May 30, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



851 



fer to them. The text of each experiment 

 direction is divided into two parts, each 

 part being subdivided into several para- 

 graphs, as follows: 



First part : 



(a) Object of the experiment. 



(6) Theory and general explanation, of the ex- 

 periment. 



(c) Description and explanation of apparatus 

 used. 



(d) Sources of error, precautions, etc. 



Second part : 



(e) Practical instructions, giving method in 

 detail. 



{f) Example, showing the form of entry of 

 notes required in the notebook. 



{g) Explanatory notes, references, etc. 



GENERAL UTILITY OF THE COURSE IN 

 MEDICINE. 



The course is of value to the student as 

 a means of understanding the great prin- 

 ciples of physics that are intimately re- 

 lated to medicine. It has also an additional 

 educational value of a more general nature. 

 Some of the teachings of the physical labo- 

 ratory are enumerated below. No argument 

 is necessary to emphasize their importance. 



The experiments show: 



1. The necessity of working ^vith method and 

 with deliberation. 



2. The value of precision and the cost of care- 

 lessness. 



3. The necessity of taking every factor of an 

 experiment into consideration and of attaching 

 proper importance and significance to each. 



4. The liability of malving mistakes in method 

 and errors in manipulation. 



5. The limitations of accuracy in both experi- 

 menter and instrument. 



6. The significance witli respect to mankind of 

 physical properties, forces and laws. 



These important points are brouglit to 

 the notice of the student by even a short 

 course of quantitative experiments in phys- 

 ics, and we maintain that in no other way 

 are they shown with such clearness. The 

 medical student is apt to slight his gen- 

 eral scientific training and to devote his en- 



tire energies to acquiring only tliat tech- 

 nical knowledge which he considers will be 

 of 'practical' use to liim in his profession. 

 Thorough technical knowledge is necessary, 

 but scientific training is equally important, 

 for only through it can technical knowl- 

 edge be applied to advantage. Medicine 

 is every day becoming more of an exact sci- 

 ence. Those of its departments in which 

 progress has been rapid have demanded 

 and received aid from physics, chemistry 

 and biology. 



PRACTICAL UTILITY OP THE COURSE IN 

 MEDICINE. 



The laboratory course, besides teaching 

 scientific methods and fundamental laws 

 of physics, has also a value that is distinctly 

 practical for many physical instruments 

 are used in medicine. The physician and 

 the surgeon, moreover, are constantly called 

 upon to devise special appliances, demand- 

 ing of them a knowledge of physical manip- 

 ulation and construction that can be ac- 

 quired only in the laboratory. 



As medicine becomes more of an exact 

 science, the tests used in the diagnosis of 

 diseases must be quantitative, requiring 

 instruments of precision, having scales, 

 verniers, micrometers and other measuring 

 devices. Such instruments are used in 

 medicine for the purpose of obtaining exact 

 results. Some of these are enumerated be- 

 low: The thermometer is one of the most 

 constantly used instruments in medical 

 practice. Clinical thermometers are used 

 for determining body temperature, where 

 an accuracy of at least one fifth of a degree 

 is required; yet frequently they are found 

 to have errors of a whole degree, the chief 

 source of error being due to gradual 

 change in the glass. It is therefore im- 

 perative that the physician should have 

 a thorough scientific understanding of this 

 important instrument and the modes of 

 testing it. To the microscope is due the 



