chemistry at Guy's Hospital, University of London 



The attack which Prof. Armstrong has made on the medical 

 curriculum of the University of London, in the preceding 

 number of this journal, might well lead the reader who is 

 unacquainted with the history of the subject to believe that our 

 whole system is radically wrong ; that medical education has 

 remained unaffected by the rapid march of science during the 

 past fifty years ; and that unless the present curriculum is 

 entirely remodelled the issue will be fraught with disaster. 

 The deep interest which Dr. Armstrong has taken in the complex 

 problems of elementary education and the wholesome reforms 

 in school teaching which have been effected of late years, in 

 part owing to his teaching, justly lend weight to his views on 

 any educational matter ; and it is with some diffidence that the 

 present writer ventures to challenge his conclusions. Perhaps, 

 however, association with medical students and medical men for 

 upwards of a quarter of a century, a daily experience of sixteen 

 years in teaching such students, and a position as one of the 

 senior teachers of chemistry in the medical schools of the 

 metropolis, will be allowed to constitute sufficient justification. 



What is the question at issue ? It is agreed on all sides that 

 the advance of medical science has for many years past been on 

 chemical lines, and for many years to come must continue to be 

 so. Prof. Armstrong, after quoting several prominent physiolo- 

 gists in support, himself proceeds : " The physiologists see quite 

 " clearly that lack of chemical technique is at present the greatest 

 " hindrance to progress from which they suffer. The problems 

 " they have to solve are the most difficult problems in chemistry. 

 "... Medical men require a far deeper, more intimate knowledge 



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