15 JULY 1876, Page 3

Mr. Gladstone, in giving the prizes to the students of

the London Hospital on Thursday, spoke of the great danger of modern life as " specialism," but held that the medical profession would exercise an increasing influence over men, by virtue of the variety of studies, beginning with physical and physiological studies and culminating in mental studies, into which their mere professional duties would compel them to enter. That is, no doubt, true enough ; and when you do meet with a physician who cares much for other things outside his profession, he is the most delightful of men. But we doubt whether, at present, there are half so many " specialists " in the Law or in the Fine Arts as there are in Medicine. Cer., tainly, nothing is much rarer than to find an earnest politician, or an eager student of history, or astronomy, or any general subject, or an accomplished literary man, or a considerable humourist, is the medical profession. When you find them you delight in them, but they are few and far between.