2
6. In proceeding with the usual course of instruction it soon became
e v i - d e n t t h a t a l t h o u g h s o m e o f t h e 1 5 n e w p u p i l s w e r e f a i r s p e c i m e n s o f t h e i r c l a s s ,
they were as a body inferior to the general run of students admitted in previous
years.
In September, at the desire of the Inspector General of Hospitals, I held
an examination of these young men for the purpose of ascertaining the extent of
their qualifications in Hindustani (reading, writing, and arithmetic) and compar
- i n g t h e m w i t h t h e s t u d e n t s o f f o r m e r y e a r s .
Their number was then 14, 1 having previously absconded; and of these, 6
(Mussulmans) were found to be sufficiently acquainted with Urdu and Arithme-
tic; 5 (Hindus) knew Hindi and Arithmetic; 2 (Hindus) knew a little English,
but were insufficiently acquainted with either Urdu Hindi, or Arithmetic;
1s (Musulman) knew Urdu but had no knowledge of Arithmetic,
As to their progress in the School, 5 had done well, 4 were pretty good,
but defi ci ent i n di l i gence; 4 were very dul l and possessed of very l i t t l e apt i t ude
for learning,—1 (Ameer Ally) was found to be utterly inapt, to have been ex-
-cessively idle and inattentive, and to have learnt nothing, he was therefore re--
commended for dismissal. The general impression made on the minds of myself
and the teachers was, that the greater part of the new students were decidedly
inferior to those admitted in former years, and that they had failed to derive any
benefit from the time they had spent with Regimental Hospitals or Civil Dis--
pensaries, almost all of them being ignorant of the names of the commonest
drugs.
My report to the Inspector General of Hospitals on this subject ends with
the following remarks, which may not here be out of place, bearing upon the present
method of selecting and disposing of recruits for the Subordinate Medical Ser--
vice:—
" Without desiring to trespass beyond the limits of your present enquiries,
" I deem it desirable respectfully to point out that I am of opinion that the pre--
" sent system of selecting Medical Pupils for this School will not be found to
work as satisfactorily as the old. The preliminary year at a hospital or dispen--
"sary I can only regard as a loss of time calculated to deter the better class of
" young men from entering on Medical studies. In such institutions there is
" no course of systematic instruction, the pupils must be employed merely as
attendants on the sick, and their duties can occupy but a portion, most fre-
"quently a small one, of their time, I believe that while they can thus gain
" little useful knowledge, they are very likely to degenerate into mere idlers
" or to acquire habits even more fatal than idleness. The system of selecting
" Medical Pupils by Examining Committees having no concern in the future edu- -
" cation of the candidates appears to me also to be faulty. Such Committees
" may be I think prone to look only to the mere reading, writing, and arithmetic
" qualification (though this does not seem to be always done very closely),
" without reference to the natural aptitude of the candidate, which should
" always be taken into consideration."
7. The conduct of all the pupils has been on the whole good, and all are
spoken of satisfactorily by the teachers in their reports. I am sorry to say, how-
ever, that some of the new admissions, notably those who were the most idle
and inattentive, were not at all times as amenable to discipline as could be de-
- s i r e d . S e v e r a l , o n o n e o c c a s i o n , w h e n s t o p p a g e s w e r e m a d e f r o m t h e i r p a y a s
punishment, refused to receive it, and only succumbed on threat of immediate