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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 787 



have become one school, the medical de- 

 partment of the University of Cincinnati. 

 Each of these schools has an honorable 

 history. Leaders and pioneers in the pro- 

 fession have made up their faculties, and 

 men of most honorable record are to be 

 found among their graduates. This amal- 

 gamation has been accomplished at much 

 personal sacrifice on the part of some con- 

 nected with each institution. When any 

 institution of the rank and prestige held so 

 many years by each of these schools loses 

 its individuality some of the dreams of the 

 past must come to naught. This is by no 

 means an isolated instance of the merger 

 of medical schools within the past few 

 years in this country. In various sections 

 this has already been accomplished. The 

 number of medical schools is decreasing 

 and this decrease is being brought about 

 by the profession itself. Not only is the 

 number of medical schools being dimin- 

 ished, but in all the better medical schools 

 the bars to admission are being raised 

 higher each year. This is a commercial 

 age and this is preeminently a commercial 

 country, and yet the medical profession is 

 ridding itself of commercialism. It is de- 

 manding of those who desire to enter its 

 ranks a higher degree of culture and intel- 

 ligence than is demanded of any other 

 profession in this country. The average 

 requirement for admission to our best med- 

 ical schools is at least two years ahead of 

 that demanded for admission to other pro- 

 fessional schools, and after admission, from 

 one to two years more of time is demanded 

 for graduation. Our best medical schools 

 are demanding a more advanced prelim- 

 inary education of their matriculates, and 

 more time in the course, and yet the finan- 

 cial inducements to enter the profession are 

 falling year by year. It requires not only 

 more time but more money to enter the 

 medical than any other profession. In our 



universities in which both law and medi- 

 cine are taught the students in the two 

 schools pay practically the same tuition 

 and annual fees, while in addition to these 

 the medical student must pay extra labora- 

 tory expenses. A young man in my own 

 state may, after finishing his high school, 

 enter the law department of the university 

 and graduate after three years, or, if he 

 chooses, he may read law in an office for 

 fifteen months, then enter the law school 

 and graduate after two years. If he 

 wishes to study medicine, after completing 

 his high school course, he must spend at 

 least two years in the collegiate department 

 of the university before he can enter upon 

 his medical studies, for which four more 

 years are required. 



Every state in the union has a minimum 

 legal requirement for the practise of medi- 

 cine, and in some this requirement is high 

 enough to exclude all save those who have 

 had the best training. This restriction is 

 for the benefit of the people, and not in the 

 interests of the profession. Unfortunately, 

 these legal enactments fail to reach many 

 pseudo-medical practitioners who still prey 

 upon the credulity of the public, such as 

 the nostrum vender, the advertising charle- 

 tan, the abortionist et omne id genus. 



The medical profession is giving liberally 

 of its energy, time and money in every 

 branch of sanitation. It is doing its best 

 in the restriction and prevention of disease. 

 Many of our best men are serving on state, 

 municipal and village boards of health, 

 often without any pecuniary remuneration, 

 and in practically all instances without 

 adequate financial reward. The physician 

 not only pays the taxes upon what prop- 

 erty he possesses, but day and night he is 

 rendering extra service to the poor of his 

 community, and it must be admitted that 

 many of the well-to-do trespass upon his 

 generosity. The clinic established for the 



