October 17, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



557 



We wish to express our appreciation to the 

 deans and professors of these medical schools 

 for their replies, which were often extensive 

 and showed painstaking interest. Without 

 the cooperation and interest of these medical 

 school oiBcials, the present report would not 

 be possible." 



The committee requested information along 

 five lines. The special questions which were 

 asked are given below as the heads of the indi- 

 vidual sections of the report. It will be noted 

 that matters regarding which inquiries were 

 made were not entirely or strictly psycholog- 

 ical. Since psychology has many connections 

 with, and the understanding of many of its 

 topics or divisions depends upon a certain 

 amount of knowledge of, anatomy, physiology, 

 pathology, neurology and psychiatry, the in- 

 quiries were broad enough to include informa- 



" A list of the medical schools which did not 

 answer the two letters of inquiry which were sent 

 to them is of some interest, since in general it 

 would appear to indicate a lack of interest on the 

 part of these school authorities (there may be 

 exceptions) in educational topics which have more 

 than local application. It is notable that all of 

 class A-)- answered our letters. The A class 

 schools which did not answer are: Jefferson, 

 Meharry, University of Louisville, University of 

 Mississippi, University of Vermont, Vanderbilt 

 University, Wake Forest Medical Schools. Of the 

 B class, the following: Atlanta School of Medi- 

 cine, Baylor University, Chicago College of Medi- 

 cine and Surgery, College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons of Los Angeles, Detroit College of Medicine, 

 Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, Hahne- 

 mann Medical College of Chicago, John A. Creigh- 

 ton Medical College, University of Arkansas, Uni- 

 versity of Oklahoma. Of C class, there were the 

 following: College of Physicians and Surgeons of 

 San Francisco, College of Medical Evangelists, 

 California Eclectic Medical College, Georgia Col- 

 lege of Eclectic Medicine and Surgery, American 

 Medical of St. Louis, Kansas Hahnemann Medical 

 College, Cotner University, Toledo Medical Col- 

 lege, New York Medical College for Women, 

 Leonard Medical College, Cleveland-Pulte Medical 

 College, Fort Worth College of Medicine, Lincoln 

 Memorial University, University of West Ten- 

 nessee. Some of these schools have more recently 

 announced discontinuation. 



tion regarding certain aspects of these courses 

 so that there might be considered the possible 

 relations they might have to instruction in 

 psychology. The inquiries were also made 

 broad because the general medical conception 

 of psychology is not that of the professional 

 psychologist and psychiatrist, as some of the 

 answers showed. In fact in some answers a 

 very narrow conception of psychology was in- 

 dicated; this, too, by men, well known in their 

 own special fields, who were apparently labor- 

 ing under the belief that psychology is the 

 equivalent of " psychoanalysis " or some other 

 equally restricted part of the whole. 



1. What amounts of time and what proportions 

 of the courses in anatomy (including histology), 

 physiology and pathology are devoted to the nerv- 

 ous system? 



The individual answers to this question 

 were on the whole unsatisfactory. Many of 

 the colleges reported the numbers of hours 

 without the percentages, others gave the per- 

 centages without the numbers of hours, and 

 in only a few cases was the information com- 

 plete. A tabular account of the answers is 

 given in the accompanying table (Table II.). 



TABLE II 



Average Amounts and Proportions of Courses 



devoted to the Consideration of the 



Nervous System 



No. of No. of 



Hours Answers Percentages Answers 

 Anatomy 123 26 17.5 17 



Physiology 71 31 22.5 22 



Pathology 30 22 12.3 18 



In this table the data are grouped irre- 

 spective of the fullness of the answers. For 

 example, all answers which gave the total time 

 for the consideration of the nervous system 

 are grouped, and all those which gave pro- 

 portions. 



Anatomy of the Nervous System. — Only 12 

 schools gave both hours and percentages for 

 anatomy and histology, and when these schools 

 are considered apart, it is found that they 

 average for the nervous system, 127 hours, or 

 14.5 per cent, of the average total time de- 

 voted to these courses. The average total for 

 these 12 schools is, therefore, not far from the 



