tted as a physician was equal to a brief
examination at the bedside of a sick man. To be able to say, "There is
a patient; tell us his malady, and what you will do for it," was
infinitely better than long hours spent in exploring questions of minute
anatomy and theoretical physic. In fact, for all practical purposes,
it was more than likely he would be the best who would make the least
brilliant figure in an examination; and the man whose studies had
familiarised him with everything from Galen to John Hunter, would cut
just as sorry a figure if called on to treat a case of actual malady.

It cannot possibly be otherwise. All that mere examination can effect,
is to investigate whether an individual has duly prepared himself
for the discharge of certain functions; but it never can presume to
ascertain whether the person is one fitted by nature, by habit, by
taste, or inclination, for the duties before him. Why, the student who
may answer the most abstruse questions in anatomy, may himself have
nerves so weak as to faint at the sight of blood. The physician who has
Paracelsus by heart, may be so deficient in that tact of eye, or ear,
or touch, as to render his learning good for nothing. Half an hour in
an hospital would, however, test these qualities. You would at once see
whether the candidate was a mere mass of book-learning, or whether he
was one skilled in the aspect of disease, trained to observe and
note all the indications of malady, and able even instantaneously to
pronounce upon the gravity of a case before him. This is exactly what
you want. No examination of a man's biceps and deltoid, the breadth of
his chest or the strength of his legs, would tell you whether he was
a good swimmer--five minutes in deep water would, however, decide the
matter.

Now, I shall not multiply arguments to prove my position. I desire to be
practical in these "O'Dowdiana," and I strive not to be prosy. What
I would like, then, is to introduce this system of--let us call
it--Test-examination, into the Civil Service.

I have the highest respect for the pedagogues of Burlington House. I
think highly of Ollendorff and I believe Colenso's Arithmetic a great
institution. I venerate the men who invent the impossible questions; but
I own I have the humblest opinion of those who answer them. I'd as soon
take a circus-horse, trained to fire a pistol and sit down like a dog,
to carry me across a stiff country, as I'd select one of these fellows