770 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 437. 



dents to the medical department. The 

 method of teaching both the fundamental 

 and the clinical branches is on the prin- 

 ciples oiitlined above. To properly pre- 

 pare for such a course the student should 

 have, as a minimum preparation, at least 

 two years of study in a good college or uni- 

 versity. The requirements to enter a good 

 college or university would insure a suffi- 

 cient knowledge of the ordinary school 

 branches and also Latin or Greek. During 

 the two years' course in college his time 

 would be well spent in the study of Engr> 

 lish, French, German, mathematics, history, 

 philosophy, physics, chemistry, general and 

 organic, and qualitative analysis, compara- 

 tive anatomy and general biology. The 

 amount of time to be devoted to each of 

 these subjects would be the same as that 

 of students of general science, as arranged 

 in all college curricula, with the exception 

 of a much more thorough course in chem- 

 istry, biology, physics and comparative 

 anatomy. 



So prepared, the medical matriculate 

 would be able to grasp all the intricacies 

 of the subjects of the fundamental branches 

 of medicine. With the addition of the 

 full medical college course, as outlined 

 above, his education would be equal in 

 culture to that of the graduate in arts and 

 philosophy. At the same time, it would 

 be practical and especially fit him for his 

 work as a scientific investigator or prac- 

 titioner, or for both. 



"With the medical profession so educated 

 a physician would be, in truth, a member 

 of a learned profession. From an educa- 

 tional point of view he would rank as an 

 equal with the scholar in philosophy, law 

 and theology. As a man he would be 

 recognized as the greatest benefactor of 

 mankind. 



With the establishment of university 

 medical schools the first two years of work 



in the medical school will consist of courses 

 in pure science. Then, doubtless, all uni- 

 versities will adopt the plan which two or 

 three universities have already put in 

 practice. That is, that the student who 

 completes the first two years of the science 

 course of a university, or at a college of 

 good standing, may enter the sophomore 

 year of the university and take the first 

 two years' work in medicine, as the sopho- 

 more and senior years of the bachelor's 

 course, Avhen he would receive the degree 

 of S.B. The student who completes the 

 three years of the arts or philosophy course 

 at a university, during which he should 

 take a large amount of work in physics, 

 chemistry and biology, could then enter the 

 medical college and after two years receive 

 the degree of A.B. or Ph.B. After two 

 years spent in the clinical school he would 

 receive the degree of M.D. 



This telescoping of the literary and med- 

 ical courses affords the advantage of an 

 economy of time, while it does not in any 

 way lessen the value of the result to the 

 student. In the one case the student se- 

 cures the degrees of S.B. and M.D. after 

 six years of study, and in the other the de- 

 grees of A.B., or Ph.B., and the degree of 

 M.D. at the end of seven years' study. 



THE OUTLOOK OF MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



Medical education must advance to its 

 proper level if it complies with the present 

 status of the medical sciences and the de- 

 mands which continued evolution in medi- 

 cine promises. 



What does this imply? It means that 

 the private — the proprietary— medical 

 school which is conducted for commercial 

 reasons must go. Acknowledge, as we 

 must, the great value which the best of 

 these schools have been to the profession 

 and to the country, all such schools have 



