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SGIUNGE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXrV. No. 880 



realize that instead of holding aloof from, 

 medicine actually shares in or belongs to all 

 of the sciences. 



The development of the laboratory and 

 its final establishment as an aid in the 

 furtherance of medical teaching and study 

 has been so ably presented by such an 

 eminent authority as Professor William H. 

 Welch in his address on the "Evolution of 

 Modern Scientific Laboratories, ' ' that I will 

 not attempt the foolish task of "gilding 

 gold ' ' ; but I need only emphasize how the 

 invaluable researches of such as Harvey, 

 Magendie, Hunter, Bichat, Laennec, Claude 

 Bernard, Virchow, Pasteur and Koch paved 

 the way for the founding of institutions 

 where ideas might be tested, problems 

 solved and enquiring minds trained. 



What a powerful stimulus, emanating 

 from such places, has medicine received in 

 these latter days! In fact, the laboratory 

 constitutes the very foundation upon which 

 medicine of to-day rests; it is the very 

 powerful lever resting upon the fulcrum 

 of ascertained facts that has elevated medi- 

 cine from the dust of empiricism to the 

 cloud-level of science, along which runs a 

 road, perhaps none the less rough and long, 

 to a goal of ultimate success. 



At this point I may seem to some of you 

 to be carried away with the greatness of 

 the importance of the science of the labo- 

 ratory at the expense of the practise of 

 medicine. I am not. I am conscious of 

 the great importance of both sides of med- 

 ical advance and teaching. I think that 

 we scarcely yet realize the extent of the 

 tremendous revolution in medical thought 

 and practise the laboratory has introduced ; 

 we are yet involved in the process, and 

 although some of us feel that in the train- 

 ing of students far too much time is ex- 

 pended in laboratory work, profitless it 

 may in part appear, and too little time 

 spent in preparation for practise, I do not 



doubt but that proper adjustment will 

 come about when the evolution in progress 

 becomes clearer to us. 



Turning now to a more critical analysis 

 of the relation of the laboratory to medi- 

 cine, I will attempt to put before you in 

 concrete fashion what I believe to be its 

 chief functions. 



In the first instance, the laboratory occu- 

 pies the very fundamental position of being 

 the place, par excellence, of the inductive 

 method of impartation of knowledge ; in the 

 second, it is or ought to be the place of 

 sound mental training and of cultivation 

 of powers of observation; in the third, it 

 represents applied science, and in the 

 fourth instance it is the place of research 

 and experiment. 



Taking these up seriatim: I. Gone for- 

 ever are the days of medical instruction 

 wherein the didactic lecture played the 

 entire role as the imparter of knowledge 

 in the medical school! The lecture, will, 

 of course, continue to hold a place in the 

 curriculum of studies, but not so lofty or 

 important a one as in pre-laboratory days 

 — it has now almost assumed the humble 

 duties of handmaid to the laboratory 

 course, particularly in these instances 

 where the textbook in use in a class has 

 developed out of the yearly lectures of the 

 head of the department. 



As a place of instruction the work of the 

 laboratory in a department requires deli- 

 cate adjustment to the medical courses. I 

 do not now propose to enter into a discus- 

 sion of the relative numbers of hours to be 

 assigned to lectures and laboratory work, 

 nor of the time to be given to one subject 

 of instruction relative to that of other sub- 

 jects in the curriculum; at the present 

 juncture they are irrelevant though inter- 

 esting questions. Taking into considera- 

 tion as granted that a laboratory is well 

 manned and equipped, the courses should 



