806 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 438. 



preserve to the institution their exceptional 

 men by extending the limit to 70. In no 

 ease can I think it wise to go beyond this 

 limit. 



' In some of the universities I have quoted 

 a sabbatical year of rest or study is allowed 

 a professor. He is put upon half pay and 

 iis place is filled by a temporary substitute, 

 who receives the other half of his salary. 

 I believe that in present conditions this 

 should not be applied to medical faculties, 

 for nearly all of the professors are in active 

 practise and take sufficiently long summer 

 holidays. These latter are often spent in 

 observation and study abroad— a most use- 

 ful and remunerative employment of a 

 holiday— and serve the purpose of the sab- 

 batical year for men whose entire time is 

 given to their teaching. In hospitals it 

 certainly should not apply. 



One of the recurring questions in hos- 

 pital and college management is whether 

 there should be a certain number of doc- 

 tors on the board. I Imow that there is 

 a. wide diversity of opinion upon this point. 

 My own belief is that a small proportion 

 of well-chosen medical men is a distinct 

 advantage in such boards of trustees. I 

 have said a ' small proportion, ' for it should 

 not be, I think, larger than probably 20 

 per cent.; and I also said 'well-chosen'; 

 that is, they should be men of large mental 

 caliber and executive ability. It should be 

 distinctly understood, if not indeed abso- 

 lutely expressed, in institutions in large 

 cities at least, that any physician or sur- 

 geon placed upon such a board should 

 never be eligible, even by resignation from 

 the board, for a position on the faculty 

 or the medical staff. In small towns the 

 lack of suitable persons for hospital trus- 

 tees and members of the hospital staff 

 might make it desirable not to institute 

 such a rule. 



Moreover, such medical men should be 



selected for trustees as by their mental 

 training, social relations and personal 

 character would be, so far as it is possible 

 for human nature to realize such a posi- 

 tion, absolutely free from influences arising 

 from personal jealousy or professional bias. 

 If it were a social club, it would be per- 

 fectly proper to vote against a man because 

 he is personally distasteful, but where it 

 is a scientific body responsible for the 

 education of large numbers of young men 

 and for the care of still larger numbers 

 of hospital patients among the poor, even 

 if a candidate were personally unfriendly 

 I should vote for his election if he were 

 the man best fitted for the place. 



Turning now to the duties and responsi- 

 bilities peculiar to trustees of hospitals, 

 let me point out the objects of a hospital. 



First, the care and the cure of the sick 

 and injured; secondly, the education of 

 medical men and medical students; and 

 thirdly, the promotion of knowledge, 

 which, in turn, will inure _all over the 

 world to the more speedy and certain ciire 

 of the sick and injured, and so be of the 

 greatest benefit to humanity. 



In order to accomplish these three pur- 

 poses, it is necessary that the hospital shall 

 have sufficient funds to purchase ground, 

 erect buildings and provide a thorough 

 material equipment. It is a great pleasure 

 to me, as to you also, to note that through- 

 out the length and breadth of the land the 

 medical and surgical staff never tax the 

 always inadequate resources of hospitals 

 for any remuneration. They serve with- 

 out pay, they give ungrudgingly and freely 

 day and night to the poor, often for many 

 years, their time and skill without ever a 

 thought of any money reward. Their re- 

 ward comes from increased knowledge and 

 skill, and the daily blessing invoked of 

 heaven, often lisped in children's prayers 

 or breathed in mothers' benisons which 



