RT Journal
A1 Lewis HF
T1 COmpetitive examinations.
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1899
FD May 20
VO XXXII
IS 20
SP 1101
OP 1102
DO 10.1001/jama.1899.02450470023002
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1899.02450470023002
AB Chicago, May 13, 1899.To the Editor: 
    —The letter from Dr. Bayard Holmes (see April 29, p. 927) and one in the Journal of May 13 (p. 1043), from "R." of Cincinnati, concerning the written examinations for internes of the Cook County Hospital, present a subject of interest to graduates and well-wishers of the institution. It is perfectly obvious that a purely written test of an applicant's knowledge of medical science and practice can never be a good test. As Dr. Holmes says, this method of conducting the hospital examination has resulted in causing the promising men in the medical schools of Chicago to spend the last year of their course in cramming with word knowledge and to devoting their time to quizzes, to the neglect of the clinic and other legitimate work of the year; this too, with the approval of the faculties. The men who carry off the