liv PROCEEDINGS. 



of the terms "vascular" as applied to the circulatory system, 

 "neural" as applied to the nervous, and "digestive" as 

 applied to the alimentary. I don't want to be asked at 

 the end of a lecture what I meant by the expression, "the 

 classical experiment". I should like my students to know 

 already the meaning of such terms as blastoderm, somato- 

 pleure, placenta, hermaphrodite, metabolism, homogeneous and 

 homodromous before they enter upon the study of Physiology 

 at all. It is not a classical education that we object to, but 

 an education that is practically exclusively classical, and 

 often indeed does not impart the very information which 

 is afterwards most needed. In fact, just as there should 

 be chemistry for medical students, and physics for medical 

 students, so there should be Greek and Latin for medical 

 students. And if it be objected that this would not pro- 

 duce any measure of true culture, one would be tempted 

 to ask whether the present sj^stem of preliminary education 

 is producing a particularly cultured type of student; a visit 

 to the theatre on "Students' Night" would hardly foster 

 that impression. 



A very useful alteration might be made in the teaching 

 of mathematics to boys intended for the medical profession 

 or studying for degrees in the biological sciences. A good 

 deal of Euclidian Geometry might be cut out, and some 

 instruction in the use of the differential calculus substituted. 

 The use of logarithms ought in any case to be taught to all. 

 But we who teach such a science as Physiology hope that 

 the day is fast approaching when such instruction in the 

 sciences introductory to Medicine will be given at school 

 as will enable the student on entering the University to 

 profit at once by teaching of University standard. This 

 would reduce considerably the number of sc^ientific subjects 

 in the First Year of Medicine, and so lessen the load carried 

 in that admittedly trying year. 



Why, then, is a knowh'dg(> of science so u.seful to the 



