XII ON MEDICAL EDUCATION 311 



Well, now, gentlemen, I am sure my colleagues 

 in this examination will bear me out in saying 

 that I have not been exaggerating the evils and 

 defects which are current have been current in 

 a large quantity of the physiological teaching 

 the results of which come before examiners. 

 And it becomes a very interesting question to 

 know how all this comes about, and in what way 

 it can be remedied. How it comes about will be 

 perfectly obvious to any one who has considered 

 the growth of medicine. I suppose that medicine 

 and surgery first began by some savage more 

 intelligent than the rest, discovering that a certain 

 herb was good for a certain pain, and that a 

 certain pull, somehow or other, set a dislocated 

 joint right. I suppose all things had their 

 humble beginnings, and medicine and surgery 

 were in the same condition. People who wear 

 watches know nothing about watchmaking. A 

 watch goes wrong and it stops ; you see the 

 owner giving it a shake, or, if he is very bold, he 

 opens the case, and gives the balance-wheel a 

 push. Gentlemen, that is empirical practice, and 

 you know what are the results upon the watch. 

 I should think you can divine what are the results 

 of analogous operations upon the human body. 

 And because men of sense very soon found that 

 such were the effects of meddling with very com- 

 plicated machinery they did not understand, I 

 suppose the first thing, as being the easiest, was 



