652 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



on the present system, and would prevent students leaving too mucli 

 of their work undone till the last year. 



Thirdly, it seems to me of great importance that the number of 

 subjects examined upon at the same time should, in some instances, be 

 reduced. The original idea of the London University in arranging 

 the subjects for the examination of M. D. was excellent — namely, to 

 spread them over a sufficient number of years and to present them suc- 

 cessively in a natural order of gradation. But, now that the mass of 

 knowledge demanded has so vastly increased, this division of labor 

 only partially meets the difficulty of the student, for he has now to 

 be prepared to answer questions in the course of a few days which 

 demand a painful retention of an enormous number of facts in the 

 memory. Some relief would be obtained here by a longer interval 

 being allowed between the days of examination on different subjects. 



In the recent discussion on medical education to which I have re- 

 ferred, Mr. Huxley urged that one mode of relieving the present strain 

 would be to make the preliminary subjects (in an elementary .form) 

 necessary parts of school education. Thus a boy ought to know a 

 bone or a muscle when he sees it. My fear is that by so doing we 

 should intensify the labors of school-work, unless it is on the distinct 

 understanding that these subjects are not added to, but take the place 

 of, some which are now taught at school ; otherwise it is merely cutting 

 off one end of the plank and fastening it on to the other. Mr. Hux- 

 ley's proposition assumes, of course, that it is well to introduce these 

 studies into schools as a part of the education of all, whether intended 

 for the medical profession or not. 



Fourthly^ whatever course is adopted, it is, I would hope, unneces- 

 sary to say that the crotchets of individual examiners should not tinge 

 the questions, or rather the judgment formed of the answers. If the 

 questions which are now asked are not too severe when taken alone, 

 they are regarded by many competent judges as frequently too severe 

 when taken in combination with the other subjects examined upon, 

 and also that they are sometimes calculated to puzzle the student, from 

 the form in which they are worded. Not long ago an examiner at the 

 London University, speaking to another examiner, boasted of the puz- 

 zling questions he had been ingenious enough to ask, whereupon the 

 other replied, to my great satisfaction, " You should try and find out 

 how much, not how little, the students know." I should have no fear 

 of the questions being unreasonable when put by a wise, common-sense 

 Professor like this, whereas some learned men expect a student to 

 reach in a few months the level of their own mature knowledge. 



I would adopt the language, once more, of Professor Humphrey, 

 and say : " With Democritus ' we should strive not after fullness of 

 knowledge, but fullness of understanding' ; that is, that we should 

 strive for good, clear, solid, intelligent, producible, and available knowl- 

 edge, of the kind that will be useful in after-life ; not so much the re- 



