XIII STATE AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 341 



a fair amount of that knowledge which is requisite 

 for the satisfactory discharge of his professional 

 duties. 



Therefore it is quite clear to me that, somehow 

 or other, the curriculum must be lightened. It 

 is not that any of the subjects which I have 

 mentioned need not to be studied, and may be 

 eliminated. The only alternative therefore is to 

 lengthen the time given to study. Everybody 

 will agree with me that the practical necessities 

 of life in this country are such that, for the 

 average medical practitioner at any rate, it is 

 hopeless to think of extending the period of 

 professional study beyond the age of twenty -two. 

 So that as the period of study cannot be extended 

 forwards, the only thing to be done is to extend 

 it backwards. 



The question is how this can be done. My 

 own belief is that if the Medical Council, instead 

 of insisting upon that examination in general 

 education which I am sorry to say I believe to be 

 entirely futile, were to insist upon a knowledge of 

 elementary physics, and chemistry, and biology, 

 they would be taking one of the greatest steps 

 which at present can be made for the improvement 

 of medical education. And the improvement 

 would be this. The great majority of the young 

 men who are going into the profession have 

 practically completed their general education or 

 they might very well have done so by the age 



