XIII STATE AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 34I 



a fair amount of that knowledge which is requisite 

 for the satisfactory- discharge of liis professional 

 duties. 



Therefore it is quite clear to me that, somehow 

 or other, the curriculum must be lightened. It 

 is not that any of the subjects which I have 

 mentioned need not to be studied, and may be 

 eliminated. The onlv alternative therefore is to 

 lengthen the time given to study. Everybody 

 will agree with me that the practical necessities 

 of life in this country are such that, for the aver- 

 age medical practitioner at any rate, it is hope- 

 less to think of extending the period of profes- 

 sional study beyond the age of twenty-two. So 

 that as the period of study cannot be extended for- 

 wards, the only thing to be done is to extend it 

 backwards. 



The question is how this can be done. My 

 own belief is that if the Medical Council, instead 

 of insisting upon that examination in general edu- 

 cation which I am sorry to sa}' I believe to be 

 entirely futile, were to insist upon a knowledge of 

 elementary physics, and chemistry, and biology, 

 they would be taking one of the greatest steps 

 which at present can be made for the improvement 

 of medical education. And "^ the improvement 

 would be this. The great majority of the young 

 men who " are going into the profession have 

 practically completed their general education — or 

 they might very well have done so — by the age 



