60 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1098 



inar were united tte chairs of medicine 

 (Dr. Alfred Stengel), pharmacology (Dr. 

 A. N. Richards), physiological chemistry 

 (Dr. A. E. Taylor) and research medicine 

 with their respective staffs and the seminar 

 was thrown open to students of the fourth- 

 year class as an elective. The medical 

 clinic room of the hospital was used for 

 these exercises in order that lantern demon- 

 strations and the exhibition of patients 

 might be possible. All other demonstra- 

 tions were barred in order to have plenty 

 of time for discussion. The first trimester 

 started auspiciously with the discussion of 

 diabetes and a sufficient number of stu- 

 dents in attendance to guarantee, appar- 

 ently, the success of the venture. But no 

 student elected the course for the second 

 and third trimesters devoted respectively 

 to renal disease and diseases of the ductless 

 glands. In brief, from the point of view of 

 interesting the medical student, the sem- 

 inar was a dismal failure. For the teach- 

 ing and research staffs represented, the ex- 

 change of views was very profitable and 

 despite the absence of students the seminar 

 was continued through the year. It is per- 

 haps needless to say that the students lost 

 interest because of the many detailed dis- 

 cussions of opposing and oftentimes irrec- 

 oncilable views which led the disputants 

 away from the fundamental basis of ac- 

 cepted facts. Perhaps also the fact that 

 the students could take no part in the ex- 

 ercises, except to ask questions, had some- 

 thing to do with their lack of interest. 



We have, therefore, abandoned the sem- 

 inar as an aid to discussion — perhaps it 

 smacks too much of the didactic lecture, 

 anyway — and have this year returned to the 

 plan of offering to small groups of men 

 three short, elective experimental courses 

 dealing respectively with the cardio-vas- 

 cular system, the liver and bile passages and 

 the chronic degenerative diseases. 



I have gone into these experiments in 

 elective teaching in some detail because 

 not only do I feel it is a very important 

 part of our work, but also because I am con- 

 vinced that in every school the men of the 

 fourth year should have some means of re- 

 viewing in a practical way the knowledge 

 they have obtained of one or more of the 

 systems of the body. No better method ex- 

 ists, I believe, than the experimental course 

 with its demonstrations of pathological 

 physiology and chemistry, the necessary re- 

 view of physiology, pathology and phar- 

 macology and the obvious applications to 

 clinical medicine. In short, such courses 

 help to bring physiology into relation with 

 morphology and to fill the gap which exists 

 between pathological anatomy, on the one 

 hand, and the clinic on the other. It is per- 

 haps peculiarly the function of a university 

 research laboratory^ to develop such courses, 

 and I consider our efforts in this direction 

 to be a very important part of our work 

 during the past five years. 



4. RESEARCH BY STUDENTS AND PRACTITION- 

 ERS 



The fourth of the important objects of 

 the department has been to furnish oppor- 

 tunity for investigation, as stated in the 

 original deed of gift, "to properly trained 

 students and practitioners" of medicine. 

 In this, in so far as the student is concerned, 

 we have not been successful. This is, how- 

 ever, not the fault of the department, which 

 has always been ready to encourage re- 

 search by the medical student; nor, on the 

 other hand, is it the fault of the students, 

 many of whom have attempted to find time 

 for a moderate amount of research work. 



8 In connection with our practical working out 

 of these courses no claim for originality is implied. 

 The general plan here outlined is largely that used 

 several years ago in the department of pathology 

 of the Johns Hopkins School by Professor W. G. 

 MacC'allum. 



