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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    that circumstance excluded from the chance of obtaining some of those little feathers in the profession, which in physic must often supply the place of more solid advan- tages. \_Added on correcting the Evidence.\ “ I here are, in the College, various offices having honourable duties attached to them, which, even for the emolument attached to them, it is convenient to a young man to hold. He may, as a censor, exercise the functions of an examiner, of an inspector of the shops of apothecaries, of a member of the Vaccine Board, and may form one of a court ot regulation, which is recognised as a court of record by courts of law. He may, as an elect, have the examination of country practi- tioners, and till lately the whole inspection of lunatic establishments rested with the College. These circumstances are perhaps not much known or attended to by the public, but they are known in the profession, and give a young man credit and consequence in it. They operate on physicians just as silk gowns do on lawyers, or as orders and medals do in the army and navy or among diplomatists, in exciting the energies, and stimulating the exertions of honourable minds.” 4361. Is the exclusion ot the licentiates from the governing body likely to give rise to dissatisfaction on their part, just as exclusion from the Legislature gave rise to dissatisfaction on the part of the Catholics?—I have no doubt of that. Added on correcting the Evidence.'] “ And even with still more reason ; for if a Roman-catholic should have happened to change his creed, he would immediately have acquired the eligibility of a legis- lator ; but for the licentiate, nothing can expiate the crime of his happening, from no fault of his own, to have been educated at one place rather than another.— And in short, if the physicians of this country had not been so disunited a body, it is impossible that that system of exclusion should have lasted so long. But it is only by a Parliamentary inquiry, such as is now going on, that these things can be fairly and etfectually examined and corrected.” 4362. Do you consider a medical degree obtained after two years’ residence at a university, which is the qualification for a licence, to imply the same degree of education as is necessary to procure a medical degree at Oxford or Cambridge.?— I certainly do not; but with regard to the University of Edinburgh, where most degrees in this country are obtained, though the College make two years the minimum extent of university studies for a licence, yet, in point of fact, three years from time immemorial, and now four years, are necessary at that university. I would beg leave, however, to say, that I agree in the propriety of there being some principle of compensation exercised, to make up for the greater length of time which the English universities require in giving their degrees; and moreover that there is an analogy in the law, because when a man has taken the degree of master of arts at an English university, or is an advocate in Scotland, he saves two years of the five w hich he must otherwise pass at an inn of court before he can be called to the bar. In the church, a man may be admitted to ordination as a literate, without having been at an university at all; but the anomaly in the College of Physicians is, that when a man is admitted to practise physic in London, he does not take the same ground that he would do, if he were a barrister or a clergyman, and had not been at an English university. l^Added on correcting the Evidence.] “ In the navy and army, an education in a naval or military academy is an advan- tage, and may save time; but no one ever knew the want of it to prevent or retard the progress of any person who was otherwise well qualified for his duties.” 4363. This is a deficiency which you think longer education or distinction in practice might remove ?—I think the same plan might be followed as in the law, that is, the physician who has had his degree earlier, might wait some time before he could obtain his full professional benefit. He would thus have additional time for practice and improvement; for as to education, it is well known that in the English universities, the actual and important benefits of education, are in a great degree over, as far as the university is concerned, as soon as a bachelor of arts degree is obtained, or as soon as the period arrives (if a person go out in law or physic) at w'hich such degree might have been obtained. 4364. Were you ever a candidate for a medical appointment in Guy’s Hospital ? ■—I was a candidate for the office of assistant physician many years since. 4365. With
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