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HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 6oZ
The Dutch system of medical teaching differs essentially
from that of Belgium which shows many points of resem­
blance to the French. There are, however, in Belgium
no officiers de sante, no practitioners of an inferior class,
but only one class of doctors educated at the university.
Two out of the four universities of the country, those
namely of Ghent and Liege,* are supported by the State :
the remaining two are not so maintained. The University
of Louvain bears a religious character, and is directed and
maintained by the clergy: the University of Brussels,.
which was created by the Liberal party in 1834, owes its
maintenance to the city and to certain rich patrons.
As a general rule the gymnasium course precedes medical
study which may be completed within seven years. The
medical studies begin with the natural sciences, physics,
chemistry, and philosophy. The curriculum is for the most
part regulated by the examinations, inasmuch as the sub­
jects required for one examination are all taken together..
The teaching consequently is so disposed as to form a
practical preparation for the examination as in the medical
schools of England. The first medical examination deals
with descriptive and comparative anatomy, physiology,.
embryology, histology, and pharmacology, is combined with
' practical demonstrations, and is called the candidate's
examination. Three examinations are required for the
Doctorate of Medicine, which carries with it the license to
practise ; the first deals with general pathology and thera­
peutics, special medical pathology, and pathological
anatomy; the second is upon surgical pathology, hygiene,.
and forensic medicine; and the third embraces clinical
medicine and surgery, diseases of the eye and of the sexual
organs, and dermatology, together with practical midwifery
and operative surgery, being partly theoretical and partly
practical.
The professors of the faculty are now the only examiners,
whereas formerly commissions for examining were formed,,
* A.LEROY: L'universite'de Liege, 1869.