ies by hard experience, to starve, or to utilize his
abilities in some more lucrative path of life. Taking into
consideration the fact that the theory and practice of medicine have
become so extended within recent years, it must be readily conceded
that four years is barely sufficient time in which to gain a
satisfactory insight into their various departments. For a person,
however gifted, to hope to receive an adequate medical training in two
or three years is vain.

In those States in which the facilities for securing a medical
education are abundant, and where the time and money to be expended
are within the reach everyone, there is always the danger that an
undue proportion will forsake trade in order to join the profession.
This is especially the case when times are bad. Many persons seem to
be possessed of the idea that the practice of medicine as a means of
livelihood should be regarded as a something to fall back upon when
other resources fail. Accordingly, when trade is depressed and money
is scarce, there is a rush to enter its ranks. That this view of the
matter is altogether an erroneous one is too self-evident to need any
demonstrative proof. Again, although the question of a universal four
years' course is a most important one, it must not be forgotten that
examination takes almost as conspicuous a place. It is desirable that
every one entering on medical studies should possess a general
education. With the exception of a few unimportant schools, the
entrance examinations would appear to afford the necessary test. Then
comes the much more vital point of how to gage, in the fairest
possible manner, the extent of the medical knowledge of those who have
undergone their full term of study. For various reasons the conducting
of the final examinations by professors in the school in which the
student has been taught is open to many and grave objections, more
especially when these professors are themselves teachers in that
school. As has been pointed out in The Medical Record on more than one
occasion, the most obviously fair regulation is that of independent
examination by an unbiased State board. If this plan were carried into
execution, medical education in America generally would rest on a
firmer basis than in Great Britain, in which country the standard,
although nowhere so low as in parts of the United States, still varies
very considerably in the different schools. The General Medical
Council of England ha