CHARLES SEDGWICK MINOT. 843 



claims of friendship. His arguments were always keen, definitely to 

 the point in view which was strongly presented, sometimes even too 

 much so. There is apt to bo some suspicion in the minds of men 

 when a policy adAocated is too clearly presented; it is not flattering 

 to those holding the opposite view. The general discussions in 

 medical faculties do not suffer from clear and logical statement, and 

 Minot's presentation of a subject was in marked contrast to that 

 usually heard. \Yhile it often took a long time for men to agree with 

 him, and he usually obtained what was desired, there was never a 

 suspicion that the ends in A'iew were personal and selfish. His active 

 support could always be obtained for any measure looking to the 

 betterment of instruction and the advance of scientific interest. 



He was in all respects an admirable teacher; as a lecturer simple 

 and clear, interesting, often enlivening the subject by shafts of keen 

 humor, and in the laboratory stimulating, always insisting that the 

 students should cultivate the faculties of independent observation 

 and judgment. Minot was the first to introduce into the medical 

 schools of the countrv the laboratorv method of student instruction, 

 and the way is never easy for the pioneer. It was a method new to 

 the students, for the men entering the medical schools seem to acquire 

 neither in the home, nor in the schools, nor in the colleges sufficient 

 training in the methods of science. Minot lived to see the modest 

 beginning of this method of teaching, which he made under most 

 unsatisfactory conditions in the old Medical School on Grove Street, 

 become the dominant method used alike in the pre-clinical and 

 clinical branches. 



Minot was an excellent director of a laboratory. His laboratory 

 was always orderly, giving one entering it the impression given by a 

 well ordered household. He devised a method of giving each student 

 the use of a microscope by having him pay the school a small sum, 

 which sufficed for their upkeep and renewal. He early began the 

 collection of embryological material, the embryos being cut in serial 

 sections and arranged in suitable and permanent steel cabinets which 

 he devised. In the course of time this grew into an unrivalled collec- 

 tion, serving an admirable purpose, not only in teaching, but in 

 research also, as is shown by the number of researches based upon 

 the material of the collection. The collection was freely used by the 

 other departments of the school, so that any question arising which 

 was wholly or partly based upon the course of embryological de^'elop- 

 ment could be here studied on admirably preser^'ed material. Minot 

 gave much time and thought to the plans for his new laboratory at 



