0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

552
MODERN TIMES.
the sciences ancillary to medicine and that attendance
upon lectures on anatomy should not be commenced
until the second year. In this way the study of medical
science itself is confined to three years, a period within
which it does not seem possible to digest and assimilate
:;uch rich intellectual food as is contained in the matter
taught during that time. Then, as the second examination
which deals with anatomy and physiology falls at the end
of the third year, and the student has been till then chiefly
occupied in preparing for it, there remains not much more
than one year for training in practical medicine.
A prolongation of the period sanctioned bylaw is the
natural result of this, and is indeed rendered necessary by
the three last examinations.
A more serious flaw in the system of medical teaching
in France lies in the way in which the teaching staff of a
medical school is selected and made up. Competition, the
form of candidature where all have equal chances, no doubt
affords a better guarantee than do other methods of ap­
pointment to vacant offices, against the evils of favouritism,
patronage, and nepotism : moreover in cases where it is a
question of obtaining the position of agrege, or the office
of prosector or assistant, in short an admission to the
active list of university teachers, it is as a general rule quite
justifiable and indeed an excellent way of finding out and
estimating the ability and knowledge of the individual
candidates. But to select only a specified number of
candidates to compete seems to be a method not calculated
to promote the end in view, for it is not possible to make
distinctions quite in harmony with the demands of justice
and equity between numerous candidates of nearly similar
qualifications, and the scientific capacity of the selected
candidates shows marked differences in different years.
As little is it possible to justify the division of those
aspiring to the position of agrege into four groups corre­
sponding to the different branches of learning as is the case
at the present day: for many subjects, as for instance the