170 
REVIEWS. 
Address of Samuel D. Gross, M.D., LL.D., President of 
the American Medical Association, Philadelphia. 
Dr. Gross in his able address reviews the history of medi¬ 
cal scienci' in America, and it is interesting to trace in his 
illustrations of defects and abuses a resemblance to our own 
errors and grievances. In education, in examinations, and in 
the services, there seems to be in America as in England 
much that might be improved, at least be re-arranged with 
that intention. 
Referring to the necessity for an improved standard of 
education, the speaker observes : 
“ The schools are afraid to elevate the standard of require¬ 
ments without the general co-operation of the colleges, lest 
they should suifer in the number of their pupils and the 
amount of their emoluments. Nor is it worth wEile for a 
few members of a faculty to raise their voices in favour of 
reform when all the rest are opposed to it. It is confessedly 
difficult, if not impossible, for seven or eight men to see any 
one subject in the same light. ^Quot homines, tot sententiae’ 
is as true of medical faculties as of any other associations ; 
and it is therefore simply absurd for the profession to hurl its 
wrath at this or that institution because it will not step out 
of its way to sacrifice itself to reform, of the importance of 
which it may be perfectly sensible. Practitioner and professor, 
private preceptor and college teacher, are, in the existing 
state of this grave and important question, equally at fault 
and equally censurable.” 
We might have written a good while without so aptly 
expressing the state of our own professional difficulties. 
Equally applicable to us are the remarks on scientific 
evidence. 
‘‘ Medical men, in the exercise of their functions, are often 
called upon to act as witnesses in cases involving property, 
reputation, and even life itself. The real object, as con¬ 
templated by the law, of every trial in which scientific testi¬ 
mony is required is to ascertain ‘ the truth, the whole truth, 
and nothing but the truth,’ both as it affects the interests of 
the State and of the accused. The procedure, as generally con- 
duct('d, partakes much more of the character of a combat, in 
wdiich the opposing parties are pitted against each other, often 
with a degree of fierceness and acrimony that only shows too 
clearly the partisan feelings of the belligerents, instead of the 
dignified inquiry into the real merits of the case. The result 
