220 UNIVERSITIES : ACTUAL AND IDEAL viTI 



medical practitioner ought to be a person of educa- 

 tion and good general culture ; but I also hold by 

 the old theory of a Faculty, that a man should 

 have his general culture before he devotes himself 

 to the special studies of that Faculty ; and I 

 venture to maintain, that, if the general culture 

 obtained in the Faculty of Arts were what it ought 

 to be, the student would have quite as much 

 knowledge of the fundamental principles of Physics, 

 of Chemistry, and of Biology, as he needs, before 

 he commenced his special medical studies. 



Moreover, I would urge, that a thorough study 

 of Human Physiology is, in itself, an education 

 broader and more comprehensive than much that 

 passes under that name. There is no side of the 

 intellect which it does not call into play, no region 

 of human knowledge into which either its roots, 

 or its branches, do not extend ; like the Atlantic 

 between the Old and the New Worlds, its waves 

 wash the shores of the two worlds of matter and 

 of mind ; its tributary streams flow from both J 

 through its waters, as yet unfurrowed by the 

 keel of any Columbus, lies the road, if such 

 there be, from the one to the other ; far away 

 from that North-west Passage of mere specu- 

 lation, in which so many brave souls have been 

 hopelessly frozen up. 



But whether I am right or wrong about all this, 

 the patent fact of the limitation of time remains, 

 As the song runs : 



