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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    useful results. I especially refer the reader to Questions 6,*7, 9, 24, 26, 29, 39, 44, 55, 70, 71, 74, 80, 93, 146, 175, 198, 293. Mr. Guthrie objects to public examinations, and his objection is, that young men would be bewildered more than at present. Are you of this same opinion ?—No ; on the contrary, I believe it would benefit the students generally, and prevent the rejection of a candi¬ date by the whim, caprice, or prejudice of one or two of the exami¬ ners. Besides, the system works well on the continent. In Paris the examinations are public, and I never heard such an objection made by a Frenchman. Moreover, the examinations at the Dublin College of Surgeons are open to all the members, and these exami¬ nations are more severe than those at the College of Surgeons of London.—You have been examined at the University of St. Andrew’s; Mr. Guthrie says, at St. Andrew’s they are examiners but not teachers, and that they have no school. Is this correct ? No ; all the examiners are teachers, and I had a better examination in anatomy and surgery at this University than at the College of Smgeons of London. Mr. Guthrie’s objection to there not being a school, I cannot understand; this University, like the other licensing boards, requires that a certain course of study shall be gone through before a candidate can be admitted to examination; and it must be recollected that most of the other examining boards have no schools attached to them. Mr. Guthrie’s objection would apply equally to the College of Surgeons, or to the University of London. You spoke of the whim and caprice of the examiners ; can one examiner reject a candidate ?—These are Mr. Guthrie’s own words, published in the Lancet, Jan. 20, 1849 :— “ Gentlemen, “ I had hoped that another lecture on the treatment of wounded arteries would have been unnecessary, after all I have published on this subject. It has appeared to me, however, that the candidates for the diploma of the College of Surgeons have presented themselves for examination with even less knowledge on this, as well as on other subjects, than when I last made this observation to you; but whether it arises from any defect on the part of their teachers, or from carelessness on their own, I am not disposed to offer an opinion. Hitherto, when I have examined students on this, or any other subject on which I have written particularly, and found them deficient, I have been contented to read a lesson rather than to reject them, supposing that they would like to be treated on the principle which pervaded the mind of the negro when he said, he had no objection that massa should preachee or Jloggie, hut not preachee and floggie too. Those candidates who have had a lecture from me, as well as an examination, and that perhaps as they thought with some degree of severity, have experienced this leniency, which they did not expect, nor feel, perhaps, that they deserved. It arose from those principles of justice I acquired at a very early period of my life, which I cannot entirely get the better of; they are, how¬ ever, subsiding, and I shall soon perhaps learn to smile with the greatest sweet¬ ness of manner, and speak with the softest intonation of voice, to the victim I am shortly about to sacrifice, instead of overlooking his negligence, in the hope that the lecture he has received might be an instruction, on the points in which he is defective, he would, perhaps, never forget.” Do all Mr. Guthrie’s opinions agree with those of his col-