NATURE 



21 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1873 



ON THE MEDICAL CURRICULUM 

 I N a recent number of this journal (Nature, Oct. 2, 

 -L 1873) we made some remarks on medical studies, 

 which were intended more for students themselves than 

 in any way to bear on the principles of medical educa- 

 tion. To the latter subject special attention has just been 

 directed by Prof. Huxley, who, as Lord Rector of the 

 University of Aberdeen, has drawn up a series of proposi- 

 tions for the consideration of the Court at the next meeting 

 in February or March, on which occasion he will deliver 

 his inaugural address. 



The following are the motions that the Lord Rector will 

 propose :— 



" L That, in view of the amount and diversity 

 of the knowledge which must be acquired by the 

 student who aspires to become a properly qualified 

 graduate in medicine ; of the need recognised by all 

 earnest teachers and students for the devotion of much 

 time to practical discipline in the sciences of chemistry, 

 anatomy, physiology, therapeutics, and pathology, which 

 constitute the foundation of all rational medical practice ; 

 and of the relatively short period over which the medical 

 curriculum extends — it is desirable to relieve that curricu- 

 lum of everything which does not directly tend to prepare 

 the student for the discharge of those highly responsible 

 duties, his fitness for the performance of which is certified 

 to the public by the diploma granted by the University. 



" II. That it would be of great service to the student of 

 medicine to have obtained, in the course of his preliminary 

 education, a practical acquaintance with the methods and 

 leading facts of the sciences comprehended by botany 

 and natural history in the medical curriculum ; but that, 

 as the medical curriculum is at present arranged, the 

 attendance of lectures upon, and the passing of examina- 

 tions in, these subjects occupy time and energy which he 

 has no right to withdraw from work which tends more 

 directly to his proficiency in medicine. 



"III. That it is desirable to revoke or alter ordinance 

 No. 16, in so far as it requires a candidate for a degree in 

 medicine to pass an e.xamination in botany and zoology 

 as part of the professional examination ; and to provide, 

 in lieu thereof, that the examination on these subjects 

 shall, as far as possible, take place before the candidate 

 has entered upon his medical curriculum. 



" IV. That it is desirable to revoke or alter said ordi- 

 nance No. 16, in so far as it requires candidates for the 

 degree of doctor of medicine to have passed an examina- 

 tion in Greek, and that, in lieu thereof, either German or 

 French be made a compulsory subject of examination 

 for said degree, Greek remaining as one of the optional 

 subjects." 



In considering these points a review of the method by 

 which the present position of the medical curriculum has 

 been arrived at, will throw considerable light on the steps 

 which ought to be taken for its improvement, and will 

 show how subjects which have but an indirect bearing, or 

 none at all, on medicine proper have been gradually made 

 to form an element of the course of study, without any 

 question having been asked as to whether their introduc- 

 tion does not bring its concomitant disadvantages. 



The influence of Materia Medica seems to have been 



great in bringing about the present state of affairs. When 



Dr. Anthony Todd Thomson and Dr. Pereira, in their 



enthusiasm for their favourite subject, extended its limits 



Vol, i.\. — No. 211 



so as to include a full account of the source and history of 

 every one of the articles which were mentioned in the 

 Pharmacopoeia, and went so far as to give a full descrip- 

 tion of Callus bankiva, together with all the steps in the 

 development of its egg, simply because Ovi vitellus is an 

 antidote against poisoning by corrosive sublimate, and is 

 employed in the preparation of Mistura Spiritus Vini 

 Gallici (egg flip), it is evident that as the sciences of zoology 

 and botany became more profound. Materia Medica as a 

 subject would proportionately e.xpand. At last a time 

 came when separate lectures had to be given on the 

 above-mentioned kindred subjects, in order that those on 

 Materia Medica might be more easily comprehended by 

 the student ; and, as might be expected, these inde- 

 pendent lectures on zoology and botany, as those on 

 chemistry had done before, became so complete in them- 

 selves, as to reduce the subject which had given rise to 

 their introduction, to a simple formulary for the chemist, 

 with references to the sources of the necessary scientific 

 information. The introduction, however, of zoology and 

 botany as separate independent elements of the curri- 

 culum, brought into the medical education a large ma ss 

 of matter, which is very valuable no doubt in itself, but to 

 the student entirely irrelevant ; and as in the short 

 pupilage of three or four years there is a much larger 

 amount that ought to be learned than can be properly 

 acquired in the time, it becomes a matter worth serious 

 consideration, whether subjects which are not indispens- 

 able to a thorough training should be still taught and be 

 required by the examining bodies. The question there- 

 fore resolves itself into the determination of whether the 

 loss of time necessary for obtaining a superficial know- 

 ledge of a couple of sciences, is counteracted by the 

 advantages of those sciences as a mental training and a 

 basis for higher work .■' In an Introductory Lecture 

 delivered some time ago at University College, Prof. 

 Huxley throws the weight of his opinion in the scale 

 against retaining the subjects which must be to him most 

 dear, in the medical curriculum ; and most will agree 

 with him, notwithstanding the many difficulties in the 

 way of an improved programme. 



With regard to Prof. Huxley's fourth proposition, in 

 which it is considered desirable to omit Greek from the 

 preliminary examination, and substitute German or French 

 in its place, the interest will not be so great to most, as 

 that relating to the scientific qualifications that are neces- 

 sary. The same conservative spirit which has prevented 

 any reduction in_the overloaded Biological portion of the 

 curriculum, has, without question of any kind being asked, 

 never even hinted at any^change in the long-established 

 and well-tried school-course, in which the at one time 

 practically valuable and indispensable Greek and Latin 

 are still retained, though of less importance at the present 

 day. How many of our scientific men find that nothing 

 deters them in every step of their work, more than a want 

 of knowledge of the German language, now that the 

 scientific activity of that country is so considerable and 

 so rapidly increasing. There must be a change with the 

 times, even in primary education, and we hardly think 

 that in his introductory address to the King's College 

 Medical Society on the 23rd of last month. Prof. Curnow 

 put the case fairly when he disapproved of the substitu- 

 tion of German for Greek, because the one could be 



