TRAVEL AS A MEDICAL EDUCATION. 11 



weighing its possibilities. Horatius was fully aware of 

 this when he wrote: 



"The knowledge <>f liicn and manners is the firsi 

 principle and fountain head of good writing." 



Before machinery usurped the place of hand labor 

 mechanics and tradesmen acquired their technical 

 knowledge by serving as apprentices for a number of 

 years under the supervision of an acknowledged master, 

 and after having obtained the required proficiency they 

 spent another year or two, their Wander jahrc, in travel- 

 ing from place to place in perfecting themselves in their 

 vocation by familiarizing themselves with the practical 

 work of different masters, before they considered them- 

 selves fully qualified to take their independent stations 

 in life. In this manner they acquired a reliable knowl- 

 edge of the details of their work, which no one master 

 could impart. If travel and observation and practice 

 under different masters in the acquirement of a thor- 

 ough knowledge of the different trades are such im- 

 portant factors of success in the world of business, it 

 must appear very evident that the same means are even 

 more desirable and efficient in the study of medicine 

 and in keeping pace with the wonderful advancements 

 and improvements of the most progressive of all profes- 

 sions. In this age of research and discoveries, the 

 science and the practice of medicine and surgery are 

 undergoing revolutionary changes from day to day- 

 and the ceaseless search for truth and facts makes it 

 necessary for the modern practitioner to keep abreast 

 with the latest and best pertaining to his calling. 



In our day this means much. It was not so in the 

 remote past, when the authority of writers of popular 

 text-books remained unchallenged for centuries. We 

 live in an age characterized by progressiveness. deep 

 scientific investigation, free and sharp criticism. Theo- 

 ries advanced by one are overthrown by another unless 

 they stand the crucial test of successful repetition by 



