November 10, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



619 



be planned to conform to the best usage of 

 university standards of instruction. An 

 ample range of instruction should be af- 

 forded both in routine work, advanced 

 work and research — all under the imme- 

 diate supervision of either the head of the 

 department or of one or other competent 

 assistant. 



In the medical courses, to properly as- 

 sign and regulate the advanced work and 

 research is sometimes a matter of no small 

 difficulty. The number of properly quali- 

 fied students, their mental caliber, their 

 fitness for certain lines of work, the time 

 at their disposal, are some of the many 

 points that have to be taken into considera- 

 tion in establishing and carrying on such 

 courses. Of the two, that of advanced 

 work is the more easily susceptible of solu- 

 tion. Courses may be designed throughout 

 the year wherein work may be assigned, for 

 a few hours a week, say five, and the nature 

 of the topic may be so planned as to throw 

 the student in part upon his own resources 

 and thus encourage in him a necessary 

 initiative. In this work the instructor can 

 also train the student in the best ways to 

 gain access to the literature of the subject 

 in hand, and even demand of him a short 

 thesis. By a properly balanced plan for 

 advanced work we can foster a spirit for 

 research, and perhaps gain a recruit for a 

 task of serious investigation. 



Within the limits of our ordinarily or- 

 ganized four-year course in medicine it 

 seems to me to be an almost hopeless task 

 to carry through successfully a piece of 

 work worthy the name of research, even 

 with our most promising students. The 

 curriculum is so crowded and the routine 

 so oppressive that they impose both a men- 

 tal and a physical strain upon the indi- 

 vidual, no matter how full of enthusiasm 

 he be, that attempting research under such 



conditions seems unjustifiable and inde- 

 fensible. 



True, research among our students 

 should be encouraged, but let it be inau- 

 gurated at the termination of the periods 

 of either the scientific or clinical courses, 

 when the burden of routine may be abol- 

 ished or mitigated for nine months or a 

 year or two. If such a plan were carried 

 out, a better choice could be made of candi- 

 dates upon the basis of fitness, and would 

 lead to the performance of investigation of 

 a sound and creditable character, not mas- 

 querading under the name "research." 

 By the encouragement of properly con- 

 ducted research we may also be able to 

 develop men and conserve their services at 

 a later date for scientific pursuit and teach- 

 ing instead of losing them in the alluring 

 field of active practise. For I would have 

 you remember that the future will make 

 even greater demands upon us than has the 

 past for suitable assistants and worthier 

 successors in the fundamental branches of 

 our profession. 



II. For affording a sound mental train- 

 ing and for cultivating the powers of ob- 

 servation among a body of students, it goes 

 without saying that the laboratory must be 

 officered by capable persons, who, in addi- 

 tion to being well versed in their subject, 

 ought to be selected also for their ability 

 to impart knowledge. Examples can be 

 recalled by most of us when as students we 

 sat under men noted for their erudition 

 but displaying an alarming innocence of 

 even moderate pedagogical ability, which 

 to some may have proved a stumbling- 

 block to progress and implanted in us per- 

 haps a veritable dislike for our studies. 

 Or classes may be handled by instructors 

 who are "unfaithful servants," regarding 

 the students collectively as an intolerable 

 burden, feeling that their duty is done if 



