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our cities and large towns without let or hindrance ; 

 and to cover their own educational defects they com- 

 pared the meagerness of an American training with 

 that demanded in the countries they emigrated from. 

 In a majority of instances it was found that such 

 sticklers for great erudition had never studied medi- 

 cine at all, but were the sorriest of adventurers in 

 medical practice. 



To repeat in America the call for physicians be- 

 came so pressing, that school teachers and graduates 

 of high schools were admitted to seats in medical col- 

 leges, till half the graduates had not a smattering of 

 Latin and Greek ; and it has been found that the 

 non-classical among graduates in medicine have been 

 as successful practitioners as bachelors in art and 

 science. 



The innovation was fought against by the wealthy 

 and aristocratic, but it became plain that the scepter 

 of authority had departed from the sway of dogmatic 

 universities. Rivalry in medical colleges led to a cry 

 for numbers, and not for well qualified matriculants. 

 Thus matters drifted for a quarter of a century or 

 more, when the cry arose that doctors were becoming 

 too plentiful that some kind of Malthusian scheme 

 must be invented to check overproduction. Already 

 the edict has gone forth that the period of medical 

 study must be prolonged. The time and cost of a 

 medical education must be increased as a restraint 

 upon undue multiplication. The curriculum of med- 

 ical study has been extended from two to four years ; 

 and a preliminary examination is demanded there is 

 a call for a teacher's certificate, or a knowledge of 

 English grammar and composition, with some pro- 

 ficiency in mathematics and elementary physics. In 



