November 23, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



505 



science to medical practise, and brought about 

 this necessary change. 



It is admitted that plausible excuse for this 

 disorderliness exists. The appearance of chem- 

 istry as a real aid to diagnosis and treatment 

 from the Stygian darkness has been not only 

 remarkable for the rapidity of its development, 

 but amazing in its stability. A new phase in 

 medical knowledge has been produced through 

 the pressure of the discoveries of countless in- 

 vestigators. And it is not surprising that the 

 now should-be obsolete system clings tenaci- 

 ously to the older but invalid conceptions. 



It is well recognized that the efficient prac- 

 tise of medicine entails a scientific knowledge 

 of ever-widening scope. It is therefore of the 

 greatest importance that a proper selection of 

 scientific information be presented to the pros- 

 pective medical student for his assimilation. 

 Purposeless instruction, from the point of view 

 of the pre-medical student, is haphazard and 

 yields results that are worse than nothing. 



Conscientious objectors will mentally raise 

 the objection that the pre-medical requirements 

 are already well set down in the regulations of 

 the various medical schools and by the Ameri- 

 can Medical Association. From the quantita- 

 tive standpoint this is largely true, but from 

 the point of quality the field is barren. And 

 whereas these dicta were sufficient for the time 

 and admirable in that an appreciation of the 

 increasing imjwrtance of chemistry to the 

 practise of medicine was shown, yet such ad- 

 vantages are now possible to be derived from a 

 more exact definition of requirements that a 

 change is imperative, else stagnation will 

 set in. For mark you, while directions are 

 given that so much inorganic, and so much 

 organic, and so much advanced chemistry 

 should be given, nothing is said about what of 

 inorganic, and what of organic or what of ad- 

 vanced should be taught. To chemists it is a 

 matter of individual experience that any of the 

 various branches of the science can well occupy 

 the studies of a lifetime. 



So why try to make the pre-medical student 

 a chemist. He wants to be a doctor, and he 

 wants to learn what of chemistry there is that 

 can help him to be a better doctor. But in- 



stead of getting what he wants he is put 

 through the mill with the students who wish to 

 enter upon chemistry as a life work, gets so 

 far and no farther, wonders what it is all 

 about, takes a good dose of physic in the form 

 of an examination and gets rid of all he had 

 taken in. If the college instructors of pre- 

 medical students should look upon them as a 

 problem in research, the results would never 

 see the light. 



Now this pre-medical training in chemistry 

 is essentially a question of what instead of 

 how much, and the decision as to the subject- 

 matter to be ofFered for utilization is not espe- 

 cially difficult if one cares to look into a bio- 

 logical chemistry for a few hours. What the 

 pre-medical student needs is to learn the fun- 

 damental principles common to all chemical 

 reaction. He does not need encyclopedic de- 

 tails. Principles are to details as granite is to 

 points in the work, they should not be ob- 

 scured by a fog of wearying and relatively un- 

 important details. Let me illustrate: the 

 understanding of the nature of oxides is a 

 principle, the number and formulae of the 

 oxides of iron is an unessential detail, and 

 again, the phenomena of isomerism is a prin- 

 ciple, the ability to enumerate all possible iso- 

 merides of a given compound is detail. 



Principle must not be subordinated to de- 

 tail. 



Human health and happiness rests to a great 

 degree in the physician's hands. The true 

 physician must be a true diagnostician. He 

 can not be a diagnostician if he lacks power of 

 observation and ability to carry on deductive 

 reasoning. "Wliere better can he gain this 

 fundamental training than in chemistry? 

 And can he get this point of view in a 

 mind befuddled with inconsequential detail? 

 Another essential attribute of the efficient doc- 

 tor is technique. The ability to rapidly, 

 smoothly and accurately carry on delicate 

 manipulations is a prime requisite for adequate 

 medical service. What teaches this better than 

 intensive training in quantitative analysis? 

 Can we conclude from the results handed over 

 to us that these things have been done? We 

 can not. 



