October 27, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



587 



fieed to restore his perspective when he was 

 asked whether the German undergraduate 

 students had shared the same opportuni- 

 ties or not. At once he readjusted his 

 ideas when he realized that these graduate 

 courses were often given at the expense of 

 undergraduate training. 



AUSTRIA 



In Austria the state dominated in educa- 

 tion as in Germany, although the mechan- 

 ism was not so well developed. Conditions 

 were complicated by the bi-lingual situ- 

 ation which demanded at times duplication 

 of effort and expense without commensu- 

 rate gain in efficiency. 



The output of medical practitioners came 

 from the five medical faculties of those 

 universities where instruction is conducted 

 in German. These did not seem to be suffi- 

 cient for the work. Vienna particularly 

 was overcrowded and the average enroll- 

 ment in each of the five medical faculties 

 was 736. Austria's population of 28,000,- 

 000 demanded the service of 13,202 physi- 

 cians, a general ratio of 1 to 2,120. Since 

 1905 the population had increased about 

 4 per cent, and the practitioners about 6 

 per cent. Olmiitz had a ratio of 1 to 390, 

 whilst the other extreme was 1 to 5,081 in 

 Carniola. 



FRANCE 



In France the universities under state 

 administration set the standard of medical 

 education and graduation, although med- 

 ical schools of three different types were 

 found. There were firstly, the eight uni- 

 versity faculties, secondly, the schools "de 

 plein exercise" attached to the hospitals in 

 three cities which lack universities, and 

 thirdly, preparatory schools attached to 

 hospitals in 12 non-university towns. 

 These schools offered courses to cover the 

 first two years of the curriculum. In all 

 three, as in Germany, the government ap- 

 pointed the professors, but from the Ger- 



man point of view, not even the French 

 university faculties were built quite on 

 university lines. The two types of acces- 

 sory schools mentioned were isolated and 

 lacked support, the state financing the uni- 

 versities and the municipality financing 

 the schools. 



The total enrollment of 8,850 medical 

 students in January, 1911, consisted of 

 7,652 students in university faculties, 557 

 in schools "de plein exercise" and 570 in 

 the preparatory schools. Paris alone had 

 a registration of 4,101. The French stu- 

 dent, like his German brother, was syste- 

 matically trained, with his object clearly 

 before him, so that his education was syste- 

 matic and continuous. The medical stu- 

 dent must have become a baccalaureat, 

 which is the termination of the Lysee, an 

 intermediate or secondary school compar- 

 able to the German gymnasium. He was 

 then compelled to pass a year in the uni- 

 versity science faculty in the study of pre- 

 liminary sciences, which in Germany, 

 Great Britain and Canada are illogically 

 included as a part of the medical curricu- 

 lum. The baccalaureate course and the cer- 

 tificate covering the study of physics, chem- 

 istry and biology issued by the university 

 faculty of science, afforded the credential 

 basis of the medical student in France. 

 The average age of graduation in that 

 country was twenty-three years, inclusive 

 of hospital training. 



France seemed to be in advance of other 

 countries in insisting that the basis of med- 

 ical education should be high and uniform 

 and in addition that it be supplemented by 

 thorough courses in those subjects required 

 in the study of modern medicine. 



Between 1881 and 1909 an increase of 

 30 per cent, occurred in the number of 

 physicians, whilst the population of France 

 increased only 10 per cent. Paris had one 

 physician to 1,126 inhabitants in 1894 and 

 1 to 767 in 1908. The general statement 



