On Professional Education. By T. Clifford Allbutt, M.D. (Macmillan and
Co. 2s. net.)—The young Englishman, says Dr. Allbutt, "if he is to be equal to the conflict of modern life, must. be able to reaoon both on man and nature, to measure his own capacities, to read the hearts and habits of men, and to foresee the trend of natural laws." Admirable But was there ever a time when the capacities of the average man could be so described? Will there ever be ? To "read the hearts and habits of men "! Why, the power to do this has always raised its possessor to pre-eminence and power. We proceed with the quotation : "For these ends, besides energy and will, he must have a curiosity for knowledge, some intellectual seriousness and flexibility, some endurance of attention, some self-possession, aud some ideas." Admirable again ; but will any system of education give these things ? They are wanting in "the average products of our public schools " ; but, Dr. Allbutt thinks, "far more evident in young women who do not go to public schools." Young women are, we allow, far more industrious than young men. But what young women ? The aite, for it is only the elite that comes into comparison. Compare the students at Girton with the average students of a Cambridge College, and no one would doubt the results. The girl who goes to Girton "means business." The young men ought to be compared with their sisters. These would be found better in many respects, but not, we think, intellectually stronger, or more fitted for practical life. Dr. Allbutt has much to say that is well worth hearing ; his lecture is one of the ablest things on the subject with which it
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