Notes on the Composition of Scientific Papers

Abstract

SIR CLIFFORD ALLBUTT, the author of this little book, informs us in the preface that he has occasion in his capacity as a member of the Medical Faculty of the University of Cambridge to read, in the course of each academic year, some seventy or eighty theses which are presented for the degree of M.B. and about thirty which are offered for that of M.D. Of the value of such theses, as indicative of the prospective graduates' attainments or ability, there is a difference of opinion. Considering the usual age and opportunities of the candidates, and their limited professional experience, the theses are necessarily, for the most part, mere compilations culled from text-books, or from the records of cases in the medical journals. But, however limited their value, we are disposed to agree with Sir Clifford Allbutt that they serve a useful purpose. The search through the literature is of itself a salutary and desirable regimen. It serves to concentrate the student's attention on a single subject, and ends by making him a better informed man on that particular subject than he otherwise would be. Of course, much depends upon the choice of the subject. Sir Clifford's experience is that, on the whole, the candidates choose wisely. He tells us that the matter of these theses is good, often excellent. What he complains of is the manner of their presentation. In composition some are fair, and a few are good, but the greater number are written badly, some very ill indeed. “The prevailing defect of their composition is not mere inelegance: were it so, it were unworthy of educated men; it is such as to perplex, and even to travesty or to hide the author's meaning.”

Notes on the Composition of Scientific Papers.

By the Rt. Hon. Sir T. Clifford Allbutt. Third edition. Pp. xii + 192. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1923.) 6s. net.