Apeil 2, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



339 



ful, however, whether the need for reform can 

 be met in this manner and it seems that the 

 reorganization of the medical teaching in such 

 a half-hearted way is almost bound to result 

 in failure. 



It will be noted that up to the present I have 

 not mentioned full-time or part-time employ- 

 ment as applied to teachers. With the concep- 

 tion of a department such as I have tried to 

 present, this question settles itself. To make 

 scientific progress requires all of the time of 

 the mosit able-bodied and able-minded men that 

 we now possess. We are not discussing a prac- 

 tical trade school, but a scientific university 

 department dealing with one of the most in- 

 teresting, the most important and the most 

 complex branches of human knowledge. Could 

 any teacher engaged in this great work want 

 to neglect it to engage in a practical pursuit 

 for money ? If so, he has no place in this in- 

 stitution. If public humanitarian appeals 

 should sometimes call him away from his hos- 

 pital and laboratory, probably that would be 

 good for him. In any case, it does not seem 

 that we need to worry that this will interfere 

 too much with bis work, unless human nature 

 changes. 



' The very important question may now be 

 raised whether the proposed plan would not 

 have exactly the opposite effect on the develop- 

 ment of the science of medicine from that in- 

 tended. If men in the departments of physi- 

 ology and anatomy and the other contributing 

 sciences should no longer engage in the solu- 

 tion of medical problems, would not the re- 

 sult be disastrous? It is not intended, how- 

 ever, that the organization of the department 

 of medicine in the manner described would 

 prevent men in any other department of the 

 university from undertaking the solution of 

 medical problems. Men in the department of 

 physiology have been known to contribute to 

 anatomical knowledge and the investigations 

 in the department of anatomy are not infre- 

 quently directed toward the solution of physio- 

 logical questions. It is to be hoped and ex- 

 pected that in the future as in the past all the 

 departments of biological and physical and 

 chemical science will bring contributions to 



medicine. The fact that the department of 

 medicine is itself investigating the problems 

 of disease need have no deterring influence on 

 these other departments; indeed this fact would 

 undoubtedly increase the interest of the other 

 departments in medical science. On the other 

 hand, the university medical clinic might itself 

 become a contributor to these other sciences. 

 Por instance, it will not infrequently happen 

 that in order to approach its own problems, the 

 medical clinic may first have to undertake the 

 solution of problems which are commonly 

 studied in the chemical laboratory or the 

 physiological laboratory, and so on. Indeed, 

 under certain circumstances it may be neces- 

 sary to devise new bacteriological or chemical 

 methods or new physical apparatus. Neither 

 the student of medicine nor the student of 

 any other branch of science should be re- 

 stricted in his methods; though the student of 

 medicine may not lose sight of the fact, that 

 however far off his goal, his ultimate concern 

 is with the problems of disease. 



I firmly believe that if a department of medi- 

 cine such as has been described were estab- 

 lished in a first-class university, a greater ad- 

 vance would be made in medical teaching and 

 in medical science and practise than was made 

 in this country twenty-five years ago. 



The one essential premise is that there ex- 

 ists or can be created such a thing as a science 

 of medicine. If fthis is true, this science can 

 best be fostered by giving it a place in which 

 it can grow unhampered by the restrictions of 

 practise. Medicine must be regarded as a real 

 science, not an " applied science." The proper 

 applications are important but in this place 

 they should not dominate. 



Let us labor to place the teaching of medicine in 

 its true poaitioii. Let us emancipate the student, 

 and give him time and opportunity for the oultiva- 

 ition of his mind, so that in his pupilage he shall 

 not be a puppet in the hands of others, but rather 

 a self -relying and reflecting being. Let us ever 

 foster the general education in preference to the 

 special training, not ignoring the latter, but seeing 

 that it be not thrust upon a mind uncultivated or 

 degraded. Let us strive to encourage every means 

 of large and liberal education in the true sense of 



