December 30, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



947 



other teachei-s in this department, Drs. 

 Hektoen, "Weaver, "Wells, Ricketts, Jordan 

 and Harris. Many others have resulted 

 from the completion of some work in the 

 class which broke the ice, so to speak, and 

 taught the students facility in investiga- 

 tion and productivity. For some few 

 these first efforts were the beginning of 

 periods of investigation not yet ended and 

 we all have been proud of both the prod- 

 ucts and the producers. 



Now as to the value of this experiment 

 in medical instruction, I am confident the 

 results are such that its continuance is ad- 

 visable. Pedagogical problems are as 

 worthy of experiment as any, and in this 

 coimtry especially the investigation of 

 teaching methods has been active, although 

 not so much in medicine perhaps as in 

 other sciences. In an address before the 

 American Federation of Teachers of the 

 Mathematical and Natural Sciences in 

 1908, Professor Remsen stated that he had 

 been experimenting to find out how to 

 teach chemistry and that it was the most 

 difficult experiment he had ever tried. I 

 have no doubt his experimentation has 

 been going on many more years than the 

 one I am interested in. I can not refrain 

 from comparing the work of Course "VI.-12 

 to that of some of the technology schools 

 which have won commendation b.y teach- 

 ing and producing articles of commercial 

 value at the same time. The records of the 

 post-mortem examinations are certainly of 

 some value as a product. 



In discussing the results of the teaching 

 as carried out in this course, reference piay 

 be made again to some of the ideas ex- 

 pressed earlier. I feel obliged to cai;tion 

 any one who will undertake to apply to 

 his or her teaching the methods we have 

 endeavored to carry out in the class work 

 of Coui-se ^1.-12, for I fear they incur 

 great danger of losing whatever of proper 



regard they may have for didactic instruc- 

 tion. I do not believe it is altogether the 

 more lucrative rewards surgery offers as 

 compared with other varieties of medical 

 practise which is responsible for a com- 

 plaint often heard about internes, "that 

 all they seem to care about is to see cutting 

 and blood run"; certainly the teaching of 

 surgery to undergraduates offers many 

 problems; their opportunities to partici- 

 pate in the surgical work in hospitals had 

 many novel experiences for them. The 

 Course VI.-12 offers excellent opportunity 

 for the student to become acquainted in a 

 practical way with the incomplete state of 

 medical science and what to my mind is an 

 especial advantage, with the limitations of 

 medical diagnosis; and these things are 

 learned not by the telling but by the doing. 

 On all sides we hear at present of the 

 valvie of investigation in maintaining a 

 critical attitude; we might well ask, when 

 has experience failed to lead to wisdom in 

 intelligent beings? 



In the course under discussion it has 

 seemed to me that the greatest good is 

 represented by the reports made by stu- 

 dents (450 to 833 students, a little over 

 one half), for these represent the result of 

 personal, and, as far as possible, inde- 

 pendent study. 



And here is the crux of the entire matter 

 of my unpopularity ; it lies in mj- effort to 

 make individual inquiry as independent as 

 possible, to help orAj at the last moment, 

 and since this means to so many students 

 a predicament they are unaccustomed to, 

 my motives no doubt have been misunder- 

 stood in many instances, the value of the 

 method questioned or condemned in others. 

 In conclusion, if you are in doubt as to 

 whether this has been an apology or a de- 

 fense, I beg you to overlook the introduction 

 of the personal element of my unpopularity, 

 a matter in which I never was greatly in- 



