90 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 212. 



experience shows that much of it sinks in 

 so far that it cannot be got up again with- 

 out the loss of valuable energy. A more 

 serious objection is that the method of con- 

 tinuous application is highly fruitful in the 

 case of men of exceptional powers, who are 

 keen in spite of protracted effort, but is 

 wasteful for the average brain, which is 

 fatigued and unreceptive after some hours 

 of unremitting labor. The truth of this 

 must be allowed, but the objection does not 

 apply to wide-ranging sciences, such as anat- 

 omy and physiology, which are not narrow, 

 hedged-in areas, but which consist rather 

 of broad and diversified domains composed 

 of many contiguous fields, the vai'ied nature 

 of which is a perpetual refreshment. In 

 practice the student of anatomy may divide 

 his time between general anatomy, descrip- 

 tive human anatomy, histology and embry- 

 ology, all of which are now taught in the 

 medical curriculum, and the student of 

 physiology may pass from general and 

 special physiology to physiological chem- 

 istry, thus resting the mind without inter- 

 rupting the continuity of effort essential to 

 instruction that must be both rich and 

 frugal. 



I would propose, then, that the first year 

 in medical schools be divided equally be- 

 tween anatomy and physiology, the first 

 four months being given to general anat- 

 omjf, descriptive human anatomy, histology 

 and embryology ; the second four to physi- 

 ology and physiological chemistrj^, studies 

 which cannot be pursued without a knowl- 

 edge of an atom J'. 



In accordance with the principles already 

 outlined, the instruction in physiology 

 should be divided into three parts. Part I, 

 of five weeks' duration, should consist of a 

 thorough drill in the physiology of nerve 

 and muscle, the hours from 9 to 11 being 

 devoted to experiments, the hour from 11 

 to 12 to study of materia phj'siologica 

 (physiological preparations, graphic rec- 



ords, etc.), and the time from 12 to 12:45 to 

 a conference or seminary, which should be 

 part lecture, part recitation. In the con- 

 ference the beaz'ing of the experimental 

 work just done should be developed by 

 systematic progressive questioning accom- 

 panied by running comments, to clear up 

 any possible fog. A brief account of other 

 experimects which add to the truth estab- 

 lished by those which the student has done 

 for himself, but which are too complex or 

 too protracted to lie within the student's 

 powers, should be brought in here. 



Part II, of seven weeks' duration, should 

 comprise carefully- arrauged fundamental 

 experiments giving in turn the elements of 

 each field in physiology excejDt that of nerve 

 and muscle, which has just been studied. 

 As before, the whole class works from 9 to 

 11 upon experiments, from 11 to 12 studies 

 all possible means of illustrating the subject 

 of the day, and from 12 to 12:45 attends the 

 conference or seminary. In the forty-two 

 days covering this part of the coui'se in- 

 structors who find the mixture of lecture 

 and Socratic method unsj'mpathetic may 

 abandon their questioning and fill the time 

 with their own remarks ; even such instruc- 

 tion would be far more fruitful than the 

 present lectures, for the student would have 

 had experience in anatomy and would be 

 well grounded in experimental physiology, 

 through his work on nerve and muscle, be- 

 fore the talk began ; but the seminary is 

 much more effective than the lecture. 



In Part III, covering the remaining four 

 weeks of the term, the instruction is di- 

 vided into special' courses on the physiology 

 of the eye, ear, larynx, digestion, the spinal 

 cord, the innervation of the heart, etc. 

 Each course should consist of experimental 

 work from 9 to 11, the study of prepara- 

 tions and other aids from 11 to 12, and a 

 conference from 12 to 12:45. Each course 

 should be long enough to include all the 

 practicable experiments that should find a 



