Xii ON MEDICAL EDUCATION 307 



the profession of medicine ; and I do not doubt, 

 from the evidences of ability which have been 

 given to-day, that I have before me a number of 

 men who will rise to eminence in that profession, 

 and who will exert a great and deserved influence 

 upon its future. That in which I am interested, 

 and about which I wish to speak, is the subject of 

 medical education, and I venture to speak about 

 it for the purpose, if I can, of influencing you, who 

 may have the power of influencing the medical 

 education of the future. You may ask, by what 

 authority do I venture, being a person not 

 concerned in the practice of medicine, to meddle 

 with that subject ? I can only tell you it is a 

 fact, of which a number of you I dare say are 

 aware by experience (and I trust the experience 

 has no painful associations), that I have been for a 

 considerable number of years (twelve or thirteen 

 years to the best of my recollection) one of the 

 examiners in the University of London. You are 

 further aware that the men who come up to the 

 University of London are the picked men of the 

 medical schools of London, and therefore such 

 observations as I may have to make upon the 

 state of knowledge of these gentlemen, if they be 

 justified, in regard to any faults I may have to 

 find, cannot be held to indicate defects in the 

 capacity, or in the power of application of those 

 gentlemen, but must be laid, more or less, to the 

 account of the prevalent system of medical educa- 



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