1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



315 



stantly in mind that he is not meielj' an 

 instructor in a speciul branch, but is, besides 

 this, a member of a faculty, the purpose of 

 which is to give to medical students the 

 most complete, well-rounded, professional 

 education possible with the available means. 

 On the old lines, which schools have followed 

 far too long, and which are not j'ct aban- 

 doned by all institutions, everj' professor 

 discoursed to the entire class — a higgledy- 

 piggledy arrangement (perhaps derange- 

 ment would be the more appropriate desig- 

 nation for so lunatic a scheme) which 

 would not be tolerated for a week in a 

 common school of the lowest grade. Grad- 

 ually faculties are becoming converted to 

 the idea that a grading of the course is 

 essential to the best results ; and those 

 branches which are natural stepping stones 

 to others are completed before advanced 

 studies are undertaken. But much still 

 remains to be done before the most useful 

 system is formulated, and the part of this 

 work which most concerns us is the proper 

 adjustment of our topics to the needs of 

 our colleagues who teach physiology. The 

 plan which I am about to propose is designed 

 especiallj' to attain this end, and will be 

 seen, I trust, to be the most advantageous 

 in other respects, also. It is devised in the 

 spirit which should actuate every individual 

 in a body which is formed to accomplish 

 a given purpose ; each one is bound not 

 simply to do these things which will make 

 his department a success, but to do them 

 in such a way as to promote the interests of 

 every other chair. There should be per- 

 fect coordination in teaching — the faculty 

 should work always as a ' team,' if a popular 

 expression may be used. In no other way 

 can the highest results be achieved. 



In the first place I would have the anato- 

 mist ascertain the exact order of topics in 

 the course of his physiological colleague. 

 Let us suppose that the latter purposes, after 

 a little time spent in necessary preliminary 



considerations, to conduct his class into the 

 realm of tlie circulation. The anatomist 

 will precede him by a day or two with the 

 study of the organs by means of which cir- 

 culation is performed. The structure of the 

 heart will be presented with as much of de- 

 tail as is requisite for the ready comprehen- 

 sion of its action, and this will be followed 

 bj' the physiological anatomy of the blood 

 vessels: the materials of which they are com- 

 posed, the arrangement of these, and the 

 variations in their proportions in the large, 

 medium, and small vessels respectively ; the 

 physical qualities of the walls ; the style of 

 division and union : how the great arterial 

 trunks branch and divide until the most 

 diminutive twigs terminate in capillaries, 

 and how the venous radicles begin in the 

 midst of the tissues and by successive and 

 innumerable conjunctions form larger tubes 

 until the great tap-roots of the system are 

 reached ; in short, all those points which 

 aid in the understanding of the function of 

 these organs. lie makes no attempt at this 

 stage of the course to present the systematic 

 anatomy of the arteries and veins ; perhaps 

 not a single vessel of the great multitude is 

 called by name, except those which, being 

 attached to the heart., must be specifically 

 designated in order to make the description 

 of that organ intelligible. He does not 

 undertake to descrilie the relations in space 

 which the heart and principal vessels sus- 

 tain to the parts by which they are sur- 

 rounded ; for he knows that these relations 

 might be very dilVcrent without essential 

 modification of their action, and that there- 

 fore they need not be introduced at this 

 period of the curriculum. Thus, the stu- 

 dents are well equipped to receive instruc- 

 tion on the circulation from the professor of 

 phj-siology, and the latter is free to devote 

 his energies entirely to the work which alone 

 he should be expected to undertake. 



This example is no more striking than 

 any other ; but it serves well to illustrate 



