318 ON MEDICAL EDUCATION xil 



of their profession, and that to this end the 

 teaching of those theoretical branches must be 

 confined to two or three centres. 



Now let me add one other word, and that is, 

 that if I were a despot, I would cut down these 

 branches to a very considerable extent. The next 

 thing to be done beyond that which I mentioned 

 just now, is to go back to primary education. 

 The great step towards a thorough medical educa- 

 tion is to insist upon the teaching of the elements 

 of the physical sciences in all schools, so that 

 medical students shall not go up to the medical 

 colleges utterly ignorant of that with which they 

 have to deal ; to insist on the elements .of chem- 

 istry, the elements of botany, and the elements of 

 physics being taught in our ordinary and common 

 schools, so that there shall be some preparation 

 for the discipline of medical colleges. And, if 

 this reform were once effected, you might confine 

 the " Institutes of Medicine " to physics as applied 

 to physiology to chemistry as applied to physi- 

 ology to physiology itself, and to anatomy. 

 Afterwards, the student, thoroughly grounded in 

 these matters, might go to any hospital he pleased 

 for the purpose of studying the practical branches 

 of his profession. The practical teaching might 

 be made as local as you like ; and you might use 

 to advantage the opportunities afforded by all these 

 local institutions for acquiring a knowledge of the 

 practice of the profession. But you may say : 



