The medical profession comprises a few men ... who are constantly seeking to extend our knowledge of the human body and its ailments, and a very large number who apply this knowledge without contributing to it.

... the material in our medical schools is far from ideal ... because the majority of the teachers are either incapable of including research into their daily lives or unwilling to enlist the assistance of students ... to add to the book of knowledge ... One of the essentials for a medical school is the proper teacher ... he must be a medical practitioner. A non-medical physicist, chemist or biologist has not the same view of his science as a medically trained physicist, chemist or biologist and his teaching will fail to appeal to the medical student as of practical importance to him in his future profession ... [He must]... not be a mere parrot, repeating what others have said year in, year out. He must be actually contributing to the science which he teaches ... he must have the gift of holding the interest of his students and of infusing enthusiasm for his subject into their minds.

... A medical school equipped with teachers carefully selected would automatically become the training ground for research students and the value of original observation would become more and more obvious to every student entering its portals. These young men and women ... would learn to be critically analytical ... would refuse to accept evidence without proof ... would develope in their minds the true spirit of research and ... would become fired with the desire to learn the truth in their profession. A student trained in this manner ... would be able to see things as they are and not as he would wish them to be.

Med J Aust 1919; 2: 29-30