31S OX MEDICAL EDITATIOX xii 



ical branches must be confined to two or three 

 centres. 



Now let me add one other word, and that is, 

 that if I were a despot, I would cut down these 

 brandies to a very considerable extent. The next 

 thing to be done beyond that which I mentioned 

 just now, is to go back to primary education. 

 The great step towards a thorough medical educa- 

 tion is to insist upon the teaching of the elements 

 of the physical sciences in all schools, so that 

 medical students shall not go up to the medical 

 colleges utterly ignorant of that with which they 

 have to deal; to insist on the elements of chem- 

 istry, the elements of botany, and the elements of 

 physics being taught in our ordinary and common 

 schools, so that there shall be some preparation 

 for the discipline of medical colleges. And, if 

 this reform were once effected, you might coniinc 

 the " Institutes of Medicine " to ]ihysics as applied 

 to physiology — to chemistry as applied to physi- 

 ology — to physiology itself, and to anatomy. 

 Afterwards, the student, thoroughly grounded in 

 these matters, might go to any hospital he pleased 

 for the purpose of studying the practical branches 

 of his profession. The practical teaching might 

 be made as local as you like; and you might use 

 to advantage the opportunities afforded by all 

 these local institutions for acquiring a knowledge 

 of the practice of the profession. But you may say: 

 *' This is abolishing a great deal; you are getting 



