558 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 981 



general average of the 26, but the average per- 

 centage is much less. The variation from the 

 average percentage (about 20 per cent.) is 

 probably due to the fact that the 5 other 

 schools reported their proportions in round 

 numbers, as one fifth, one quarter, one third, 

 and these should probably be considered esti- 

 mates and not actual reports. It is impor- 

 tant to note that the actual variations are 

 considerable, the lowest numbers of reported 

 hours being 54 (^6),' 55 (30) and 60 (43) ; the 

 highest, 246 (53), 192 (6) and 185 (16). The 

 percentages also vary greatly; from 8 (J/S) 

 and 9.1 (1) to 33.3 (33) and 32 (5). 



It is possible that the different schools have 

 not reported or estimated amounts of time for 

 the same thing. It appears improbable that 

 only 55 or 60 hours are devoted to the anat- 

 omy of the central and peripheral nervous 

 system, as have been reported, and it does 

 appear probable that in the schools reporting 

 the lowest number of hours, no estimation has 

 been made of the time devoted to dissection 

 of the peripheral nervous system or to the 

 special sense organs. While the last state- 

 ment should not be considered as one of fact, 

 it seems to us that the understanding of the 

 connotation of the term " nervous system " 

 varies from school to school. It is impossible 

 to make allowances or estimations for the pos- 

 sible lack of understanding of the broad term 

 which we used, but we believe that it would be 

 safe to add at least 30 hours to many of the 

 lowest estimates, and these additions would 

 increase the general average by about 15. 



Physiology of the Nervous System. — Thirteen 

 of the schools reported less than 50 hours de- 

 voted to the physiology of the nervous system, 

 12 from 51 to 100 hours, and only 6 reported 

 100 h,ours or more. The lowest totals were 18 

 (28) and 20 (W ; the highest were 150 (IS, 

 SO) and 139 (58). The percentage variations 

 were from 11 (34) to 45 (5). Eleven schools 

 reported both amounts of time and proportions ; 

 these averaged 64 hours and 23.4 per cent., 

 which are close to the general averages noted 

 in Table II. Some of these wide variations 



' These italic figures, it will be remembered, 

 refer to individual schools. 



are also probably to be explained by differ- 

 ences in conception of what was meant by the 

 term "nervous system." It is not reasonable 

 to suppose that a department of physiology 

 devotes, as was reported by school 2, only 22 

 hours out of 194 to this subject, which, if 

 considered to include only the central nervous 

 system and the special senses, takes up one 

 third or more of the space of our modern 

 text-books of physiology. On the other hand, 

 it must be remembered also, as several answers 

 indicated, that the time devoted to such topics 

 as the nervous control of respiratory and in- 

 testinal movements can not readily be cal- 

 culated. A careful count of two widely used 

 text-books of physiology shows that, leaving 

 out the parts devoted to the general physiol- 

 ogy of muscular contraction, but including 

 those dealing with the general physiology of 

 nerve and the nervous control of various or- 

 gans, the total physiological text-book con- 

 sideration of the nervous system is from 39.5 

 per cent, to 32 per cent. When it is realized 

 that in most medical schools there are separate 

 departments of physiological chemistry, and 

 that the two books examined give, respectively, 

 about 4 per cent, and 18 per cent, of their 

 space to this matter, it appears probable that 

 there has been a tendency on the part of the 

 medical school officers to make an underesti- 

 mation of the time given to the nervous sys- 

 tem rather than the reverse. 



Moreover, the inclusion of pharmacology 

 with physiology was not thought of by the 

 committee, but it is apparent that in many 

 institutions the study of the effects of drugs 

 on the nervous system receives considerable 

 attention. In some schools pharmacology (or 

 pharmacodynamics) is taught in combination 

 with physiology, and, in fact, one school re- 

 ported that of the time devoted to " physiology, 

 pharmacology and physiological chemistry," 

 20 per cent, to 25 per cent, was given to the 

 nervous system. 



Pathology of the Nervous System. — From 

 the data collected it also appears probable that 

 under the term " pathology " different colleges 

 include different courses. One school (16), 

 for example, reported the proportion for the 



