Twelve students in an undergraduate health sciences program, who had completed a 2nd year (sophomore) course in Anatomy and Physiology volunteered to participate in a “history” exercise. They answered two essay questions set by Thomas Henry Huxley when he was the Examiner in Physiology and Comparative Anatomy for diverse faculties at the University of London from 1857‐1870. These were selected from a question bank kindly provided by Dr. Pauline Mazumdar (University of Toronto). In preparation for the hour‐long, hand‐written exam, they studied specific sections (liver physiology, blood, vascular system) from two 19th century texts (Foster, Broussais). They later filled out a questionnaire that asked them to contrast the experience of reading older, denser texts and answering essay‐type exams with their more contemporary experiences. Many wrote thoughtful, reflective comments on the exercise that gave them an insight into the difficulties faced by students in the past (8.0 ± 1.4) that also proved to be a valuable learning experience (8.3 ± 1.2).
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