1184 the pernicious custom of filling all the chief offices connected with our hospitals and medical schools with men whose sole distinction is that they have passed difficult examinations, and who subsequently devote most of their time to teaching others to do likewise. For work of this sort no intellect is required. The whole art of passing examinations is simply a parrot-like trick of the memory, and what is thus acquired is not real knowledge, but merely a fraudulent imitation thereof. The

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... ungent lines of Voltaire rise up in my mind :— "Eh quoi ! vous ne ferez nulle distinction Entre 1'hypocrisie et la dévotion.