Vt2 PliESIDKXTlAL ADDltKSS — SECTIUX I>. 



in purpose, there are certain factors that constantly battle and 

 discourage. " He continues: "The undue inulti plication of 

 student activities and caixipus side-shows plays an ever-increasing 

 part in the puUing down of the educational system with which 

 we have laboured so carefully and so painfully, and in the dissi- 

 pation of the scientific efforts of those who should be our best 

 students. Superficial training is the inevitable result, and super- 

 ficial training and narrowness of viewpoint are the blight of our 

 system of scientific education to-day." Again: " Our colleges 

 are spending relatively enormous sums upon athletic activities 

 whose end is not, in any sense, physical development of the 

 students, but solely the winning of games and championships, 

 while the educational needs are grievously suffering through lack 

 of support. . . . We are losing the sense of perspective in 

 educational affairs." The Professor, while risking the appella- 

 tion of " alarmist," writes of those who consistently practise 

 living the life " of the college by becoming " all-round " men 

 and participating in every possible activity, that they, with few 

 exceptions, " make up the army of fillers of small positions, doers 

 of small things and thinkers of small thoughts." I fear that what 

 is true of America is liable to become true of other parts of the 

 world, and that excessive sport is tending to become parasitic 

 on legitimate occupations and studies, exerting an adverse influence 

 on mental capacity and on moral obligations and sense of 

 responsibility. Sport in moderation is healthful and desirable. 



About the same time an interesting article on " Individualism 

 in Medical Education," by Prof. A. C. Eycleshymer, appeared in 

 Science, April 28th, 1922, being the substance of an address to 

 the Association of American Medical Colleges in March. He 

 emphasises that there are two factors in medical education, 

 individual thought and collective thought. The development of 

 community life emphasises collective thought, but with the 

 increasing restrictions brought about by unity of purpose and 

 organisation, " individuality is forced towards the average." 

 Again: " Great leaders — philosophers, statesmen and scientists — 

 are those who have resisted these equalising forces. ... If the 

 development of individuality be ignored, one of the greatest forces 

 in the progress of mankind is lost to the world." The traditional 

 home of individuality is in the University, and here is the one 

 place where it should be fostered and encouraged. On the other 

 hand, the principle of collectivisni is a necessary part of modei'n 

 social organisation. Many combine together for a common pur- 

 pose, but each realises that what is present in himself is moribund, 

 that he is physically an automaton and intellectually at the lowest 

 level. The remedy must be sought in greater liberty in medical 

 education, according to Dr. Eycleshymer, and while " every 

 medical problem must be approached through the avenues of 

 physics, chemistry or biology," the physician needs to be able to 

 determine which will help him most in any problem, and probably 

 finds that all are involved, for it is necessary to emphasise the 

 need " of working through the avenues of multiple hypotheses in 

 the interpretation of disease." Such needs remembering in South 

 Africa, where, owing to the insistent clamour of the amateur 

 and the uneducated, there is a tendency to try to force too early 



