Abstract
CAMBRIDGE.—The Special Board for Medicine have presented to the Vice-Chancellor the following Report with a view to its communication to the Senate:—“The Board have considered the requirements of the Previous Examination from the point of view of its suitability as a preliminary examination for students entering on the study of medicine, and have come to the conclusion that in the interests of mental training these requirements may with advantage be modified. They would desire to see introduced an adequate examination in the elementary mechanical principles of Physics, meaning thereby—the fundamental notions of matter, motion, and energy, and the simple laws which govern their relations; the physical properties of matter in the solid, liquid, and gaseous states; and the application of these properties and laws in the case of simple instruments and machines. An examination in these principles need not involve any but the most elementary mathematics, yet it could be made to exercise the student in clearness of conception, in accuracy of statement, and in soundness of reasoning. These qualities are in a special degree essential to students of medicine, but from our Report of November 11, 1885, it would appear that in these respects the preliminary training of many who propose to become students of medicine has not been satisfactory. The subject we propose is already well taught and appreciated in many good schools, and it appears to us extremely desirable that the University should encourage all schools to improve themselves in this direction by including the subject in its Previous Examination. It is not for the Board to say whether the subject should form part of the Previous Examination proper (though many considerations might be urged for this plan), or be required as an additional subject in place of the present exemination in Elementary Mechanic. They are, however, persuaded that, if introduced in some form, the examination would be for all students at least of equal value to the present examination in additional subjects, and for students whose work at the University is to consist largely in the study of nature it would be of considerably greater value.”
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University and Educational Intelligence . Nature 33, 356 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/033356a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/033356a0