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THE TRAINING OF DOCTORS IN GENERAL. 241
and gives the advice that numerous students should
always study together,, in order that they may set
one another right on things not clearly understood by
any of their number. "Before going to sleep every
student must, like an ox, chew the cud of what he has
learnt during the day" (fol. xvii). In this way the first
three years of medical studentship were passed. During the
second half of this period, and consequently after obtaining
the degree of Bachelor, the students of medicine occupied
themselves with hearing lectures on special subjects, taking %
part in discussions which occurred every week under the *%•
superintendence of the professors, assisting at anatomical - ,
dissections, visiting hospitals and learning the practical -;
treatment of diseases.
The discussions, which were usual even in the schools of
the Iatrosophists of antiquity, and also were zealously
carried on by the Arabs,- formed an essential part of
medical teaching. They were in conformity with the
entire method of education of the scholastic period, which
aimed rather at dialectic versatility than at depth of knowledge,
.more at dead scholarship than at that practical
ability which life demands. Looking at their real effect,
these discussions served as a useful completion of the
theoretical lectures, for they gave the students an opportunity
of showing whether they had, or to what extent they
had, mastered the contents of the latter. They were also,
as it were, examinations which the students subjected
themselves to in the presence of their teachers and fellowstudents.
The learners were thus made acquainted with
deficiencies in their knowledge and the teachers with
imperfections in their teaching. Unfortunately these discussions
frequently degenerated into an empty display of
words, which did not advance the matter, but only satisfied
personal vanity. "The young people," said JOHN of
Salisbury, " pride themselves on their knowledge of HIPPO­
KRATES and GALEN, make use of unfamiliar expressions
and introduce, their aphorisms on every occasion." The
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