486 
gently their knowledge. For some years we 
have been attempting to change this condi- 
tion, and various steps toward this end have 
been taken. The plan of fourth-year electives 
on which I reported to you at a previous meet- 
ing in connection with the concentration 
system of teaching” was a step in this direc- 
tion. This year we took another step in 
adopting a new plan of examination, which 
we believe will serve a twofold purpose, less- 
ening the rigidity of the curriculum, and fa- 
cilitating the correlation between the different 
subjects of the curriculum by placing before 
the student a new form of test for which he 
must seek to prepare himself. 
The new plan of examination goes into ef- 
fect with the class entering next year, and 
will not be applied to the classes in advance of 
that. Consequently four years will elapse be- 
fore it has been tested in its entirety on one 
class. To at least five classes it should be 
applied before any opinion as to its real value 
ean be given. At this time I can only ex- 
plain the plan as we propose to try it. It 
may be of interest for you to know of it; per- 
haps some will care to apply it in their school. 
We believe it to be a distinct improvement 
and one that will lead to other changes in the 
eurriculum. Already with this in view a com- 
mittee has been appointed to restudy the cur- 
riculum and to propose any changes needed to 
meet these new conditions. The new plan of 
examination is to be regarded as part of a 
larger plan being worked out gradually and 
intended to improve our medical instruction. 
The new plan of examinations is as follows. 
Written tests at the end of each course were 
formerly held. These are done away with, 
and in their place practical examinations are 
to be held, which are the only examinations 
conducted by the individual departments. 
The general committee in charge of examina- 
tions has supervision over the practical ex- 
aminations, and they are to be a measure of 
the student’s practical knowledge and _ skill. 
The student may choose whether he will take 
the practical examinations at the end of each 
2 Bulletin of American Academy of Medicine, 
Vol. XI., No. 6, December, 1910. 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 900 
course, or near the time of the general exami- 
nation. Practical examinations in all courses 
included in a general examination must be 
satisfactorily completed before the student will 
be admitted to the general examination. The 
practical examinations are to be graded and 
the marks so received are to make up 40 per 
cent. of the grade given on a general examina- 
tion. 
There will be two general examinations, one 
at the end of the second, the other at the end 
of the fourth year. Both will be partly 
written, partly oral. The subjects comprised 
in the first will be anatomy, histology and 
embryology, physiology, biological chemistry, 
pathology and bacteriology. Furthermore, this 
examination shall assume and require an ele- 
mentary knowledge of physics, inorganic and 
organic chemistry and biology. The subjects 
comprised in the second general examination 
will be preventive medicine and hygiene, ma- 
teria medica and therapeutics, medicine, 
surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, 
dermatology, syphilis, neurology, psychiatry, 
ophthalmology, otology and laryngology. For 
the first general examination the student may 
choose either June or September, for the sec- 
ond, either June or January. This difference 
in time is due to the custom at Harvard of 
awarding degrees both at mid-year and at 
Commencement. No student who fails to 
pass a general examination may repeat it 
within the calendar year in which he failed. 
No student will be permitted to begin the 
work of the third year until the first general 
examination has been passed. Consequently 
there will be no men carrying on work con- 
ditioned in previous courses. 
The written part of each general examina- 
tion will consist of questions selected and ar- 
ranged by the committee on examinations 
from lists of questions submitted by the de- 
partments concerned. The written test will 
be divided into two or more periods of three 
hours each, but there will not be separate ex- 
aminations on the various courses. The an- 
swers to the questions will be graded under 
the direction of the committee on examina- 
tions, not under the direction of a depart- 
