Volume 1

Examination of the president and examiners of the Royal College of Physicians of London ... : with an analysis of the evidence given before the Select Committee of the House of Commons; and suggestions for an improved system of medical government / [Edwards Crisp].

  • Crisp, Edwards, 1806-1882.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Examination of the president and examiners of the Royal College of Physicians of London ... : with an analysis of the evidence given before the Select Committee of the House of Commons; and suggestions for an improved system of medical government / [Edwards Crisp]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    evening, but with a similar result. A special meeting of the College was then called, and the result was, Dr. Hastings says, his almost unanimous admission into the body of the licentiates. Were all these proceedings legal ?—I don’t know the laws of this College. Will you give an account of Dr. Lankester’s case ?—Dr. Lan- kester was distinguished for great industry and talent; he had obtained honors in ten of the classes at University College; he had written an Essay on the Uncertainty of Medical Science, and had contributed numerous papers to the medical journals. Dr. Lankester passed the examination for the extra license at the College of Physicians in 1841; and in 1847 he presented himself to be ex¬ amined for the license, believing that, as he was a member of the College and had jaassed one examination, he would only be called upon to answer “ practical ” questions. The doctor, however, was rejected; and the most amusing part of the affair is, that one of the examiners had, six years before, given him the following certificate: —“ I can fully testify to his competency to fill the office of physi- “ cian to a Dispensary, with credit to himself and much advantage “ to the objects of the institution. C. J. B. Williams, M.D.” Dr. Lankester, I suppose, was not thought by the Censors to be up to the London standard ?—Exactly so; he was considered fit to physic the inhabitants of Richmond, but not those of Putney or Puddle Dock. The subjoined is from Dr. Lankester’s pamphlet:— “ If I were a young man who had only had the five years’ study “ which the College requires, I might consistently have been sent “ back for a year; but what must be thought of the value of the “ College examination^ which supposes that the knowledge it re- “ quires may be got up in twelve months, but could not be gained “ by eighteen years of hard study and diligent observation. At the “ same time, however, I am not ignorant of the fact, that there are “ gentlemen in London who, in less than a year, would engage to “ prepare me, as they have done hundreds of other members of the “ College, in such a manner as to ensure my passing their examina- “ tions. I have never, however, condescended to the practice of “ cramming in the four examinations that I had previously submitted “ to and passed. I conscientiously regard myself at this moment as “ fitted to practice my profession, and if the College examinations “ are of a nature rather to test the schoolboy qualifications wRich “ may be got up by a cram, than those which have been gained by “ reading and experience at the bedside, I can only express my “ regret that public confidence should have been given to examina- “ tions which every member of the College must feel are not worthy “ of it.” Does not Dr. Lankester lecture on Materia Medica ?—Yes; and he was examined by a lecturer at a neighburing school. Will you give a brief account of your own case ?—I had been B 2