PAPERS OX MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 251 



HUMANIZING- MEDICAL EDUCATION 



Frederick E. Green, M. D., Chief, Editorial Dep't of 

 "Health," Chicago 



In one of his historical essays, John Fiske says that 

 the increased geographical knowledge of the European 

 world in the fifty years immediately following the dis- 

 covery of America by Columbus was so great as to re- 

 quire the next two hundred years to digest, assimilate 

 and utilize this knowledge. This statement may with 

 equal truth be applied to our present-day knowledge of 

 the human body and its diseases, their diagnosis, preven- 

 tion, and treatment. In the last half century, modern 

 medicine and surgery have developed. More has been 

 learned regarding the human body and its dig than 



in all the preceding centuries of civilization. Our profes- 

 sion has been so busy learning newly discovered facts 

 that there has been little or no opportunity in this era of 

 analysis and investigation for synthesis or generaliza- 

 tion. Xew discoveries have crowded so fast on each 

 other that there has been no time for taking stock or for 

 adjusting educational methods to meet new conditions. 

 The medical school has, through force of circumstances, 

 become a part of the modern university. But the mod- 

 ern university has become something radically different 

 from the university of yesterday. 



In his "History of Mankind", Dr. Henry Van Loon 

 gives an interesting account of the medieval universities. 

 "They were found", he says, "'wherever a few teachers 

 and a few pupils happened to find themselves together. 

 Xow-a-days, when a new university is built, the pr< 



follows : Some rich man wants to do something for 

 the community in which he lives, or a particular religi- 

 - ct wants to build a school to keep its children under 

 supervision, or a state realizes the need of educating doc- 

 lawyers, and teachers. The university begins as a 

 large sum of money which is deposited in a bank. This 

 money is drawn out to construct buildings and labora- 

 tories and dormitories. Finally, professional teachers 

 are hired, entrance examinations are held, and the uni- 

 versity is on the way. But in the Middle As:es things 



