INDIA. 



is placed on the practical training of the students, more 

 especially by bedside instruction. The out-patient de- 

 partment is utilized to the greatesi adVantage and it is 

 here thai the students are given the very best oppor- 

 tunities to come in touch with the patients. Under 

 the supervision and guidance of the professors or com- 

 petent instructors, they are required to make thorough 

 clinical examinations, apply dressings and assist in the 

 operative work, and the last year students are privilege! I 

 to perform some of the minor operations. 



The average medical student in India has a keener 

 taste for practical work than for scientific research, 

 and consequently makes good use of his clinical oppor- 

 tunities. The female medical students are no exception 

 to this rule, although it is generally admitted that at 

 the end of the curriculum, in consequence of a more 

 diligent attendance on the didactic lectures and a more 

 liberal use of midnight oil in reading their text-books, 

 they are ahead of their male colleagues in the theoreti- 

 cal knowledge of medicine. The male students are very 

 fond of all kinds of athletic sports, and the time spent 

 by them in developing their physical strength is made 

 use of hv the women in committing to memory the 

 contents of their text-books. Then, too. the young men 

 spend more time in amusements when away from the 

 playgrounds and out of the hospital and lecture-rooms 

 than the young women, who have less desire in this di- 

 rection and are kept under stricter supervision. 



If I had any criticism to offer in the methods of 

 teaching clinical surgery in India I would say that the 

 clinical material and specimens obtained by operations 

 and postmortems are not made use of to the greatest 

 advantage for the benefit of the students. Patbology 

 should be made the most important feature in the 

 teaching of surgery as well as of medicine. In defense 

 of this apparent neglect it must be said that the clini- 

 cal teachers in some of the colleges are without the 



