Dec. 1 8, 1873J 



NATURE 



121 



made, it seems to possess a few admirable workers, who 

 possess energy, knowledge, and earnestness enough to 

 keep any such society from collapsing. The Botanical 

 list is a model one. The papers in the Report are, — 

 " Heraldry," by Mr. F. E. Hulme, F.L.S. ; " On the 

 Perception of the Unseen," by .Mr. G. F. Rodwell ; " A 

 Walk across the Karst," by the Rev. J. Sowerby ; and 

 " The Luschari (Heilige) Berg in Carinthia," by the same 

 gentleman. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous 

 communications. ] 



Prof. Agassiz 



The sad intelligence received in London this morning of the 

 death of Prof Agassiz adds another ilhistrious name to the long 

 roll of victim.s to the insidious demon, " over-work." May I ask 

 5 on to give room in your next issue to the following passage 

 from a letter (probably one of the last he penned) received from 

 Prof Agassiz only last week, whic'i may be interesting to his 

 many sorrowing friends on this side the Atlantic, as attesting in- 

 directly to the cause of his death, viz., e.xcess of mental .and 

 physical exertion. P. De M. Grey Egerton 



Athena:um Club, Dec. 16 



" Museum of Comparative Zoolog)', 



"Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 26, 1S73 



" A feeling of despondency comes over me when I see how 

 long a time has elapsed since I_received your last letter, which 

 at the time I meant to answer immediately. With returning 

 hca'th, I have found the most frightful amount of neglected 

 work to bring up to date, with the addition of a new institution 

 to organise. I have given myself up to the task with all the 

 energy of which I am capable, and have made a splendid success 

 of the Anderson School, which cannot fail henceforth to have a 

 powerful inlluence upon the progress of Science in the^ United 

 Slates. But this has driven out everything else, and I should 

 have neglected even the Museum had not a constant appeal to 

 my attention arisen from the close connection in which the An- 

 derson School stands to the Museum, of which it is, as it were, 

 the educational branch. So _School and Museum have made 

 gigantic strides side by side ; but I am down again. At least I 

 feel unable to exert myself as usual, and such a feeling in the 

 beginning of the working season is disheartening. When I last 

 wrote I had strong hopes of an easy summer with my family, and 

 confidently expected to be able to pass the greater part of the win- 

 ter in Europe, and to have prepared the volume on Selachians 

 of the ' Poissons Fossiles' for a new edition, or rather an English 

 work on the subject. Now that hope is gone ; the immense acces- 

 sions to our Museum make even the progress of the Coal Fishes 

 from Iowa slow and almost hopeless. With 22 assistants and 

 14 sub- assistants in the Museum, I have my hands full with 

 administrative duties and responsibilities, and science and 

 friends suffer. 



" Ever truly your friend, 



" (Signed) L. Agassiz" 



Experiments on Frogs 



Wll.l. you grant me the space in your journal for a few words 

 called forth by Mr. Lewes's letter in vour number of December 

 4, on " Sensation in the Spinal Cord " ? 



In that letter the writer describes some experiments on frogs 

 of such excessive cruelty that I cannot refrain from entering a 

 protest against the principle which justifies such actions. 



The right to perform such actions as vivisection, &c., in the 

 cause of Science, has often before been questioned ; but the pre- 

 sent case— a case in which the infliction of pain is not an un- 

 avoifiable attendant on the experiments, but the very essence or 



object of them, and the slowness and prolongation of agony a 

 necessary part — stirs and revolts the whole mind, and brings the 

 question again prominently to the front. 



The question then is — are either the possible or probable 

 benefits to a portion of mankind, or the advancement of Science 

 for its own sake, sufficient reasons for the infliction of intense 

 suffering on our fellow-animals? Of course much may be urt^ed 

 in favour of vivisection. It may be said that without its assist- 

 ance Science, and especially the science of medicine, could 

 never have advanced to the point it has no v reached ; and 

 mankind urges that the gooil of mankind is of such paramount 

 importance that that of all other animals must be subordinated 

 to it unconditionally, and consequently that the smallest good 

 to mankind balances the greatest evil to other animals. 



To many this would be considered an amply sutTicient reason 

 for answering the question in the atfirmative, but at least it 

 should be remembered at what tremendous cost to one portion of 

 creation these benefits to another portion arj purchased. 



As time and Science advance it is becoming more recognised 

 that other animals have their rights as well as men ; and perhaps 

 it may some day be found that the right which mankind assumes 

 to himself of supremacy over his fellow-animals (including the 

 right to inflict deliberate torture, for whatever purpose) is, after 

 all, but the right of the strongest or most powerful. 



It seems to me so shocking th\t such things should be written 

 of .and read w-ith indifference, and without evoking one word of 

 protest on the other side, that on this ground alone, i.e., that 

 the assumption of the right to inflict torture may not pass quite 

 unchallenged, I venture to beg for the insertion of tiris letter. 



Dec. 8 X. 



Proposed Alterations in the Medical Curriculum 

 In a recent number of Nature, remarks are made in regard 

 to the present Medical Curriculum, more especially in conneciion 

 with the proposal of Prof Huxley to alter tbc Curriculum for 

 medical graduation in the University of Aben'ejii. Ilis object 

 is to remove the subjects of Botany and Na'ural History Irom 

 that Curriculum, and to put them in the category of a prelimi- 

 nary examination, without any con^pulsory at endance upon 

 lectures. Such a proposal if carried into effect would tend in no 

 small degree to limit the medical student's acquirements in the 

 biological sciences, as he will not be required to take full scientific 

 courses on these subjects. The tendency of such a system will 

 be to encoirrage what is commonly called "cram," inasmuch as 

 there will be no guarantee for methodical practical instruction 

 under a qu.alified teacher. 



While it may be true that t". .se who take the diplomas of the 

 medical corporations are not called upon to attend courses of lec- 

 tures on these subjects, and rarely undergo an examination on 

 them, the case is quite different with those students who aspire to 

 university degrees. The latter look not merely for a license to prac- 

 tise, but desii-e also a university honour. An inrportant distinction 

 at the present daj', between the licentiates of colleges and the 

 graduates of universities, is that the latter are expected to have a 

 higher literary and scientific knowledge. In place of reducing 

 the qualifications for degrees, so as to compete with colleges, 

 we ought to keep up the standard, and send forth medical men 

 who are not only well fitted for the practical duties of the pro- 

 fession, but who can also occupy a prominent position in the 

 scientific world. In accomplishing this object we should 

 arrange the curriculum in such a way as to put the study of the 

 sciences in its proper place. The student ought to commence 

 the study of botany and natural history in summer, before 

 entering upon anatomy, surgery, and other purely medical sub- 

 jects. This is now to a large extent carried out in the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, and by so doing a three months' course of 

 scientific study is added to the curriculum. The student 

 might be encouraged to take his science examination at 

 an early period of his curriculum, s.ay at the end of his 

 first year of study. The training which these studies give 

 to the mind of the young medical student, is most important. 

 They call forth his powers of observation and diagnosis ; 

 they present to him the principles of classification, and they 

 enlarge his views of anatomy and physiology. In primary schools 

 of the present day we frequently find lh:\t the elements of 

 botany and zoology constitute a part of the teaching, and most 

 properly so. Bat this is not enough for the graduate in 

 medicine. He must supplement this by going through the higher 

 University Curriculum. 



