ADVANCED LESSONS IN PRACTICAL PHYSIOLOGY 



INTRODUCTION 



IN order to prepare the medical student for the clinical work that 

 is to follow during his subsequent years of study, the subject of physi- 

 ology must be presented to him in an eminently practical manner. 

 For this reason the purely didactic lectures of not so many years ago 

 have gradually been displaced by more or less informal discourses 

 between the lecturer and students, pertaining more particularly to topics 

 of unusual complexity and clinical value. Furthermore, the experi- 

 ments which formerly constituted a large part of the physiologic lec- 

 ture, have since been separated from the purely didactic subject matter 

 and have been combined into a continuous course of practical exercises 

 and demonstrations. 



The earlier "experimental lectures" have failed in their purpose, 

 because much time was frequently wasted in overcoming technical dif- 

 ficulties not apparent at the beginning of the hour, and because little 

 opportunity was afforded the students to become acquainted with 

 the apparatus and the technic required to perform physiologic experi- 

 ments. These difficulties have been met in large part by instituting 

 a course in practical physiology, designed so that the student himself 

 may perform simple and instructive experiments. Obviously, the ac- 

 quisition of knowledge by the laboratory method consumes a longer 

 period of time and requires a definite experimental aptitude on the 

 part of the student. Furthermore, this method of teaching entails the 

 expenditure of large sums of money for apparatus and the salaries of 

 additional teachers. These difficulties, however, have been overcome 

 in recent years in all the schools of higher grade, and practical courses 

 in physiology are now an accomplished fact, and rightly so, because the 

 benefits which the students derive from work of this kind cannot be 

 overestimated. It cultivates the faculty of close observation and ac- 

 curate rating of facts. It develops the power of logical thought and 

 expression, and impresses upon them facts and principles otherwise 

 scarcely noted and comprehended. Indeed, many students must see 

 things in order to be able to obtain a clear mental picture of them, but 

 when once seen, the impression is lasting. Where else than in medicine 

 could this manner of teaching be of greater service? 



Quite aside from the fact that this method constitutes an admirable 

 means of imparting physiologic knowledge, it also enables the students 



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