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candidates were available. Just such a post figured for some time in the Budget in connection with the Chair of Physiology and was recently suppressed because it had remained unfilled.
16. As regards the Chair of Anatomy, dealt with by Dr. Pearce in his paragraph 2 (b), although the proposed Chair of Surgery has been spoken of as a new Chair, the intention is that it should be occupied by the present Professor of Anatomy and Sur- gery, so that in speaking of the salary necessary to attract suit- able candidates for the new Chair it has really been the Chair of Anatomy I had in mind. As regards Dr. Pearce's suggestion as to a re-distribution of work between the Professors of Anatomy and Physiology, I am in a position to say that the two Professors concerned concur in the suggestions and anticipate that no serious difficulties will arise in connection with the shar- ing of a laboratory for certain purposes. The suggestions are entirely in accord with modern practice.
17. The status of the Chair of Pathology (paragraph 2 (c) } raises certain difficulties. Technically, there is at present no dif- ference between the status of the three Chairs referred to. The three professors were recruited upon identical terms, although it happens that two of them, owing to length of service. have a purely personal advantage. It is further the case that the hold- ers of other Chairs were recruited at practically the same time. upon the same terms, and any formal modification of the status of the Chair of Pathology on abstract grounds would raise verv difficult questions which, as I verbally informed Dr. Pearce, I should be reluctant to face.
18. On the other hand. I have already drawn attention to the need for pathological facilities in connection with the hospital, and the attempt to teach pathology in entire disassociation from the hospital is undoubtedly opposed to the best modern practice. My personal conviction is. therefore, that when the matter comes to be worked out, the pathological department will be found to require re-organization and that, brought into closer touch with It is fortunate the hospital, it will assume a new importance.
that the present Professor of Pathology is no less well qualified for such wider work than for that to which he is at present restricted.
Hostel Accommodation.
19. Two points raised by Dr. Pearce remain to be dealt with. He refers in paragraph 2 (e) to the provision of a hostel in the neighbourhood of the hospital. I have already indicated in a foot-note to his letter my reasons for considering that there had been some misunderstanding on the point, though the mat- ter is of lessened importance as the particular scheme then in contemplation has proved irrealisable. In the meantime, the whole hostel problem has entered upon a new phase, owing to an increase of numbers which could not be foreseen last May but
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which gives every promise of being emphasized in the future. Additional hostel accommodation will shortly be an imperative necessity. so far as our finances may permit, and if there should be any choice as to location the needs of the medical students ought to be borne in mind. There is in any case a very con- siderable difference between the hostels as regards access to the hospital. St. John's is only five minutes distance from the hospital and is on the same level as the Foundling Hospital, while Morrison is a quarter of an hour away and several hundred feet higher up. Much may be done by centralising medical students in their final years at St. John's, especially if, as is proposed, that hostel is enlarged, or, when religious feeling stands in the way of resort to St. John's, then at Lugard, which is the lowest of the three University hostels.
Medical Library.
20. In paragraph 2(e) Dr. Pearce allugles to the unsatisfac- tory condition of the medical library, a condemnation I gave him full permission last May to extend to our library as a whole. We have since appointed a full-time Librarian and I have drawn her special attention to the medical library. We have also more than doubled our library grant for the purchase of books. and periodicals and for maintenance. I am satisfied that as much is at present being done as our resources permit, and I have convinced myself by inspection that a very definite improve- ment has taken place. I none the less admit that there is room for further improvement whenever money is available.
Finance.
21. The question of finance is, of course, of essential impor- tance. Were it possible to obtain for two of the three inter- niediate Chairs endownments upon the scale adopted by the Foundation, I should be satisfied that not only could we meet the obligations proposed to be placed upon us in connection with the Faculty of Medicine but that a certain sum would be liberated for general purposes out of the monies at present devoted to the departments in question. The raising of any such sum is how- ever, a matter for our forthcoming appeal, the preparation of which has been delaved by the death of the late Mr. Sharp, and the question now arises whether any part of the scheme can be prudently put into force pending the result of the appeal. To that question my answer would be an affirmative one. I should myself recommend proposing to the Foundation the immediate endowment of the two Chairs of Surgery and Medicine, the University undertaking on its side to carry out the proposed programme, with the exception of so much as relates to Obstetrics and Gynaecology. with such expedition as may be. I should venture to hone that the Foundation would be more concerned with our acceptance of a sound programme than with the immedi- ite putting into force of the whole of it, while the fact that the Chair of Obstetrics was held in reserve would at once be a strong
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