XII ON MEDICAL EDUCATION 321 



activity. Let us count up what we have left. I 

 suppose all the time for medical education that 

 can be hoped for is, at the outside, about four 

 years. Well, what have you to master in those 

 four years upon my supposition? Physics applied 

 to physiology; chemistry applied to physiology; 

 physiology; anatomy; surgery; medicine (includ- 

 ing therapeutics); obstetrics; hygiene; and medi- 

 cal jurisprudence — nine subjects for four years! 

 And when you consider what those subjects are, 

 and tliat the acquisition of anything beyond the 

 rudiments of any one of them may tax tlie en- 

 ergies of a lifetime, I think that even those ener- 

 gies which you young gentlemen have been dis- 

 playing for the last hour or two might be taxed to 

 keep you thoroughly up to what is wanted for 

 your medical career. 



I entertain a verv strono; conviction that anv 

 one who adds to medical education one iota or 

 tittle beyond what is absolutely necessary, is guilty 

 of a very grave offence. Gentlemen, it will de- 

 pend U]Kjn the knowledge that you happen to 

 possess, — upon your means of applying it within 

 your own field of action, — whether the bills of 

 mortality in your district are increased or dimin- 

 ished; and that, gentlemen, is a very serious con- 

 sideration indeed. And, under those circum- 

 stances, the subjects with which you have to deal 

 being so difficult, their extent so enormous, and 

 the time at your disposal so limited, I could not 



