Edinburgh Medical Journal (Volume 16) (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1904. Excerpt: ... science comparable to the state of the man who knows no dramas since Shakespeare's, no music since Handel's, no painting since Raphael's. The understanding at the present day of the chemistry of fermentation is just as important in after-life, and is related to as many vital questions of huge import, as understanding the subtleties underlying the ground for the divorce of Catherine of Aragon. It would almost seem as if we were afraid of keeping abreast of the times, afraid of realising the extent to which we are surrounded by impalpable but none the less implacable foes-- some of "the powers of the air " made manifest by science. But a knowledge of physiology must come first, and I do not see that it is coming even to those who shall be teachers to-morrow. The late Professor Huxley declared that he had been " a bore " on the subject of the importance of a general knowledge of physiology; but I cannot see that we are to-day one whit better in this respect than thirty years ago when he spoke. Physiology actually does not form one of the very many subjects which make up the group for the degree of M.A.--and that after the deliberations of the men of "light and leading" who composed the Scottish Universities Commission. Thus far we have said hardly; anything about what is supposed to be the main duty of a teacher--the training of the mind, because I at any rate hold, paradoxical as it may seem, that the needs of the body must be well looked after before those of the mind be in any way specifically catered for. You cannot expect to get delicate results from a coarsely made machine, fine reliable results from a thing put together haphazard. One of the most important body considerations is athletic . exercises, and many men certainly imagine that taking exercise is the ...