The academic element in medicine : address to the graduates in medicine, Thursday, July 30th, 1891 / by John Ferguson, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A., Regius Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow.

  • John Ferguson
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The academic element in medicine : address to the graduates in medicine, Thursday, July 30th, 1891 / by John Ferguson, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A., Regius Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    new branches of medicine, he has none afforded him more than he had before of becoming ac- quainted with the extension of the sciences them- selves. Nay, by virtue of certain new regulations, if passed as they are now, he has less; for, while the medical student is not allowed to graduate till he be twenty-one, the curriculum he has to follow is to occupy five years. That means that the age of entering the University for the study of medi- cine is to be virtually lowered by one year. At all events, it will have the effect of inducing students to come at an earlier age than is desirable, before they can have acquired such a school education as will enable them to pass even the preliminary examination for medicine. I take my own subject: the time allotted to it is precisely the same now as thirty years ago, though during that time not only has our knowledge of the chemical properties of matter in general, but especially in relation to medicine, been enormously increased. The initial difficulties of the subject to the student, however, remain as formidable as ever, and take as much time to surmount, so that by the time he is prepared to appreciate the parts which would appeal most strongly to him, he has to hurry on to some new topic. But, hereafter, I expect to see students less mature, less able to understand and to follow generaliza-
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