The need for reform of the medical examination system / by T. Pridgin Teale.

  • Thomas Pridgin Teale
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The need for reform of the medical examination system / by T. Pridgin Teale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    never to have seen a sick human being except by accident, and, under our present degenerating system, as I should call it, are discouraged from entering the wards of a hospital or the operating theatre during their first two years Questions. “ Name six of the most important emetics. What dose of each is necessary to induce vomiting, and how is it best administered 1 ” / “ What is an enema ? State the composition of each of the following fnaming three] of which one is ‘ enema magnesias sulphatis.’ ” This examiner seems to be enamoured of “ enema magnesiae sulphatis,” as he asks the question again the year following. I wonder how many of those present here ever prescribed “ enema magnesiae sulphatis.” “ Contrast the physical and chemical properties of castor oil and oil of turpentiue.” “ Name the pharmacopoeial preparations into which potassii tartras acida enters and give their doses. Describe the action of this drug.” “ Give an account of sulphur, including its origin, physical properties, official preparations, and doses.” “ Describe the action of this drug.” “ What is ‘ lini farina’] Give its source and enumerate all the preparations into which it enters ” Happy “ linseed meal,” it will hardl3r recognise itself when set on such a pedestal of honour. Let us take leave of materia medica for first year’s students with one quotation from a report of our Inspector and Visitor : u The dosage of various drugs, including picrotoxin, phenazonum, apomorpliinae hydrochloras, etc., many of which first year's students probably never heard of. The majority of the questions could not be fairly included in the subject of practical pharmacy as generally understood at the first ex- amination of a student of medicine, although perfectly legitimate at the examination for the licence of a Pharmaceutical Society.” And this is the kind of rubbish that the elaborate and costly machinery of a public examination has to waste its energies upon. I have a few morbid specimens from the Elementary Physiology Examination of the English Conjoint Board, but, thanks to the pre- valence of good sense, this examination, as well as that in Elementary Anatomy, has disappeared.