873

the imperceptible agents of nature, thenerves are the most sensible ; especiallywhen their sensibility is exalted by particu-lar causes. It is by means of them we havediscovered the slight electricity which isdeveloped by the contact of two heteroge-neous metals. The singular phenomenawhich result from the extreme sensibilityin the nerves of particular individuals,’ havegiven birth to the various opinions rela-tive to the existence of a new agent, whichhas been denominated animal magnetism, tothe action of the common magnetism, to theaction of the mineral magnetism, and to the influence of the sunand moon in some nervous af-fections ; and,lastly, to the impressionswhichmay be experienced from the proximity ofthe metals, or of running water. It is natu-ral to suppose that the action of these causesis very feeble, and may be easily dis-turbed by accidental circumstances ; butbecause in some cases it has not been mani-fested at all, we are not to conclude it hasno existence ; and we are so far from beingacquainted with all the agents of nature,and their different modes of action, that itwould be quite unphilosophical to deny theexistence of the phenomena, merely becausethey are inexplicable in the present state ofour knowledge." Cuvier, also, fully admitsanimal magnetism. " We must confess,"says he, "that it is very difficult in the ex-periments, which have for their object theaction that the nervous system of two differ- ient individuals can exercise one upon theother, to distinguish the effect of the indivi-dual upon whom the experiment is tried,from the physical results produced by theperson who acts for him. The effects, how-ever, on persons ignorant of the agency,andupon individuals whom the operation itselfhas deprived of consciousness, and thoseother animals present, do not permit us todoubt, that the proximity of two animatedboclies in certain positions, combined withcertain movements, have a real effect, inde-pendently of all participation of the fancy.It appears also, clearly, that these effectsarise from some nervous connection whichis established between the nervous systems."With the authority of two such individuals,said Dr. ELLIOTSON, one of them a profoundmathematician, the other a distinguished na-turalist, there could be no disgrace in tak-ing the trouble to inquire into the effects ofMesmerism; not, of course,going to anythingsupernatural, but only as to its productionof such effects as we observed in other cases,such as sleep, coma, sleep-waking, loss ofpower and sensation in the limbs, &c. ; thesewe often saw. So, also, we had seen per-sons who appeared to be asleep, but who weresensible to external objects ; and, again, wesaw some faculties liossessiii- extraordinarysensibility, while others were more obtusethan natural. This was the extent to whichthe inquiry would be carried.

THE LANCET.

London, Saturday, September 9, 1837.

MONOPOLIES IN MEDICAL EDUCATION.

AN appropriate period of the year hasbeen selected for giving seme advice to pa-rents and guardians, by the author of a littlevolume which has just issued from the pressunder the title of VERBA CONSILII, or

HINTS to PARENTS who intend to bring uptheir Sons to the MEDICAL PROFESSION."*

The approaching month of October-cele°· brated in the calendar of British Medicine

- brings with it the occasion for many anx-ious thoughts in the bosoms of hundreds ofparents, in the life of whose sons a new erais about to commence.

Between the snares of self-interest and

the pitfalls of ignorance, the one spread bytheir enemies, and the others dug by them-selves, the public can seldom step in anydirection, to the right or to the left, in thebusiness of life, without entrapment ; butof all the paths of necessity or of duty, noneare more thoroughly beset with the meansof plunder and punishment than those whichlead across the territories of medicine.

Yet, reflecting on the peculiar advantageswhich would be derived from perfect free-dom in the road, and its entire clearancefrom toll- collectors and freebooters, it would

seem marvellously strange that no measuresof police are demanded by the communityto frustrate the agents of plunder and annoy.ance who line the way. The neglect, how-ever, can be ascribed to no other cause than

inability to distinguish between just pay-ments for preserving the path, and pecuniarylevies which marauders enforce from everytraveller who journeys in that direction. It

is this alone which enables us to account for

the exhibition of so much patience on the

part of the public. The great mass of the

public are, in fact, wholly unconscious of

* By Wm. Hempson Denham, F.R.C.S.London: John Churchill, 1837. 18mo., pp.101.

874 EDUCATION OF YOUTH FOR THE

the wrongs which are thus inflicted on them-

selves and on the noble art of medicine.

Such a volume, therefore, as that of Mr.

DENHAM, comes most usefully to the aid ofmedical reformers and the independent por-tion of the medical press, in their assaults

on the authors of those wrongs.The volume of Mr. DENHAM is suitably

dedicated to a brother practitioner, Mr.

BEDINGFIELD, of Stowmarket, for whose

« attainments as a surgeon, and worth and

« integrity as a man," and whose ability asa teacher, the author expresses the highestrespect, and thus testifies his esteem. The

author does not adopt as his text, in so

many words, "The absurdities, inefficien-" cies, and iniquities of the Certificate Sys-" tem," a topic which has lately more im-

mediately occupied our attention in this

part of our journal, but every one of hisillustrations of the present wretched systemof medical education furnishes suitable com-

ments on that subject, to which we shallagain and again return. As, in general poli-tics,amultitude of lesserevils must succumb

simultaneously with the fall of one greatabuse, so, in the politics of medicine, a scoreof petty grievances would subside with

the abolition of that one monstrous abuse,which especially, therefore, demands theopposition of the honest advocates of a newscheme of medical education. It is, more-

over, the stone over which the senate of the

new Universitiy may chance to stumble,-the one corruption after which the self-enti-tled friends of a liberal plan of education inthat institution, will exhibit yearnings ofattachment. Strange should this feelingvent itself in action, for this obstacle would

inevitably play amongst their feet the partof a superfluous wheel in an in-contrived

machine, which catches the cogs of everyother portion of machinery by which it issurrounded in the vilely operating engine.

M.r. DENHAM approaches his subject witha just sense of the present condition of me-dical law and government.. He does not

only endeavour to show to parents how tomake the best of a bad thing,—he attacks

the rotten apparatus itself. At the outset

he ascribes " the defective education of

"English medical students, the injuries’ « which the mass of medical practitionet-shave so long suffered, and the lamentable" consequences experienced by the commu-" nity at large, to the faulty constitution of"our medical colleges and corporations."He has not fulfilled his task, however, withso complete a development of the evils ofthe prevailing system as he might have fur-nished. The plan of his essay is thus statedin the preface :-

"Having urged the necessity of a vigor-ous mind, and of a healthy constitution, Ihave dwelt upon the importance of aidingthe natural mental powers of the aspirantto medical fame, by a constant and well-regulated course of training. The mode ofstudy which is thought to be best calculatedto ensure that end, has been pointed out,and remarks have been offered upon the

propriety of employing the period of ap-prenticeship, in a way very different to thatin which it is spent in the majority of in-stances. Subjects which should engage theattention of the pupil during that importantperiod of his life, and a considerable know-ledge of which might, and ought to, be thenobtained, have been incidentally noticed,and advice has been given upon the mannerof employing his time and money when theapprenticeship is finished, and he proceedsto London."

The journey to London might afford us atext for a volume of comment. Why to

London,—so often the grief of the parent,thedestruction of the student ? The metropolisis not a place for youths of all tempera-ments, although 11 London" is made to formthe most conspicuous word in the presentcurricula of English medical education.

The choice of that city for conducting orcom-

pleting edr.cation,’should be strictly optionalwith all parents, for none so well can ba-latlce its baneful temptations and greatadvantages against individual character,and estimate their relative force upon the

youthful mind, before deciding to yield upthat mind to its natural impulses for betteror for worse. -11 London" is the central pivoton which the apparatus of the certificate

system is made to turn by the monopolists.The expenditure of the student at country

875MEDICAL PROFESSION.

hospitals and lectures alfords no profit tothe ticket-mongers in the metropolis.On the motives which should guide a

parent in assigning a son to pursue the studyof medicine, Mr. DENHAM offers the follow-

ing excellent remarks :-" But before parents come to a determi.

nation to enlist a son in the ranks of the me.dical profession, it is of the utmost import-ance that they should satisfy their mindsthat the mental capacity of the boy is soconstituted for imbibing draughts at thefountain of knowledge, as will fit him to un-dertake the important task that he will becalled on to perform. Unless they are sa-tisfied on this point, the sooner they relin-quish the idea of making him a surgeon thebetter; for, without such capacity, the ex-ertions of teachers, and their own troubleand anxiety, as well as theirmoney, will besadly misapplied. There is another preli-minary circumstance which parents shouldalso well consider; their son ought to be ofthat hardy frame of body, that he will, asfar as probability goes, be able to bear theexcessive fatigue and watching which, to acertain extent, fall to the lot of every medi-cal man, of every country practitioner in

particular. If he be not, however intelli-gent he may be, I would earnestly advise

them not to make him a surgeon; for, unlessthe neetas sana have its domicile in corporesano,—unless he be healthy and hardy,wofully severe will oftentimes be his labour’-frequently more than he will be able to

perform, without risking the destruction ofhis health, and not, improbably, of his life.I am anxious to impress upon the minds ofall concerned, the importance and compre-hensiveness of the task to be undertaken,well knowing that it is commenced by bun-dreds of youths who have no conception,till it is too late, of the immense tract theywill be called upon to explore; and who,

, when the subject is fairly before them, aredismayed by the prospect, and either sink ’,into cold indifference, or retire altogetherfrom the pursuit, with bitter disappoint-ment."

Mr. DENHAM is an advocate for a "tho-

rough" tuition in " classical learning:"—°

By classical learning I wish to be un-derstood as meaning, not only a thoroughknowledge of the Latin language, to enablehim to call sweet incenser from the worksof the old authors, and to write his prescrip.tions with accuracy and elegance, but alsosuch a knowledge, at least, of the Greektongue, that he may be able to understandthe etymology of the nomenclature of dis-eases, and of the various sciences indirectlyconnected with that of medicine, nearly allthe terms employed in which are eitherfrom the Greek or Latin; or are a compotmd

of both. Not only is it necessary that everyyouth who is destined for the medical pro-fession should receive a liberal education,and be well grounded in classical lore, butthey are also indispensable for him in hischaracter of a gentleman ; for in whateverpart of the world he may be placed, hemust, in his professional capacity, fre-

quently come in contact with well-educatedmen, who, unable to appreciate his strictlymedical acquirements, have no means ofjudging of his professional skill, but by thequantum of learning which he may be foundto possess, and by the ease and felicity withwhich he may understand and discuss theordinary topics of discourse." _

Certainly, no man will object to the pos-session of this knowledge. Opponents of a" classical" education would direct their

arguments against the expenditure of so

much time on the part of youths who are des-tined to labour in the fields of science, asmust be devoted to obtaining a thorough"knowledge of Greek and Latin. Theywould object, altogether, in discussing thenecessary accomplishments of one who is tobecome a discoverer in medicine, to the ap-propriation of whole years to that slavery-of the mind which is requisite to render aman " elegant" and " felicitous" in his de.

t portment and conversation, by force of 11 clas-sical" training and knowledge, especiallyas is it certain that a good chemist, a goodbotanist, a good physiologist, will run norisk of passing in society as a poorly-ac-.complished, under-educated man. Theywould discuss only the absolute utility ofLatin and Greek to the medical man, pa-rodying the old proverb, that "Life is short," and medicine is long," and that the road to-a thorough knowledge of 11 the classics" isexceedingly long. It is greatly to be la..

mented that medicine has any partnershipwhatever with Latin and Greek; it is muchto be regretted that prescriptions were ever

penned in a secret tongue, for the characterof secrecy truly belongs to the dead lan-guages. Latin would be the language of

quackery had custom sanctioned the use of

English in prescriptions. Indeed, to resortfor terms in medicine beyond tite ampleverge of our native tongue, is to encumber

science, not to assist her; and when it is

876 LATIN AND GREEK.

remembered that the great mass ’of recipeamust be compounded by persons who can.not obtain a Latin education, least of all a

knowledge of Greek, confessedly the mostdifficult of tongues, it becomes a questionof national importance whether the ob-

servance of the present practice among pre-scribers should not be everywhere consenta.

neously abandoned. " Elegance," indeed;in the display of classical learning! Who

will advocate the extension of Latin dog-grel in prescriptions to the full syllabicmeasure of the terms ? Yet abbreviations are

the antipodes of elegance in language. Thedays have passed in which all learning andmental accomplishments centred in a know-ledge of the dead languages,—then, indeed,almost the living- languages, so universal

was that knowledge among educated men.In fact, before the period of modern disco-veries, there was little else for studious

men to learn ; but now a dozen sciences, adozen more effectual keys to the wards of

good society, stand arranged before the me-dical practitioner, some destined for his

necessities, others open to his taste and

choice. Besides, in advising parents to

enter their sons upon a course of "thoroughclassical learning," it is proper to considerthe means of journey through that cold

and ancient region. What pedagogue will

engage to turn out a thorough classic fromhis school, while the lad is yet in his teens.It is not disputed that much time is wasted inour seminaries and academies for youth ;we allude only to the fact, to the reali-

ties of an education in Latin and Greek.

The facilities for a rapid tuition in those

tongues do not exist in our schools. If to

learn what is sufficient to render medical

students a match for existing absurdities inmedical language becomes essential, then

the better plan would be to afford to youththe opportunity of devoting an undisturbedthree months to the study of each language,and so have done with the labour; and,as regards the further invention of new ex-

pressions in science,-which at present bidsfair to become a congeries of hieroglyphics

- we can only say that the same ingenuitywhich the SWAINSONS of the natural and

medical world at present employ in the in-vention of Greek and Latin signs, might be

expended in dressing their objects of re-

search and information in British syllables;or if these philologic artists should be

afraid, by the union of such clippings from, English words, of exposing to too much

ridicule their native tongue,* then it mightbe wise to resort for terms to France and

Germany, whose languages are already, in

all respects, valuable to the medical student.Mr. DENHAM, though with less enthusiasm,

recommends the languages of the Continent,as branches of a professional education:-In addition to the dead languages al-

ready enumerated, there are several livingones, which, though not absolutely neces-

sary to constitute a successful practitioner,are, notwithstanding, highly ornamental andvery useful, inasmuch as they will afford,in leisure hours, a fund of pleasure, andopen to him a vast source of important information, which he cannot by other meansobtain in so perfect a manner. France,Germany, and Italy, particularly the twoformer countries, have sent the most highlygifted men into the field of medical re-

search, and the splendid productions oftheir cepacious minds will remain, to de-

light and cheer the scientific inquirer, as

long as science herself endures. True, it

is, that the works of our continental neigh-hours may be, and are, translated into ourown language, but however faithfully thetranslations may be executed, the matterwill frequently suffer deterioration by thechange, and bear the same relation to its

prototype, that our own ideas do to whatwe intend. when they are put into substanceby the hand of another."The author of the 11 Verba Consilii" also

recommends the study of "the elements of" mathematics and logic," and the art of

drawing. In doing so, his mind, as the ca-talogue of acquirements increases, naturallyadverts to the question of time, and, by a

necessary transition, to that of apprentice-ships, in reference to which a fact falls under

* Truly, could certain ancient Atheniansand Romans arise from the grave, and viewthe liberties which modern cacologistshave taken with their vocabulary, theywould again expire,—this time with laugh-ter,--over books even of the gravest sci.ence.

877TEARS AT THE HALL.-THE TASTE.

consideration which leads to the exposure

of one source of those ADVENTURERS in medi-

cine on whom the Poor Law junto ofSomerset House fall back, when other

means fail to force the able and ex-

perienced men who already occupy the

field of practice in the parochial Unions,into a compliance with their degradingterms :°-

" The profession has, unhappily, hadsome very badly educated men admittedinto its ranks-men who have been initiatedinto what may be called, a mechanicalknowledge of the profession, by certain in-dividuals whose knowledge of maintainingthe literary and scientific character of themedical body, are much upon an equalitywith those which were possessed by the al-niost-foro-otten fraternity of chirurgical Ton-sors. The individuals to whom I allude,resident, for the most part, in considerabletowns, and engaged, perhaps, in practice ofsome extent among the labouring classes,have been in the habit of taking, for a tri-fling premium, one, two, or more lads at atime, as out-door apprentices," to performthe work and drudgery of the surgery, for aperiod, notimprobably, of five or seven years,

, without once inquiring whether the educa-tion which the youths have had be sufficientto enable them to distinguish a coach-wheelfrom a man-trap. Previous to the Refm’mAct, this system of iniquity was practisedto a much greater extent than at present.In fact, the Act just alluded to, by abrogatingcertain corporate rights’ has had a betiefi-cial, and, probably, even by its authors, anunlooked-for effect, in checking the furtherprogress of’this evil; for parents, whosecircumstances are straitened, but who are,nevertheless, ambitious to make a son a, Doctor,’ can see no immediate or prospec-tive benefit to accrue by placing him with amember of a corporation."The Reform Act was the accidental reme-

dy for this evil, or rather for a portion of it.There needed, however, no such circuitousand indirect mode of rooting out these weedsfrom the profession. Who handed to these

youthful corporators the diplomas, the ‘ li-" cences" to become pests in the field of me-dicine ? The presentation of indentures ofapprenticeship to burgesses and corporators,at Apothecaries’ Hall and the College of

Surgeons, did not ensure for the " badlyeducated" youths the possession of titles

to practise medicine. The legal " qualifi.cations" to fulfil the duties of medical

men simply involved an exchange of sheetsof parchment for slips of paper called 11 cer-

tificates," with the addition of sundryother slips of paper, termed " bank notes,"amounting in number according as the bar-gain was struck in Bridpe.street or in Lin-coln’s-Inn-Fields. Without those certifi-

cates even the farce of an examination could

not have been obtained; with them, the

’ambition of having a son "a doctor" was

amply gratified.The little volume of Mr. DENHAM, may

supply us with texts for comment on another

opportunity of reverting to its contents.

A correspondent has forwarded to us,

with his name and address, the followingstatement for publication :-

" A NEW METHOD OF PASSING APOTHECA-RIES’ HALL.-Candidates who are rejectedare most strongly recommended to com-mence CRYING immediately after the sen.tence of the Examiners is pronounced ; thismode of appeal to the worthies of the Hallbeing likely to prove effectual for candidatesin that predicament.. A case in point oc-curred last week. A great boy, on thewrong side of 30, having been rejected,left the mom crying aloud. The senti-mental event touched the feelings of theExaminers, and the scientific youth wascalled back, after a few minutes, into thepresence of the Hoard, whence he returnedto the " funking" room with his ciiploma,where he forthwith commenced kicking uphis heels, and laughing most uproariously,and, finally, placing his dexter thumb to thepoint of his nose, in an expressive manner,quitted the Hall, perplexed much to knowwhether the operation of sneering or laugh-ing was most suited to the occasion.

NEW EXPERIMENTSON THE

SENSE OF TASTE IN MAN.

IN 1830, MM. GUYOT and ADMIRAULT pub-lished a series of experiments on the seatof taste in man, from which they drew thetwo following conclusions:--

1. The lips, the inner part of the cheeks,the roof of the mouth, pharynx, return pa-lati, dorsal and inferior surfaces of the

tongue, have no share in the production oftaste.

2. The sense of taste exists only at the