September 6, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



367 



of prime importance in the so-called medi- 

 cal chemistry. I have seen text-books for 

 medical students abounding in descriptions 

 of processes for making many of the modern 

 synthetic remedies along with discussions 

 of the supposed structural formulas of these 

 compounds. This knowledge is interesting, 

 but it is far from essential, as few principles 

 are cleared up by it which cannot be pre- 

 sented to the student in more tangible form. 

 It should be further remembered that there 

 is a distinction between chemistry and 

 materia medica, and much matter pre- 

 sented to students as chemistry properly 

 belongs in the other field. The time spent 

 in memorizing the empirical formulas of 

 the medicinal alkaloids and of the host of 

 antipyretics, hypnotics, etc., might better 

 be given to a study of principles. Of course 

 I would not be understood as urging that 

 the medical student need not be taught the 

 constitution of any organic compounds, but 

 I merely claim that there is a limit to the 

 amount of this knowledge which may be 

 considered practical or profitable. 



I have spoken of the work just described 

 as first year medical work, as it may be 

 taken before entering the medical school or 

 in the first year of the course in medicine. 

 The time is not far distant when all the 

 courses I have described, and doubtless 

 more, will be required for admission to the 

 best schools. At present Harvard Medical 

 School has such a requirement, and other 

 institutions have it under consideration. 

 Many colleges of liberal arts and technical 

 schools offer now a so-called preparatory 

 medical year in which chemistry is the 

 principal topic. Certificates for such a year's 

 work admit to the second year of many of 

 the medical schools of the country. In my 

 experience the plan is not yet a satisfactory 

 one, as the chemistry courses taken under 

 these conditions seems to be lacking in 

 rigor and discipline. They seem to be fol- 

 lowed under the notion that medical school 



chemistry is so completely lacking in thor- 

 oughness that anything may be pursued as 

 its equivalent. 



In the last few years students have begun 

 to present high school certificates for chem- 

 istry work as equivalent to that in the first 

 year of the medical school. The courses 

 taken in the high school at first sight may 

 appear to be more than equivalent to those 

 in the beginning year of the medical course, 

 but a careful consideration of many cases 

 has convinced me that in general it would 

 be very unwise to grant credit in the med- 

 ical school for work apparently done in the 

 high school in chemistry. At the age at 

 which boys and girls now do their chem- 

 istry work in most of the high schools it is 

 quite impossible that the subject can be 

 properly mastered. In my opinion the 

 superficial courses now given in science in 

 hundreds, perhaps thousands, of high 

 schools throughout the country constitute 

 one of the weakest spots in our system of 

 public education. The attempt is often 

 made to cram more chemistry into the high 

 school boy at sixteen than many of our 

 smaller colleges find possible at twenty. 

 In much of this work the glorification of 

 the teacher, not the true edification of the 

 pupil, seems to be the prime object in mind, 

 and the result is deplorable. With these 

 facts in view, I always feel justified in re- 

 jecting the application of the student for 

 advanced standing on account of high 

 school work in chemistry. I am therefore 

 inclined to the opinion that under existing 

 conditions the medical student's work in 

 general and inorganic chemistry can be best 

 done either as a part of a thorough and re- 

 quired college course, or after entering the 

 medical school itself, and that wherever 

 done it should be characterized by a much 

 more systematic and painstaking drill in 

 fundamental principles than seems now to 

 be the case in many institutions. 



It is not my intention to enter upon a 



