May 15, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



76'J 



be benefited by every new fact discovered 

 in medicine, and that physicians thor- 

 oughly and scientifically trained are neces- 

 sary to conserve the health of the people. 

 Three years ago Professor W. W. Keen, 

 in his address as president, deplored the 

 fact that medical schools received relatively 

 little aid in the form of endowments as 

 compared with universities and colleges of 

 philosophy, art and theology. Since that 

 time several millions of dollars have been 

 given for medical education and scientific 

 research. The signs of the times point to 

 a brighter future of medicine in America. 



EDUCATION PRELIMINAET TO MEDICAL STUDY. 



The subject of the educational require- 

 ments for matriculation in medical schools 

 has been discussed at many meetings of this 

 Association in its earlier years, and later 

 by the college associations, by the Ameri- 

 can Academy of Medicine and by the vari- 

 ous state boards of health. 



The requirements were at first lament- 

 ably low, and the efforts of the Committee 

 on Education of the American Medical 

 Association and of the college associations 

 had but little effect, because they possessed 

 no legal power to control the schools. 



The influence of the various boards of 

 health of several states, notably Illinois, 

 was more marked, inasmuch as these state 

 boards possessed a mandatory power. The 

 colleges were forced to adopt the mini- 

 mum educational requirements of the state 

 boards of health if their diplomas were to 

 be recognized by the respective state boards. 



These moral and legal influences to im- 

 prove the preliminary requirements were 

 almost nullified by the practice of a major- 

 ity of the medical schools in admitting 

 students whose educational status was ex- 

 amined into and judged by a committee 

 of the college faculty. 



This practice is still followed by a 

 majority of the medical schools, and re- 



sults in the admission of many students 

 who are unable to fulfil the prescribed 

 requirements. As a subterfuge, students 

 are often matriculated conditioned in one 

 or even several subjects. Then the student 

 and the faculty committee forget all about 

 the subject, and the student completes his 

 course, goes into practice, and dies with the 

 conditions still undischarged. 



The present requirements of the college 

 associations and of the various state med- 

 ical examining boards and state boards of 

 health amount, on the average, to a high- 

 school education. The curricula and length 

 of course of the high schools of the different 

 states, and even in the same state, differ 

 very substantially. However, if the med- 

 ical schools now in existence would honestly 

 require as a minimum education the 

 diploma of a high school, without regard 

 to the rank, it would be a marked advance 

 over the present requirements as practiced 

 by most schools. 



We must admit, too, that there are med- 

 ical schools of such low educational grade 

 that they have no right to demand of their 

 matriculates as much even as a common 

 school education. This fact that low-grade 

 medical colleges exist is one of the most 

 satisfactory explanations of the difficulty 

 encountered in elevating the standing of 

 preliminary requirements. 



To get at the root of the matter the med- 

 ical college must be brought up to the 

 proper educational standard, and then, and 

 then only, can be made a proper prelim- 

 inary educational requirement. 



UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGES. 



The present status of medical science re- 

 quires and demands a university medical 

 college coui-se. By university medical col- 

 lege is meant a medical school which is 

 directly connected with and a part of a uni- 

 versity; the university fixing the require- 

 ments and controlling the admission of stu- 



