November 15, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



657 



history of education, the principles of edu- 

 cation, educational statistics and quanti- 

 tative treatment of data, lessens both his 

 working efficiency and the respect and in- 

 fluence which his work should bring. If 

 we couple with this two-fold incompetency 

 an air of wisdom and the trick of silence 

 in the medical inspector, it then results 

 that he gains the contempt of the men and 

 women in education who may have enjoyed 

 thorough academic and professional train- 

 ing for their life work. Personalities being 

 equal, the man who has his doctor of phi- 

 losophy in education from a modern uni- 

 versity following the requisite bachelor of 

 arts in college, is relatively better trained 

 for the work of the school than is the 

 average physician who possesses merely the 

 degree of doctor of medicine, for the prac- 

 tise of medicine. Very few young physi- 

 cians of to-day, relatively to the number 

 being graduated, have collegiate training, 

 or prolonged experience within school- 

 rooms, and, if literary degrees be any 

 criterion of school experience they have 

 less of this academic training than students 

 in law or in theological schools. Note the 

 recent statistics of the United States.^ 



Number having Per 



Schools Students Literary Degrees Cent. 



184 theological, 11,012 - 3,064 28 



114 law, 19,567 4,107 21 



135 medical, 21,394 1,883 9 



In the majority of physicians from whom 

 we must choose our medical inspectors and 

 school physicians, we observe neither aca- 

 demic training in general culture courses 

 nor pedagogical training, such as is being 

 demanded more and more of every teacher 

 for the elementary, high and normal 

 schools and colleges. Great is the need of 

 the presence of the physician-inspector in 

 the public school, but great also is his need 

 of academic knowledge and of training in 



'TJ. S. Ed. Eeport, 1910, Vol. 11., p. 1017. 



the essentials of pedagogy. To the aver- 

 age citizen the physician comes in moments 

 of dependence and with a traditional 

 prestige and with at least a modicum of 

 technical knowledge which he may wield 

 to the disadvantage of the layman. The 

 partially trained physician in the presence 

 of the problems of the school, naturally 

 may suffer from a mental myopia from 

 which he is unconscious and it is difficult 

 to convince him of his ignorance where it 

 exists. The pedantry of the confirmed 

 pedagogue may have its counterpart in the 

 professional assurance of the routine prac- 

 titioner and the common, invalid assump- 

 tion that "a man skilled in one thing is 

 good at everything he undertakes. ' ' 



If we are to bring about needed coopera- 

 tion in the medical and teaching profes- 

 sions in life we must begin with fundamen- 

 tals. "We should labor with the profes- 

 sional training of those who are to work, 

 either as teachers or physicians, in our 

 schools. Already the medical profession 

 has achieved greatness in the education of 

 the people in the prevention of disease. 

 Through literature, lectures, committee 

 work, legislation and public-spirited activ- 

 ities, the beneficial effects of the noble 

 work of prevention of disease is felt in 

 every path of life. Magnificent are the re- 

 sults of the modern physician and sani- 

 tarian in the battle, e. g., against yellow 

 fever and the hook worm, or against tuber- 

 culosis. This country of modern cities 

 with stupendous populations could not ex- 

 ist happily but for the public hygiene 

 engineered by noble spirits in the medical 

 profession. 



In the schools we have millions of our 

 population, the majority of our people dur- 

 ing the years of plasticity and during 

 years when they are amenable to a high 

 degree of control. In the schools is the 

 superlative opportunity for teacher and 



