130 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1180 



the figures or tlie question in hand. I have, 

 therefore, taken the membership lists of the 

 various medical specialists' societies in the 

 United States of which the data were obtain- 

 able, and have analyzed the scholastic attain- 

 ments of the members as a matter of compari- 

 son. Elimination of duplicate memberships 

 has not been attempted since it would have 

 been both difficult and imfair. 



The results of the analysis of the scholastic 

 degrees of certain clinical medical societies of 

 limited membership are shown in Table I. 



68 per cent, have the M.D. degree, 28 per cent, 

 the M.D. only, 34 per cent, the M.D. with the 

 bachelor's degree, 6 per cent, the M.D. and the 

 Ph.D., 22 per cent, the Ph.D. without the 

 M.D. and 10 per cent, neither the M.D. nor 

 the Ph.D. The percentage of those having 

 the M.D. without the Ph.D. (62) is nearly 

 three times that of those having the Ph.D. 

 without the M.D. (22). "When to the number 

 of these members is added the number of men 

 having similar attainments who are members 

 of the clinical medical societies, we fijid that 



TABLE n 



Analysis of Scholastic Degrees of Members of Societies Covering the Fundamental Medical Sciences 



Name of Society- 



Total Num- 

 bers Whose 



Degrees 

 Were Found 



M.D. 



and 



A.B. or 



Equlv. 



M.D. 

 and 

 Ph.D. 



American Association of Anatomists 



American Physiological Society 



American Society of Biological Chemistry i 



American Bacteriologists 



American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists 



American Society for Experimental Pathology 



American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental 



Therapeutics .••;■■• 



American Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine 



American Psychopathological Association 



American Association for Cancer Research 



Total 



Compare with Analysis of Certain Clinical Medical So- 

 cieties (Table I.) 



"Who's Who in America" (1915 edition, selected names 

 of those engaged in physical, chemical or biological 

 sciences) 



283 

 223 

 153 

 335 

 316 

 40 



74 

 283 



44 



64 

 54 

 41 

 47 

 95 

 100 



1,840 

 861 



3,446 



26 



Membership in these clinical m.edical soci- 

 eties presupposes the possession of the M.D. 

 degree. It is interesting to note that, taken 

 as a whole, 56 per cent, of the 861 members 

 have the M.D. degree only, while 44 per cent, 

 have the M.D. with some other earned degree. 

 It is also interesting to note that only 2 per 

 cent, of the 861 members have the Ph.D. de- 

 gree in addition to the M.D. degree. 



An analysis of the scholastic degrees of the 

 societies covering the fundamental medical 

 sciences is shown in Table II. In these, the 

 possession of the M.D. degree is not obligatory 

 for membership. Of the total 1,840 members 



Y3 per cent, of the total 2,701 have the M.D. 

 degree, or the M.D. with the A.B. degree or its 

 equivalent. Thus, it would seem that 73 per 

 cent, of the men who have been responsible for 

 the progress of American medicine started 

 with only the scholastic equipment, at least 

 so far as is indicated by their degrees, of the 

 men now entering upon the study of specialties 

 in medicine, while only 15 per cent, have the 

 Ph.D. or B.Sc. degree. 



Probably one third of the 2,701 members of 

 the medical societies here studied are dupli- 

 cates. In order to get a larger list and at the 

 same time cover a broader field I have made 



