MEMOIRS. 



Notes of a Course of Practical Histology for Medical 

 Students. Given in King's College, London, by Wm. 

 Rutherford, M.D,, F.R.S.E., Professor of Physiology. 



At the present time there is much discussion regarding 

 the manner in which Practical Physiology should be taught 

 to medical students. Perceiving the difficulties which physio- 

 logical teachers have to encounter in carrying out the new 

 regulations of the College of Surgeons, the Editor of this 

 Journal has asked me to give a resum» of my course of 

 Practical Histology. I do not regard my course as perfect, 

 nevertheless I have found it work successfully through 

 several years, and, after having ascertained the modes of 

 tuition adopted elscAvhere in this country and in Germany, 

 I have come to the conclusion that on no other system does 

 the student accomplish so much in so short a time. 



The system of teaching is essentially that adopted by my 

 old master. Professor Bennett, of Edinburgh, the gentleman 

 who first taught Practical Histology in this country. Under 

 Professor Bennett's direction I taught the subject in a manner 

 differing somewhat from that which I now adopt. In Edin- 

 burgh, the students of my ordinary class merely examined the 

 tissues. I now find no difficulty in providing every pupil with 

 the means for making for himself a little cabinet of microscopic 

 specimens of the various tissues. This involves little trouble, 

 and greatly increases the interest with which the student 

 follows the class. 



It is not advisable to teach more than five-and-twenty or, at 

 the outside, thirty students at a time. To teach even this 

 number satisfactorily requires three skilled assistants — senior 

 students who have been through the course, and can assist the 

 uninitiated. The whole of Histology may be gone through in 

 twenty-four lessons, each lesson lasting from an hour and a 

 half to two hours. The tuition of this class is more laborious 

 than that of any other with which I am acquainted: the 

 chief cause of the labour is the manipulation of the micro- 



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