AEMY MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS 387 



papers, are of their kind far better tests of the intellect 

 expended in the attainment of the subject than our Medical 

 Examinations are. 



The outcome of his ideas on these examinations is summed 

 up in a subsequent letter to Sir C. Lyell : 



October 26, 1889. 



I was one of the fom' who, at the request of Sir C. Wood, 

 originated the system of competitive examinations for the 

 Medical Officers of the Indian Army, which produced most 

 extensive and important reforms in the Medical Schools 

 (after they had abused us well for our pains !) ; the system 

 was extended thereafter to the British Army, and now to 

 the Navy, for twelve years I examined twice a year, in all 

 branches of Science ! I did not retire till I was appointed 

 Director here, when the fees of the Examiners were imme- 

 diately doubled ! — fost hoc — I cannot say propter hoc. 



It was a very arduous and poorly paid duty. Paget, 

 Busk, and Parkes ^ were my coadjutors. 



For the next six years the letters contain constant refer- 

 ences to these examinations. They meant a bout of hard work 

 in January and July, with, say, 600 foolscap sheets to 

 look through as a first step. Experience showed the frequent 

 lack of good preliminary teaching and of any single system 

 of teaching. In 1855 we read of twenty-eight candidates for 

 thirty places, of whom six were ploughed, ' they were ex- 

 cessively badly taught, in Botany especially ' ; in 1857, forty- 

 three men for twenty-two places, again showing much ignor- 

 ance, while in 1858 the men are on the whole better. But he 

 was sometimes in despair over the answers given, and writes 

 to Harvey at DubHn, July 14, 1859 : 



I am examining at India House and ask a man what the 

 value of Duramen is in contrast to Alburnum, and he answers 

 that Policemen's batons are made of it ! Guess his country. 



^ Edmund Alexander Parkes (1819-76) was the first organiser of the 

 Army Medical School, and the founder of the science of modern hygiene, 

 especially military hygiene. As an army surgeon he served in India for three 

 years, returning to London in 1845, and became Professor of Clinical Medicine 

 at University College in 1849. In teaching and in physiological research 

 he was equally distinguished. 



