Volume 1

Report from the Select Committee on Medical Education : with the minutes of evidence, and appendix.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Medical Education.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report from the Select Committee on Medical Education : with the minutes of evidence, and appendix. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    science?—I know him from an acquaintance with his works, and from other information. 2061. What opinion have you been led to form of him as a man of general knowledge, and as a physician ?—I have been led to form the opinion that he was a man equally distinguished in general science and in medicine. 2062. As a man of science, should you not consider him of the very first order? —Of the highest order. 2063. Would you say the same of him as a physician?- I should say he was one of the first physicians. 2064. Was he one of the first in point of private practice?—Not in point of private practice. He had ample opportunities of being as good a practitioner as the first in point of practice, because he was for a considerable length of time physician to St. Thomas’s Hospital. 2065. And that, before he was proposed by Drs. Baillie and Pitcairn to be exa- mined as to his fitness to become a fellow of the College ?—Yes; he had been several years physician to St. Thomas’s Hospital previous to his nomination for the fellowship. 2066. Did it not appear, from the application made by Dr. Sims about the year 1789, and the attempt made by Dr. Wells, that, for some cause or other, there were great impediments placed in the way of any licentiate gaining admis- sion under the seven years bye-law into the College ?—It appeared that there were insuperable obstacles to contend with, before any licentiate could gain admission under that bye-law. [Added by the Witness on correcting his Evidmce.l “ After Dr. Sims and Dr. Wells had failed to pass the first ballot, it was not likely that this bye-law would ever be carried into effect. “ The case of Dr. Fothergill shows the impracticability of any licentiate of eminence ever arriving at the fellowship, by the proposal of a fellow. He was proposed by Sir William Brown, and the proposal was followed up both by Dr. Heberden and Sir John Pringle; yet, on the ballot, there were 13 negatives and nine affirmatives.—Vide Dr. Watson’s Letter in Thomson’s Life of Cullen. “ Another obstacle would consist in the reluctance of a licentiate, after having been many years in practice and enjoyed the public confidence, to submit to any additional examination before a body, many of whom would be his juniors, and all his competitors in practice; and further, such an examination might operate to his disadvantage with his patients, who had hitherto considered him as among the first practical physicians.” 2067. Are dissenters in a great measure excluded from the fellowship of the College, by the operation of the statutes ?—They are. ^ 2068. In M’hat way?—The great body of the fellows must of course be mem- bers of the Church of England, because in those cases in which the bye-laws give them a title to be admitted, they are understood to be members of the Established Church. 2069. You mean that the great body of those who come into the College, come in as graduates of the two English Universities, and that they cannot have gradu- ated at either of the English Universities, without subscribing to the articles of the Established Church; which of course would render it necessary that the great body of the fellows should be members of the Church of England ?—Exactly so. 2070. And with regard to the medical graduates of Dublin, the necessity of being incorporated in one of the English Universities, would throw the same impe- diment in the w'ay of any Roman-catholic graduate finding admission, under the ordinary bye-law, into the College ?—Certainly. 2071. Do you believe that amongst those who have found their way into the College on the recommendation of the president, there are any dissenters ?—I have not been able to discover that there are any. 2072. Have you endeavoured to ascertain by the ordinary means of inquiry whether there are or are not ?—I asked the question of one of them, whether to his knowledge there was a dissenter among those who had been called up by the special favour of the president; he replied, he did not know that there was one. 2073. Are there, according to your belief, many dissenters amongst the licen- tiates ?—I think there are not many. 2074. Out of 136 resident licentiates, what proportion of dissenters do you think there may be?—-It is a question I‘am not prepared to answer; I do not 0.20, s 2 know John Sims, M D.
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