LONDON AS A PLACE OF STUDY. There can be no doubt that, as a place to study medicine, London is, because of its enormous population, unrivalled. In the year 1887, according to _The Hospital_, there were treated at the London hospitals and dispensaries 79,261 in-patients and 1,180,251 out-patients, or a total of over one million and a quarter, exclusive of those who received relief at the workhouse infirmaries, sick asylums, and lunatic asylums. It is true that a considerable portion of these patients are not so readily available for the student as they might be. The following are the numbers of patients (according to _The Hospital_) treated at the hospitals attached to medical schools in 1887:-- In-patients. Out-patients. Total. St. Bartholomew’s 6,000 150,000 156,000 London 8,260 95,760 104,020 University College 2,964 44,382 47,346 Guy’s 5,204 38,004 43,208 Middlesex 2,413 27,714 30,127 St. Mary’s 3,315 26,637 29,952 St. Thomas’s 4,643 25,000 29,643 Westminster 2,580 20,912 23,492 Charing Cross 1,686 20,306 21,992 King’s College 1,811 17,248 19,059 ------ ------- ------- Total 38,876 465,963 504,839 This gives a total of 1,386 different patients for every day throughout the year. It is certain that no city in the world offers a field for medical study in any way equal to that of London. I think it is much to be regretted that, for qualified men, a composition ticket admitting freely to the practice of all the hospitals in London is not arranged for. If such a ticket were issued, and qualified men anxious to prolong their studies might, in return for a payment, feel themselves free to visit any or all of the great London hospitals, there can be no doubt that we should have a great afflux of students. I very much doubt the wisdom of the policy of trying to attract numbers of students by lowering the examination tests for a degree. This is an educational age, and we must not forget that some of the boys at the Board Schools have possibly a juster notion of physiology than had many of our professional ancestors. Science is being taught to all more and more every day. The druggist is now a highly-educated man, and nurses are being drawn more and more from the educated classes. If the medical profession is to hold its own and to grow in popular esteem, it must be chary about lowering its educational standards at a time when the education of all classes is advancing. PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C. Transcriber’s Notes