318 



SCIENCE 



[N. 8. Vol. XXXIV. No. 871 



since the American Medical Association cre- 

 ated its permanent committee, the Council on 

 Medical Education. At the beginning of its 

 work in 1905, after a thorough investigation 

 of conditions the council formulated two stan- 

 dards of medical education, one for immediate 

 adoption and an ideal standard for future con- 

 sideration. These standards were not for any 

 one state or for any one section, but for the 

 entire country. The result is that nearly all 

 colleges are up to or beyond the standard 

 recommended in 1905 for " immediate adop- 

 tion," while more than a third of the colleges 

 (42) have, so far as entrance requirements are 

 concerned, adopted the " ideal," namely, a 

 four-year high school education, plus at least 

 one year to include thorough courses in phys- 

 ics, chemistry, biology and modern languages. 



During 1906 and 1907, the council made the 

 first complete personal tour of inspection of 

 the medical colleges of the United States that 

 had ever been made, and in 1907, reported its 

 findings at its annual conference and to the 

 House of Delegates of the American Medical 

 Association. This inspection revealed the fact 

 that nearly a third of the medical schools ex- 

 isting at that time were seriously defective in 

 their methods, standards and equipment. 

 Since that report was made the decrease in 

 the number of these inferior colleges has been 

 marked, while, on the other hand, there has 

 begun a corresponding improvement in many 

 other colleges. The second inspection was 

 completed in 1910, and resulted in the publi- 

 cation of a classified list of medical colleges. 

 This doubtless gave added impetus to the im- 

 provements being made and to the further 

 elimination of unworthy colleges. In seven 

 years, therefore, the over-supply of medical 

 schools has been reduced in number, quantity 

 giving way to quality, and a decided check has 

 been placed on the rapid multiplication of in- 

 ferior schools. 



In 1908 and 1909, a thorough study of the 

 medical college curriculum was made by a 

 special committee of the council, made up of 

 over a hundred leading medical educators, to 

 ascertain the relative value of the subjects of 

 the curriculum in order that proper emphasis 



might be laid on them in the medical course. 

 This special study also included the character 

 of equipment, methods of instruction, qualifi- 

 cations of teachers, necessary hospital facili- 

 ties, etc. As a result of this and the council's 

 reports based on its actual inspection, an un- 

 precedented improvement in the physical 

 equipment and methods of medical education 

 was started. New college buildings have been 

 erected; more teaching hospitals have been 

 secured; new laboratories have been equipped 

 and more expert full-time teachers employed.. 



During each of the seven years the council 

 has held a special, delegated conference at- 

 tended largely by members of state licensing 

 boards, university presidents, representatives 

 of medical colleges and other prominent edu- 

 cators. These conferences have had a wide 

 and powerful influence in the progress that 

 has been made. They have resulted in more 

 uniformity of effort on the part of all forces 

 working for the betterment of educational 

 standards and have provided opportunity for 

 the study and discussion of educational prob- 

 lems. Above all, however, at these conferences,, 

 the attention of university presidents and 

 others has been drawn to the absolute neces- 

 sity of state aid or private endowment for 

 medical schools. As a direct or indirect result 

 of this campaign, the amount of money given 

 for medical education has increased from a 

 few thousands of dollars during 1904 to sev- 

 eral millions of dollars during the last year. 

 This is indeed encouraging and gives promise 

 of even greater advancement in the immedi- 

 ate future. 



Of course, not all the credit for these vast 

 improvements belongs to the Council on Med- 

 ical Education. Nevertheless this body, repre- 

 senting the organized profession of the coun- 

 try and holding up standards of national and 

 not sectional scope, was bound to have a pow- 

 erful influence. It has cooperated with the 

 other agencies which have been doing masterly 

 work in their various fields, and has brought 

 about greater harmony and more unanimity 

 of effort. These achievements are the more 

 gratifying since all the agencies save one, the 

 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of 



