138 SELECTED ESS A YS FROM LA Y SERMONS 



conferring of degrees. It is obviously impossible that any 

 student should pass through the whole of the series of courses 

 of instruction offered by a university. If a degree is to be 

 conferred as a mark of proficiency in knowledge, it must be 

 given on the ground that the candidate is proficient in a 

 certain fraction of those studies; and then will arise the 

 necessity of insuring an equivalency of degrees, so that the 

 course by which a degree is obtained shall mark approxi- 

 mately an equal amount of labour and of acquirements, in 

 all cases. But this equivalency can hardly be secured in 

 any other way than by prescribing a series of definite lines 

 of study. This is a matter which will require grave consider- 

 ation. The important points to bear in mind, I think, are 

 that there should not be too many subjects in the curric- 

 ulum, and that the aim should be the attainment of thor- 

 ough and sound knowledge of each. 



One half of the Johns Hopkins bequest is devoted to the 

 establishment of a hospital, and it was the desire of the 

 testator that the university and the hospital should co- 

 operate in the promotion of medical education. The trus- 

 tees will unquestionably take the best advice that is to be had 

 as to the construction and administration of the hospital. 

 In respect to the former point, they will doubtless remember 

 that a hospital may be so arranged as to kill more than it 

 cures; and, in regard to the latter, that a hospital may spread 

 the spirit of pauperism among the well-to-do, as well as 

 relieve the sufferings of the destitute. It is not for me to 

 speak on these topics — rather let me confine myself to the 

 one matter on which my experience as a student of medicine, 

 and an examiner of long standing, who has taken a great 

 interest in the subject of medical education, may entitle me 

 to a hearing. I mean the nature of medical education itself, 

 and the co-operation of the university in its promotion. 



