E. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. 



The Committee on Medical Education respectfully report : — 

 That they have undertaken the discharge of the duties devolved 

 upon them, with a profound conviction of their importance and of 

 the delicate interests to which they are allied. 



The American Medical Association is just commencing a career 

 of high promise. It is cheered onward by kindred voices from all 

 quarters of our extended Republic. The committee have felt it to 

 be incumbent on them, to propose no measures which might receive 

 a cold or doubtful assent by their professional brethren, or mingle a 

 note of discord with the harmony of the profession here and every- 

 where. If the Association would attain the great ends for which 

 it was formed, if it would gain the object which every worthy "and 

 right-minded physician must have in view, if it would sustain the 

 dignity of our calling and obey the better impulses of our nature, it 

 must maintain peace and good will in the great body of the medical 

 profession. This line of conduct is not merely compatible with im- 

 provements and reforms, but is essential to the accomplishment of 

 them. Looking to a future, more or less distant, for the attainment 

 of all the objects to be desired in the matter of medical education, 

 the committee have deemed it right and expedient to exercise great 

 reserve and caution in the recommendation of measures for the sanc- 

 tion of this body. 



The constitution of the Association thus defines the duties of this 

 committee. "The Committee on Medical Education shall, 1st, pre- 

 pare an annual report on the general condition of medical education 

 in the United States, in comparison with the state of medical educa- 

 tion in other enlightened nations; noticing as occasion may call for, 

 2d, the courses of instruction, the practical requirements for gradua- 

 tion, the modes of examination for conferring degrees, and 3d, the 

 reputed number of pupils and of graduates at the several medical 



