30 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 4ia 



medicine can not be acquired upon the basis 

 of a high-school preparation. For the ade- 

 quate study of modern medicine collegiate 

 training in physics, chemistry and biology is 

 essential; to use an academic term, they are 

 prerequisites. How much collegiate training 

 in these branches is necessary is open to 

 discussion; the most general opinion among 

 teachers of medicine is that two years 

 are sufficient. I beg to state that, in my 

 opinion, the majority of the members of the 

 medical profession of this country, as repre- 

 sented in the recognized societies, do not be- 

 lieve that the tests preliminary to medical 

 education need not exceed the requirements 

 for graduation at the best high schools. The 

 teachers of medicine may be said to be almost 

 unanimous in the belief that collegiate prep- 

 aration in the sciences is necessary for the 

 study of medicine. The majority of the high- 

 grade medical schools have already either in- 

 augurated or announced collegiate require- 

 ments for admission; with other institutions 

 the maintenance of the older system is purely 

 a matter of present financial conditions and 

 does not reflect the real policy. These changes 

 have not been made in spite of the profession, 

 but rather with the sympathy and support 

 of the best elements in the profession. In 

 any event, ought it not to be the function of 

 the universities to lead and not to follow the 

 professions ? 



There is a quite current confusion of two 

 movements. One is the culture requirement 

 for entrance upon professional study; the 

 other is the training requirement. Knowl- 

 edge of Greek literature, of esthetics, of 

 political science, may be advantageous to the 

 physician, but it is not essential to the study 

 of medicine; knowledge of and training in 

 physics, chemistry and biology of the collegiate 

 type and quality are necessary for the proper 

 study of medicine as it is taught to-day 

 in our best institutions. Departments of 

 medicine are requiring collegiate preparation; 

 in a few instances it may be partly upon the 

 basis of a veneration for general culture, in 

 all instances from the realization of the direct 

 necessity of that training in the natural sci- 



ences which colleges alone are able to give. 

 With this adjustment of the prerequisites in 

 science deemed necessary to the study of 

 medicine, the matter of democracy in educa- 

 tional policy, alluded to by both President 

 Schurman and President Hadley, has no 

 concern. The science of medicine has devel- 

 oped to such an extent that it can not be so 

 mastered in four years following a high-school 

 education as to adequately prepare the phy- 

 sician for his duties in life. To extend this 

 course, by prerequisite collegiate work, until 

 it fulfills its obligations to the student and 

 its duty to the public, can not be stigmatized 

 as undemocratic. 



Alonzo Englebert Taylor. 

 The University of Califoknia, 

 December 1, 1902. 



ILLEX ILLECEBROSUS (LESUEUR), THE ' SQUID 

 FROM ONONDAGA LAKE, N. Y.' 



The specimen of squid, the capture of 

 which in Onondaga Lake has been described 

 by Dr. John M. Clarke in a previous num- 

 ber of Science,* has been sent to the present 

 writer for examination. It proves to belong 

 to the well-known species of our northern 

 Atlantic coast, the ' cold water ' or ' short- 

 finned squid.' The specimen has been com- 

 pared with the description of Ommastrephes 

 illecehrosus given by Verrill,t and with two 

 well-preserved individuals (male and female) 

 of this species from Provincetown, Mass., 

 preserved in the collections of the Museum of 

 Biology, J. C. Green School of Science, 

 Princeton University. The result of this 

 comparison is as follows: 



Total length of our specimen, from tip of 

 tail to tip of third pair of sessile arms, up- 

 ward of thirteen inches. Since the largest 

 figure for this dimension given by Verrill is 

 a little over fourteen inches, our individual 



* December 12, 1902, p. 947. 



f Ommastrephes illecehrosus (Lesueur) : Ver- 

 rill, A. E., ' North American Cepbalopods,' in 

 Trans. Connect, .icad., Vol. 5, 1880, p. 2C8, pi. 28. 

 According to the ' Synopsis of Recent Cephalo- 

 poda ' given by Hoyle, W. E., in ' Voy. Challenger 

 Zool.,' Vol. 16, 1886, p. 34, the name of this species 

 stands now as Illex illecehrosus (Lesi). 



