Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1921. 
Professional  Training. 
851 
INSTRUCTION  IN  PURE  SCIENCE. 
When  instruction  in  pure  science  forms  an  integral  part  of 
professional  study,  the  principles  of  a  science  taught  may  be  illus- 
trated by  facts  connected  with  the  calling  the  pupil  is  to  follow. 
This  involves  some  duplication;  these  facts  must  be  referred  to 
again  when  methods  of  practice  are  expounded.  Such  duplication 
possesses  an  educational  value !  it  enables  the  same  truth  to  be 
envisaged  from  different  points  of  view. 
Where  instruction  in  pure  science  forms  a  prelude  to  profes- 
sional training  this  advantage  largely  disappears.  A  decision  has 
to  be  reached  in  advance  whether  scientific  instruction  be  confined 
to  the  principles  of  a  particular  study  or  shall  include  the  present- 
ment of  its  salient  facts.  No  middle  course  is  feasible.  The  needs 
of  different  callings  vary;  it  is  not  uniformly  necessary  that  the 
master  of  a  profession  be  an  all-round  scientific  expert.  Medicine 
and  pharmacy,"  for  example,  do  not  think  it  essential  that  every 
future  practitioner  be  as  proficient  in  physics,  chemistry,  and  bio- 
logy' as  in  his  proper  calling.  Medicine  believes  that  if  her  disciples 
can  master  the  principles  of  these  studies  before  professional  train- 
ing begins  they  may  acquire  familiarity  with  the  special  truths  of 
each  that  bear  on  future  practice,  while  being  disciplined  in  the 
medical  institutes.  If  this  be  true  of  those  who  practise  medicine, 
it  must  also  be  true  of  competent  teachers  of  medical  practice.  But 
it  cannot  apply  to  those  who  teach  the  institutes ;  such  teachers, 
whether  on  the  physiological  or  the  pathological  side,  must  be  fully 
versed  in  physics,  chemistry,  and  biology.  Yet  teachers  of  the  in- 
stitutes of  any  art  should,  like  teachers  of  its  practice,  be  recruited 
from  among  those  who  have  studied  that  art  and  know  its  needs. 
INTENSIVE  TRAINING  IN  PURE  SCIENCE. 
When  the  institutes  of  medicine  merely  embodied  the  philo- 
sophical conclusions  of  clinical  experience,  no  difficulty  arose.  Now 
that  these  institutes,  like  those  of  pharmacy,  derive  their  inspiration 
directly  from  physics,  chemistry,  and  biology,  it  is  desirable  that 
some  who  study  medicine  at  a  given  time  shall  have  made  them- 
selves as  fully  acquainted  with  the  facts  as  with  the  principles  of 
the  sciences  mentioned  before  commencing  their  professional  course. 
There  are  few  medical  schools  without  any  pupils  who  have  under- 
gone this  intensive  training  in  pure  science.    In  some  schools  the 
