tion generally; but it is by no means an isolated emple, and I have ventured to refer to it here merely to increase, if that be necesay or possible, the interest taken in clinical instruction in this Colle of Belfast-now, I believe, one of the educational departments o the Rp.al University, and which can boast of teachers scoond to none in Ireland. Theoretical instruction is all very well, but I assert that, in this country, practical teaching b in a great measure ignored, and time wasted In

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... mming the beads of our students with lcarning, which they quickly forget, and which, from the want of practical knowledge, they cannot apply. I believe great improvement would take place in our social position if entrance into the profession of medicine was barred by real searching preliminary examination, and if, in connection with our colleges, there existed preliminary training schools, where the student, having chosen his profession d havng passed an entrance examination in Greek, Latin, Mathematics Modem Languages, etc., could be instructed before entering college in those subjects which form the groundwork of his future studies, such as physical science, physiology, materia medica, chemistry, botany, and elementary anatomy-subjects which at present consume two years of the four spent in a medical college, and which allow very little time for clinical instruction. In these preliminary training schools, too, the student should be instructed in dressing and bandaging and in the use and application of the most important medical and Surgical instruments; for instance, what is to prevent instruction being given in the use of the stethoscope, in so far at least as the healthy sounds of the chest are concerned, or in the mode of using the ophthalmoscope, tourniquet, thermometer, laryngoscope, and the various other every-day instruments in general use. Instead of knowing anything of these various matters, our students go direct from school to college with generally a very loose smattering knowledge of classics and mathematics, and they spend the first two years of their college life in endeavouring to master the very subjects they should have learned at school, and are thus prevented from devoting their whole time to attendance in the dissecting room, and at hospital, where alone they can ever hope to really learn their profession. We have too many educational colleges, and no preliminary training schools. Our hospitals are too small, and are not made sufficient use of, and I am sorry to say our race of teachers is sadly degenerating. Where, for instance, in Ireland have we an authority of importance in any of the various departments of medicine or surgery? and where, might I ask, are we to look for the successors of Stokes, Corrigan, Colles, Adams, Crampton, Carmichael, and Robert Smith ? Our examinations, and our mode of conveying instruction, should be made more practical than it is, to be successful in the great object of exaninations generally, and this is especially necessar i the profession of medicine, where shoals of young half-educated lads are annually let loose to learn their business, by endangering, in the first instance, the lives and health of their fellow-men. Our students ate not to blame, but our colleges and teachers in this country and in Scotland are, and the sooner they come to know it the better. As I have said, I have come across a good many Queen's College and Dublin students, and they, one and all, are walking encyclopadias of medical lore, which, unfortunately, they are able to make little use of, owing to the absence of good sound clinical instruction. The time has come, therefore, when Government should insist upon every student passing, by a strict and searching theoretical and practical examination, through the only possible entrance to our profession, viz., the one portal examination system, and the public, if they have any regard for their own safety, should insist on the speedy accomplishment of this, to them, most important end. I most sincerely trust that a great future lies before our colleges, and that the changes which most of us so much desire, will be pregnant with good results, both as regards the advancement of science, and the eligibility of those who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of the medical profession. I have referred at some length, but I fear in a very clumsy manner, to this great