NEW ZEALAND MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 23, 25 March 1892, Page 13

NEW ZEALAND MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

At the annual meeting of the above-name 1 society, which took place laat week at Wellington, the following address wu delivered by the president, the Hon Dr Grace, Count of the Holy Roman Empire. The report is taken from one of the Wellington dailies :— Gentle* men — On an occasion of this kind, whea we meet chiefly for the dit* cussion of those prac'ictl objects which by improving our organisation tend to increase our general power of usefulness to society, you will not expect from me an elaborate disquisition on the drift of modern thought, on it« tendency by the development of scientific knowledge to enlarge the field of our responsibilities at the cost of increased strain on our nervous sys'ems — our real capital in life. You will, most of you, in person have experienced the truth of that axiom. " Without unbrokm time there can be no consecutive thought." It is my misfortune that in the midst of refl-ctiun, or a Beotenc*. 1 am liable to be cUled aw*y by the ball of public or private duty. This fact is sufficient to secure for me your teniereat consideration, for fellow-feeling makea men wondious kind. Sjpposing, however, that I had no such eacusa to tender to yoa, I ehould yet, with great hesitancy, arrogate to myself tbe privileges of a teacher when addressing a body of this kind. Nevertheless, as 1 have been a long time engaged in practice, and as I owe yoa the compliment of an addreas in recognition of your politenesi incoming; to hear me, and of the honour which the profes ion has done me, in electing me to pieiide on thiß occa&ion, I will venture to detain yoa for about 20 minutes. It is said a man never becomes old till he lives in tbe past. If so, medical men possess the secret of perpetual youth, for though they treasure up tha learning of the past, their eyes are ever in the future, stimulated by the en'huaiasm of human nature, their personal burthen of years is thrown into the shade whilst they gaze en the rising sun of thoae healthier, happier days to come. This is the ieison why medical men are so charming in general society — their versatility is the reflex cf their enthusiasm — their neglect of vulgar riches in the pursuit of active beneficence, the stamp of their moral greatness. Nevertheless there seems to me a danger in modern days of our ceasing to estimate broadness of view in medicine at its tiue worth— arising from the infinite subdivision of specialities. Investigation in most cases means progress by division and subdivision of the field. Ihis is not necessarily true in medicine. It is true to say that healthy progress in medicine mu9t be an evolution, co-oidmate with the development of science. To be able to observe with minute care all the subtle changes in tha progress of disease is to hold forth promise of eminence m practice — to reason logically from these is to be a scien'ific practitioner. Tj collate from records the vast txperience of the past, and reduce it in the laboratory cf the mind to practical Übes is to accumulate such weighty knowledge as develops the capacity for original research. The quesnoa is, how are the eminently high faculties ntcessary for these ends to be cul ivated, not with a view to specialities but with an eye to tbe education of general practitioners? I venture to submit the proposition thit no man who baa not benefited by wide experience &% a sj.-uer.il practitUaer is competent to make a first-rate specialist. What the specialist knows in addition to the knowledge of the well-taught general practitioiet is very largely curious rather than important. Now, we are educating at the Duuedm School of Medicine waolly or in part a great number of general paactitioners. It becomes important for us to consider what is the character of the eduction imparted, and to search oat the mo3t tffective means by which we can strengthen the hands of the professors and clinical teachers. At th' 3 vary commencement wo are met by a serious difficulty in the law regulating the management of hospitals. Trustees are elected by ti,e ratepayers and local bodies, whose duty it should be to look after the business management of the hospitals, but who exercise in additic n th-3 sole right of electing medical men to these hospials. Tha coiS' quenei ia there exists no guarantee to the public, whose highlj -endowed State medical school is in Dantdin, that suitable clinical teachers are appointed to that hospital. How are those habits of obseivation to which I alluded to be fostered if competent clinical teachers chance not to be electei by a trustee, who, possibly, gives this important matter very little consideration. The New Z^a'and University grants a degiee in* medicine which by Itnperiil statute is recognised all over the iJmpre, and the Colony by its laws deprives the New Zealand University of even a voice in tbe selection of clinical teachers at tbe only authorisad hospital. This absurdity requires only to be known to our practical people, whose very liveß are at stake, to secure its lemoval. In lee.i no very serious alteration of the law is necessary. As tbe Otago people are justly jealous of inteiference in their local affnrs, I would surest that power under statute shouldbe given to the Council of the Ota^o University to appoint suitable clinical teachers as physicians and surgeons to tne Dunedin Hospital. As the Otago University is affiliated to tbe New Zealand University, which a'one possesses tbe power of granting degrees, tl c community of interest and the watchfulness of the profession would afford guarantees to the general public for the efficiency of clinical

teaching. The great importance of this Medical School to the Colony the value of its landed endowment, the importance to the Colony of Jihe character of the degrees granted by the New Z>4iand University, call for this reform, and will, 1 feel certain, justify the ncessary alteration of the law. However you may diff ras to means, you will agree as to the importance of clinical teaching in the Dunedin Hospital, and the urgency for some guarantee that excsptionally highlyeducated men shoulu be - ppointed to that hospital. I would ask you. further, to enquire whether it is not 'he duty of this Association to petition the Benat 9 of the N-# Zealand University to frame a statute exacting that no student shall take an M.B. degree in the New Zealand University without first passing the B.A. examination. Where the State in three large urovincial districts provides at great cost the necessary machinery, this surely is not too much to ask from the candidate. In France, where the system of high class edncaticn is on tbe same footing as ours, the degree in arts is always insisted on before a degree in medicine is given. By a recent Imperial statute, our New Zealand degrees open up the whole Empire to our graduates. Surely we ought to labour to be worthy of these great privileges, not only in onr clinical teaching, but in the scholarly attainments of our graduates in medicine Our Bystem of medical registration is essentially faulty. That wholesome patriotism which teaches men to think of their fellows in preference to strangers should teach this Colony to take steps rigidly to exact proof from each candidate for registration of a standard cf proficiency in scientific and general subjects, at least equal in range and efficiency to that required by the New Zealand University from colonists. I know that the present system fails to afford the sufficient safeguards, and I thiok such instances will be in the knowledge of each of you as will justify you in supporting my contention. I do not propose to detain you any longer now. I have the pleasure of welcoming you to this small but not altogether unimportant intellectual centre, and trust you will find your stay equally pleasant and profitable.

Tae question of the teaching at the Dunedin Hospital was considered, and several resolutions were passed to the effect that the medical training at the institution should bt improved.