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at the bedside of the patients, that you can alone learn torecognise and treat disease ; and there is too great a tendencyon the part of students to neglect the clinical part of theirwork, and especially in the early days of their attendance attheir hospitals. Those who are unacquainted with the diffi-culties which beset the progress of medicine are apt toimagine that the advances made in it are not commensuratewith those which are made in other sciences. Now let usfor a moment consider this point, for I am one of those whobelieve that, in proportion to the difficulties which surroundthe investigations of medicine, the discoveries in medicalscience and the advances in medical art have been as greatas those which have marked the history of any other scienceor art. I should wish to be in nowise misunderstood. I donot for a moment under-estimate the difficulties which attendthe investigations of the physical philosopher, and I admitmost willingly, for instance, that the precision which charac-terises the labours of the chemist, and the exactitude withwhich the predictions of the astronomer are fulfilled, demon-strate the high degree of perfection to which their respectivesciences have been brought. But the subjects to whichmedicine relates immeasurably transcend those of the phy-sical philosopher. The investigation of the phenomena of lifeis surrounded by difficulties such as the physicist never meetswith. The unchangeable nature of inorganic matter givesrise to one unvarying result when ever inorganic matter is actedupon by the same cause. But organic matter is ever varying,ever unstable, and in that highly complex body which isthe subject of the physician’s operations there are so manycircumstances beyond the mere physical, so many varietiesof individual constitution, so many peculiarities, so manyinfluences of a mental or a moral nature, that it becomes aproblem, very different from that which the chemist or theastronomer is called upon to decide, when the physician hasto consider the effects which the same cause will produce ondifferent persons, or on the same person at different times.Were the science of life as perfect as that of chemistry, werewe even thoroughly acquainted with the laws which regu-late diseased action, there would still remain great difficul-ties in the treatment of disease. We should still have tostudy the peculiarities of each individual and carefully selectthe remedies appropriate to the case, and herein lies thegreat difficulty of therapeutics, but herein also lies its pointof greatest interest. It is this which gives its great pecu-liarity to medicine-the ever-varying condition of those whoare subjects of the physician’s care; the manifold phaseswhich the same disease presents in different persons; and,lastly, but by no means least, the different effects which thesame remedy may produce in different individuals and inthe same individual at different times. And in judging ofthe progress of medicine, these are circumstances whichshould always be taken into consideration. Some of thebest original work ever done has been done under circum-stances apparently the most unfavourable ; and, therefore,let no man imagine that, although located far from the busycentres of intellectual or practical life, he may not, what-ever be his calling, and especially if it be medicine, con-tribute something to the stock of human knowledge. Nonnobis solum nati sumus."

The prizes to the successful students of the winter andsummer sessions were then distributed as follows :-Lyon Jones Scholarships. - Mr. F. C. Larkin, Mr. J. W.

Ellis, Mr. A. Barron, Mr. A. H. Wilson.IVinter Session.-Third-year subjects (Medicine, Surgery,

and Pathology) : Mr. R. Honeyburne, silver medal ; Mr. F.J. Laimbeer, bronze medal. Second-year subjects (AdvancedAnatomy and Physiology): Mr. A. H. Wilson, Terr goldmedal; Mr. W. C. Garman and Mr. T. P. Lowe, bronzemedals ; Mr. G. Jones, first hon. certificate ; Mr. J. R. L.Dixon, second hon. certificate. First-year subjects (Ele-mentary Anatomy and Physiology and Chemistry) : Mr. W.0. Travis, Bligh gold medal; Mr. Joseph Walker, bronzemedal; Mr. F. C. Larkin, first hon. certificate ; Mr. H. A.Bredin, second hon. certificate. Histological Prizes : Mr. A.H. Wilson and Mr. A. H. Clemow.Summer Session.-Senior subjects (Medical Jurisprudence

and Obstetrics) : Mr. J. W. Ellis, bronze medal; Mr. R.Williams, hon. certificate. Junior subjects (Botany, MateriaMedica, and Practical Chemistry) : Mr. Joseph Walker,silver medal. Comparative Anatomy prize : Mr. F. H.Barendt. Extra prizes in Obstetrics : Mr. J. W. Ellis, first

prizes Mr. R. Bredin, second prize. Students’ DebatingSociety’s prizes : First essay, Mr. W. C. Garman ; second

essay, Mr. J. R. L. Dixon. Debating prizes : 1. Mr. Xevins;2. Mr. J. G. Brown. Reports of Medical Cases, Mr. Laim-beer ; Reports of Surgical Cases, Mr. Ellis. Prize for Spe-cimens, Mr. A. Barron.

SHEFFIELD SCHOOL OF MEDICINE.INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY DR. C. NELSON GWYNNE,

LECTURER ON PRACTICAL PHYSIOLOGY AND HISTOLOGY, SHEFFIELDSCHOOL OF MEDICINE.

DR. GWYNNE began his address by an urgent appeal tothe students to commence earnest work immediately, andnot put it off till the second or third year of their studies.He drew attention to the special advantages afforded by theSheffield School of Medicine. He then spoke of thelatitude and grandeur of the science of medicine, and gaveexamples of its intimate relationship with the PhysicalSciences, with Psychology, and the Arts. He next devoteda portion of his address to giving advice to the students asto the method of conducting their studies. He speciallyrecommended the study of Physiology, and gave a shorthistorical account of the advances made in that departmentsince the discovery of achromatism. He went on to ;:ay:—" When you have completed your second year of study,

your chief attention ought to be directed to yom hospitalwork. Let your attendance be regular, and never omit totake copious notes of the cases you have selected for yourspecial attention. Don’t endeavour to cope with a largenumber of cases at once, but, while giving a general atten-tion to the clinical remarks made beside the bedside of everypatient, choose out two or three medical, aud as manysurgical cases, for your special observation. Now is thetime to acquire accuracy and method in the examination ofyour cases. Never yield to the temptation of making aquick diagnosis, based on some suggestive symptom, andjumping at a conclusion without having first gone throughevery step that leads up to it. First acquaint yourself withthe previous history of your patient, and to gain this, letyour questions be short, pithy, and to the point. Avoid alldiscursive conversation and unnecessary details. Nextexamine his general present condition, and let the skin, thedigestive system, the urine, the circulatory system, therespiratory organs, the temperature, &c., all receive theattention they in each instance deserve. When you havegone through this general examination, the locars of diseasewill be pretty sure to suggest itself, and will demand furtherspecial investigation. Once acquire a certain method inexamining your cases, and you will soon find yourselves inevery instance intuitively, and with rapidity, following outthe same method, and the result will be accuracy in yourdiagnosis and that confidence in yourselves, which is almostindispensable to the successful physician.

" Many of you may hereafter be called upon to carry outthe duties of the ’Public Health Act,’ and you will findthem, in any case, multifarious and difficult ; but a littletime bestowed upon the subject now will enable you withmuch greater ease to accommodate yourselves to the dutiesthat devolve upon you. There is little doubt but that allthe licensing bodies ought to make the subject an integralpart of their regular curriculum.

" After the student has entered on his second year, thequestion of paramount interest to him is the c7zoice of adiploma. In regard to this you are in a certain sense un-fortunate. You are commencing your professional studiesin a transition period. We have not yet been divorced fromthe imperfect system of the present, nor yet wedded to thenew system of the future. It is still reserved for only acomparatively small number to proceed to a respectableEnglish medical degree. It is still competent for you tosettle down and practise both in medicine and surgery, onattaining to the membership of the English College of Sur-geons, if you elect to be satisfied with it. It is next door toimpossible for you to acquire an English medical degree,except the few of you who have the pluck and energy toaspire to the degree of what is called the ’London Univer-sity’- a university in nothing but in name-a sterile almamater which adopts the children she never nurtured, withouta staff of paid professors, without laboratories, without, in fact,any of the paraphernalia requisite for imparting knowledge orfor adding to the aggregate of scientific discoveries. And whenI say this, I am aware that the high standard required for itsdegrees has had a healthy influence on medical education

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throughout the country; I am aware, too, that many ofthose who hold the degree of the London University hold aforemost position in the scientific world, and that others areprogressing towards the attainment of that position ; but,beyond stiinulating their energies and testing their capa-cities, what has the London University done for them ? It

manifestly fails in the most valuable duty of a university-viz., in twching.

" The possession of a certain amount of knowlege in astudent is not the main desideratum ; it is more importantto form his habit of mind and to direct his method of in-

vestigation. The student who has attained to his degree aftera four years’ ’period of study is, however he may estimatehimself, but a child in knowledge, and being but a child,the fashioning of his mind for a progressive life-long student-ship, the laying down a sound groundwork for future labours,is vastly more important than to foster precocity, and, inmany instances, after-idleness, by cramming his brain withnumberless facts and a variety of details. We hear far toomuch at the present day of examining boards, and far toolittle of university teaching. In these remarks I do notinclude Scotland and Ireland, for I am well aware that theUniversities of Edinburgh and Dublin have never neglectedthe duties they owed to medical education. But in England,unfortunately, owing to a variety of causes, .it has beendifferent, and it is only lately that, with an energy thatdeserves all praise, the University of Cambridge has deter-mined to revive the teaching of medicine in its walls, and toroll away the reproach that so long attached to it, ofsnubbing and neglecting a study that directs to the allevia-tion of human suffering the most universal scientific in-

vestigations. The exertions of the University of Cambridgein the south we are soon likely to see emulated in the north.The want of a university for the north has at length beenrecognised, and the Victoria University has received itscharter and entered upon its mission-a university in deedas well as in name, with splendid lecture halls, museums, andlaboratories; with a staff of paid professors, and every requisitenecessary for the acquisition of new knowledge; with collegesto be affiliated with it in each of the large neighbouring towns,our own included. Untrammelled by an ancient history, orby old associations with pedantry and prejudice, it starts

buoyant with health and hope, soon, if I mistake not, tolead the van, and leave behind in the race older but morelagging competitors." We have waited too long in the hope that successive

governments would legislate for us, and put medical educa-tion in this country on a better and more uniform footing.’The gods help those who help themselves.’ It is time thatwe set to work and bring about our own reformation. Itwill be a long time before we have in this country anequivalent to the German ’Staats Examen.’ With theGovernment imposing implicit confidence in the GeneralMedical Council, and with the well-known proclivities ofthat Council, we may fairly predict that we will not in thisgeneration witness much advance towards such a denoue-ment. Perhaps if we were fortunate enough to be under asystem of government that fostered science things might bedifferent ; but unfortunately the sciences and arts in thiscountry alone, of all great nations, are left to struggle asbest they may for existence, and are destined to receiveofficial snubs much oftener than the assisting hand. Ineed not remind you of the army and naval medical services,which are, thanks to the persistent efforts of the profession,ably backed up by the medical journals, only just emergingfrom behind the cloud of disfavour under which official mis-management has placed them. Since, then, we may have towait a long time for the establishment of a one-portal system,it is manifestly our duty to make the best of things as theyexist. If among all the different corporations that grantedmedical and surgical diplomas there existed a healthyrivalry; and if their aim was in each instance efficientteaching, and to make a high standard of acquirementsnecessary for attaining to their diplomas, rather than merelyto secure a preponderance in numbers; if, I say, sucha state of things could be brought about, and thereare not wanting signs of it already, it would be quiteunnecessary to agitate for a one-portal system. Thereis no doubt but that, in any case, certain changes wouldhave to be made. Among them, I would mention themaking of it obligatory on the general practitioner to acquirea medical as well as a surgical diploma. Again, the estab-lishment of a uniform standard for the preliminary examina-tion would be most desirable, and the entrusting the conduct

of the examination to bodies in no way connected with thelicensing bodies. It would also be very desirable, and agreat boon to the students, to institute a preliminary scien-tific examination, which would include such subjects asbotany, zoology, and chemistry, and thus lighten the alreadyover-crowded curriculum. With the many advantagesconnected with the one-portal system, however, there iscombined also a grave disadvantage ; that is, that the greatmajority of general practitioners would be quite content topractise on the licence conferred on passing the StaatsExamen,’ and would not care to go to the additional expenseand labour to obtain a degree from one of the universities orthe old corporations. Such a result would naturally reactupon these bodies and tend gradually to diminish theirpopularity and enfeeble their energies.

THE ARMY MEDICAL SCHOOL AT NETLEY.

THE winter session of the Army Medical School wasopened at Netley on Monday, the 4th inst. An unusuallylarge number of surgeon-probationers were present-viz.,sixty-nine for the Army Medical Department, twenty-sixfor the Indian Service, and five for the Royal Navy, makingan exact total of one hundred. The introductory discoursewas delivered by Professor Longmore, C.B., his subjectbeing principally a discussion of the question of applyingthe antiseptic method to the treatment of wounds in militarypractice in the field. In the course of some preliminaryremarks the lecturer adverted to the fact of the ArmyMedical School having been opened by Lord Herbert atFort Pitt, Chatham, in October, 1860, so that twenty yearshad now passed since that event took place; and he men-tioned that during these twenty years as many as 1588 sur-geons had passed through the School prior to receiving com-missions in one or other of the branches of the publicservice. Of this number 804 had entered the Army MedicalDepartment, 568 the Indian Medical Service, and 216 thatof the Royal Navy. The following statistics regarding thesurgeons who had joined the Army Medical Service were ofinterest :-Out of 804 surgeons there remained at the presenttime 583 in active employment-thus showing a loss bycasualties of different kinds during the twenty yearsamounting to 221, or something over 27 per cent. These 221casualties were made up of 115 surgeons lost by death, 76who had left the service for various reasons, and 30 retiredon half-pay. A circumstance was alluded to by the lecturerwhich it is difficult to believe would have remained un.remedied if the subject had been represented so as to beunderstood by the officials of the War Department underwhose direction the establishment exists. It appears thatthere is:only accommodation in the’rooms where the practicalhygienic studies are conducted for thirty-six gentlemen atone time, and that, in consequence the professors are com-pelled to divide the 100 probationers into three sections, sothat only one-third of the instruction can be given to eachprobationer that was originally intended to be given, or thatwould be given, during the four months the session lasts, ifthere were sufficient accommodation for the whole number.Surely, means might be found for putting a stop to such ashort-sighted arrangement as this appears to be ! Thelecture was attended by the whole of the staff of Netley, aswell as by the probationers, and at the conclusion the officersand their friends adjourned to luncheon in the spaciousmess-room at the officers’ quarters.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.—The examinersfor the medical entrance exhibitions have recommendedMr. P. J. Edmunds, Mr. J. W. Carr, and Mr. J. H. E. Brockfor the exhibitions of £ 100, ;EGO, and ;E40 respectively.Mr. E. H. Thanes also obtained the number of marksqualifying for an exhibition.

ST. MARK’S OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL, DUBLIN.—At arecent meeting of the governors it was stated that as thepublic account of this institution had been largely overdrawn,and there being no assets for the necessary expenditure, anumber of the beds must be closed and admission refused tofuture applicants, unless immediate help was obtained fromthe public, so as to enable the hospital authorities to clear offthe present debt, and to carry on the future work of thischarity.