but it would probably have begun before now had not a diversion arisen; had not the moving masses been drawn out of their natural orbits by a heterogeneous attraction. This has been supplied by the sudden throwing open to competition of so much government patronage. We consider that the public offices, the army and the Indian service, are drawing away many who would, in an unchanged state of things, have chosen the medical profession. This view gains some corroboration from the fact that the engineering and other similar departments have given a value to physical knowledge, and to manipulative skill, which were formerly only represented among the highest professions by our own.

It is from considerations of this nature, and from a general sense of inexpediency, that we oppose ourselves to such plans as that proposed by Mr. Pearson, of Oriel, in the pamphlet whose title is prefixed to the present remarks. It was with some satisfaction that we heard it had been negatived by the authorities. The suggestion of any means of rendering more numerous the body of medical graduates at Oxford was so far undeniably good; but the contrivance which he advanced for attaining this end seemed open to much objection. Not only was the reduction of residence almost a confession of social inferiority in those who would present themselves, but the scheme had several other dangers, which Dr. Child well enumerates in his letter to the Rector of Exeter. Dr. Child shows that it would be difficult hereafter to exclude the other faculties of Divinity and Law from the advantages of a measure which, whatever it might appear anteriorly, must in time get to be regarded as a causeless indulgence. Or if this should not happen, a still greater danger would lie in the possibility of a separate camaraderie of medical students springing up, not similar in scholastic standing with their contemporaries in the other faculties, and so necessarily isolated from that equality, tempered by competition, which forms so valuable a part of college discipline. Far better than these well-meant attempts to lower the standard of University and professional education to the social level of those who are now excluded, is any method by which some may be attracted into our society, who, under existing circumstances, are inclined to look down upon it. Much will be done towards this end by the daily increasing number of rewards offered for proficiency in science, and much also by the incentives of ambition furnished in the scientific fellowships and professorial chairs; but by far the foremost is the Museum itself; for with a knowledge of the great works of nature comes to the best minds a reverence for them-a longing after a deeper insight, and in our own more special subject an awe-struck consciousness of the physical dangers among which we all thread our way; with a proportionate earnestness in ministering our part of relief and assistance to the countless forms tained so judicious a tone on these subjects, should indulge in such unfairness as occurs in an article headed The Republic of Plato (April 30th, 1859). Making every allowance for the hard necessity of introducing a dull topic with sufficient smartness, and for the pungent odour of the rushes of the Cam which pervades the composition, it is difficult to think that the writer seriously believes his own argument; impossible to suppose him prepared to accept its logical consequences.

of disease and corruption which are allowed so mysteriously to prey upon our corporeal organization.

There remains one branch of the subject which is by no means the least important. It is represented by the letters of Mr. Ruskin, published with the Lecture of Dr. Acland. It may be generally stated, as the importance of a proper estimate of the diguity of our profession, of its close and intimate relations on the one hand with abstract science, and on the other with the refinements of art. This is a principle which lies at the foundation of all progress in our social and political standing. For it is beyond contradiction that one main reason of our present want of influence lies in the inadequate conception which many practitioners form of their duties and obligations. They view medicine too much as an art, too little as a science; perhaps also they allow themselves to regard it as a reputable means of making money, and to forget that this necessary adjunct is its very lowest and most tradesmanlike side. Οὐ γὰρ βάναυσον τὴν τέχνην Extŋσáμηy is the motto we would wish all members of a liberal profession to adopt; and though we might be debarred at times from sources of immediate personal gain, there would infallibly be a large balance of advantage in the end. There is probably no indirect influence which will more tend to bring about this healthier tone of feeling than the humanizing power of art. For though the old sneer at medicine, lately repeated, that it is atheistical and materialist in its tendencies, is far from universally true; still it has some foundation, for such a result has at times followed from it, but only, we think, when studied by minds originally blunt to delicacy and refinement, proceeding on a technical and unworthy appreciation of the objects of their pursuit. In Mr. Ruskin's view of the case, the contrast is put very strongly before us; we see the light in which the cultivated artistic mind is disposed to view the subject; and while we acquiesce fully in his facts, we can hardly fail to regret that such words should not rather owe their origin to a member of our own society, says:

He

"I reverence physical science, more as the source of utmost human practical power, and the means by which the far distant races of the world, who now sit in darkness and the shadow of death, are to be reached and regenerated. At home or far away, the call is equally instant: here, for want of more extended physical science, there is plague in our streets, famine in our fields; the pest strikes root and fruit over a hemisphere of the earth, we know not why; the voices of our children fade away into silence of venomous death, we know not why; the population of this most civilized country resists every effort to lead it into purity of habit and habitation, to give it genuineness of nourishment and wholesomeness of air, as a new interference with its liberty, and insists vociferously on its right to helpless death, All this is terrible; but it

Nos médecins sont une classe d'hommes extrêmement éclairée, et, selon moi, la première de la France sans comparaison. Aucune autre ne sait autant, ni autant de choses certaines. Aucune n'est si bien trempée d'esprit et de caractère. Mais enfin leur rude éducation masculine d'écoles et d'hôpitaux; leur dure initiation chirurgicale, une des gloires de ce pays; toutes ces qualités ici entraînent un grave défaut. Elles aboutissent en eux à l'extinction de la fine sensibilité qui seule pourrait percevoir, qui prévoit, dévine les choses."-J. Michelet: L'Amour, p. 223.

is more terrible yet that dim, phosphorescent, frightful superstitions still hold their own over two-thirds of the inhabited globe; and that all the phenomena of nature which were intended by the Creator to enforce his eternal laws of love and judgments, and which, rightly understood, enforce them more strongly by their patient beneficence and their salutary destructiveness, than the miraculous dew on Gideon's fleece, or the restrained lightnings of Horeb; that all these legends of God's daily dealing with his creatures remain unread, or are read backwards into blind hundred-armed horror of idol cosmogony. How strange it seems that physical science should ever have been thought adverse to religion. The pride of physical science is indeed adverse, like every other pride, both to religion and to truth; but sincerity of science, so far from being hostile, is the pathmaker among the mountains for the feet of those who publish peace."

One of the most painful manifestations of the false position taken up by many members of our body, is strongly contrasted with the liberal and comprehensive spirit of the preceding quotation. We mean the sort of antagonism which, especially in country districts, springs up between the medical man and the visiting clergy. Much of this is undoubtedly due to the injudicious meddling of the latter with the special subjects of medicine, on which the wiser course were faith or silence. But as much, or more, is due to the irritable sense of annoyance, far too common among our brethren, at any influence in the sickroom, independent of their own. Such opposition, where it does exist, is the greatest misfortune for all concerned; most directly to the poorer classes, who habitually look up to the doctor and clergyman as the two great luminaries of the place, and who feel in a thousand ways the misery of a divided allegiance. It has already come in our way to show a probable source of amendment on the one side, by a greater diffusion of the general principles of natural science among educated men; and the best hope of an improvement, not less needed on our own side, seems to lie in the re-association of the poetic sentiment, if we may dare to say so, with the sterner matter of professional avocations. It is a pity that the two have ever been so divorced, and the separation is only of these later times; from the days of Hippocrates to those of the Rosicrucians, till the age of Van Helmont, or even of Sir Thomas Browne, medicine was indissolubly joined with a religious and aesthetical element; which, if it was at times degraded into superstition and pageant by vulgar minds, formed, nevertheless, its highest attraction to a superior order of intelligence. Dangerous it truly is, to trust such a guide in the reasonings and in the observation of our art; but the history of our predecessors shows that the closest logical analysis, and the most stringent accuracy in experiment, are not incompatible with a sanctifying reverence, and a fervour akin to enthusiasm for the wonderful objects of inquiry. We may call to mind the fine painting of Andreas Vesalius,* as he stands with darkened windows beside the corpse from which life has not long departed, and pauses before breaking rudely even into the ruins of the temple of life; in the eyes, turned with earnest gaze towards the crucifix, we read that

* And. Vesalius was one of the first to use post-mortem examination as a verification. of diagnosis; in 1564 he was condemned for this by the Inquisition. And yet the religious element of his mind can now be traced in his works.

highest flight of man's intellect, which, while it scrutinises with critical niceness the traces of function and contrivance, can still look through these to the beauty, the innate fitness and harmony, which,* like notes of thrilling music, pervade all created things.

If, as the preceding example seems to show, the union of such different qualities in one mind is not impossible, it is surely our duty to desire and inculcate it. With this view, we decline to join in the disapprobation so strongly expressed by a few persons at the decorative element in the Oxford Museum. Ornament can only be held objectionable when it interferes with matters of more necessary import. At present such fear is not to be entertained; while we can point to solid and substantial works like the two excellent chemical manuals, of which mention has been made, issuing from the Oxford school, there is no danger of a deficiency in real earnest productive labour, equal to what the meanest and most microscopic conception of the scientific man's mission can give birth to. And we hold that all delicacies of workmanship serve a useful purpose; by entwining an element of beauty about the sternness of the facts, they endear these the more strongly to the inquirer, and, like the sculptured capitals of the museum pillars, crown the rugged representative of science with a repeated remembrance of the fair forms in which science is enshrined.†

If it be wise at all times to enlist in our service the refining power of artistic sentiment, it is most particularly desirable during the course of the educational process; for the mind of a student is especially open to these secondary influences; he is young and ardent in his new pursuit, his conceptions of its dignity and usefulness are as yet unsettled, every day is adding new facts and fresh ideas to his stores, which will hereafter more or less bear the tincture and colour of the place and time in which they were first gathered. Which of us does not now and then go back in memory to a period long passed by, on opening some old book, some dusty collection of minerals, or of withered botanical specimens, once objects of deep interest and study? All the feelings of that time have faded away and been forgotten, we seem to ourselves other men since then, and yet we are aware that throughout the whole intervening space our conception of that branch of study has been moulded on the associations with which it was then intimately blended. It is perhaps with profound intuition of a halfevolved truth that the present age is making association play so great a part in the educational method; for while we cannot as yet define the exact relation of this power to memory, their resemblance and kindred is indisputable. Much of the success of our great public schools seems due to its operation; and the Universities have always prided themselves on their power, not only of imparting knowledge, but also of moulding individual character to a greater polish and increased fitness for social life, by the force of similar agencies. Few

ἐκ πασῶν δὲ ὀκτω ούσων, μίαν ἁρμονίαν ξυμφωνείν. Cf. Plato, Repub. X., Mythus of Er. ↑ Each pillar in the great quadrangle is formed of a different rock or marble, in classified order. The surmounting capitals are carved into representations of plants, in corresponding botanical series. No absolutely conventional foliage is introduced, each specimen being worked from nature.

men long resist the combined influence of the genius loci so strongly embodied in the institutions and buildings themselves, the refined habits, the powerful and regulated public opinion, and the silent force of the religious element, closely bound up with the collegiate system itself.

We rejoice to see the domain of these forces extended over the students of physical science, and specially over those destined for our profession of medicine. No antidote could be found so efficacious against the vicious lessening of the moral horizon, and the disorganizing laxity of habit, besetting sins of that class, which are perhaps in part due to the nature of the educational course itself. Until recently it might be said that these advantages applied only to a limited number, from which the majority of our brethren are excluded. It is indeed true that only a small numerical proportion would be contributed by the Universities to the ranks of the medical profession, even if the wishes of the most sanguine adherents of the new régime were to be fulfilled. But there is another channel opened, by which the University influence is being very widely, and, as we think, judiciously, diffused, and by which no profession will profit more immediately than our own. The recently enacted statutes for the examination of those qui non sunt de corpore Universitatis, are already beginning to attract crowds of candidates for the certificate of proficiency in all the large towns. To no class of young men will such a testimonial be so really valuable by none, as we hope, will it be more energetically striven after-than by those who purpose commencing their career as medical students. For, in the first place, it is fixed at a period of life which very accurately marks off a division between the general educational course and the commencement of more specific professional studies. If, by so doing, it in a measure tends to cut short that most unprofitable portion of the ordinary student's career, which is represented by the apprenticeship in a country town, preliminary to attending hospital lectures in London, it will at least have done a negative good; and will, in return, have entailed some positive advantage, by raising the standard of acquirement in the ordinary branches of liberal education. We would willingly exchange, in the great majority of cases, the scanty, imperfect, and purely empirical information of a private practitioner's surgery, for some better mental training and more intimate knowledge of the great writers of ancient and modern times, for the prominent facts of history, and the higher branches of mathematics. In the second place, these examinations may be made useful as a first winnowing-a preliminary classification of the examinees, which will tend to guide the judgment of friends and relations in determining a young man's future path in life. Medicine is the last of all occupations not absolutely mechanical on which a youth should. be thrust hap-hazard, and because, as often happens, his father followed it before him. It needs more definite bias and predilection than any other for its satisfactory pursuit, and it presents more points of distaste and discouragement to an ill-matched aspirant. The mercantile man and the government employé can give certain hours of the day to