Special report from the Select Committee on the Medical Act (1858) Amendment (No. 3) Bill [Lords] : together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, and appendix.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on the Medical Act (1858) Amendment (No. 3) Bill.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Special report from the Select Committee on the Medical Act (1858) Amendment (No. 3) Bill [Lords] : together with the proceedings of the Committee, 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.

    42/456 (page 28)
    Mr. Aclund, Mr. Errington—continued. m.d., f.r.s. p0int by itself, that the Apothecaries’ Societies 20 June should each send a member, and also that Durham 1879. should send one, when Edinburgh University sends only half a one; but then directly Mr. Walpole and Mr. Cowper Temple’s Act is dis- turbed, you raise a number of other questions which I personally do not wish to open. With reference to a former question, I ought to observe that the General Medical Council last year, in its report upon the Medical Bill, on Clause 14, passed a resolution objecting to the powers of the Medical Council being extended to the initiation of exa- mination. 300. And I think that the section was omitted in consequence of that; might I ask you why the Medical Council came to that conclusion ?—I do not know how far you will think it desirable to take me into the details of the Medical Bills now before you. 301. There is only this one point, which is, how this clause, which is now Clause 15 in the Bill of 1878, has been restored, and I was anxious to know whether there was any special reason on the part of the Medical Council why they objected to the clause ?—That has refer- ence to a number of discussions which took place, not public discussions, but discussions which took place between the various licensing bodies, between the corporations and the mem- bers of the Medical Council, as to what is the best way of framing these rules. Some persons, for instance, think that it is very much better that the several licensing bodies should frame rules, and submit them. Others think that it would be much better that the Medical Council should frame them, and send them down. Upon that I would venture to make one personal ob- servation, from my experience of the Medical Council. This Committee must bear in mind that, when you speak of the Medical Council for purposes of that sort, you speak of 24 persons brought from all parts of the country, at a great expense to the office of the Council itself, but at a still greater loss, in the case of many, to themselves individually. To impose a quantity of detailed work unnecessarily upon them I think extremely undesirable. But if it is the wish of the Committee to go into the details of the Bill, I should like to have notice, as far as possible, of the questions, or it would be interminable. 302. In the present Bill, as it comes to us from the House of Lords, a similar clause is contained, is it not 1—Yes. 303. With reference to the financial condition of the Medical Council, you were asked, at Question 144, by the Bight honourable Chairman, whether your income was adequate, and you replied, “ scarcely ”; would you state, on an average, what the income has been?—We send a return every year to the House of Commons, as we are required by the Act, and at page 60 of the Begister for 1879, of which there is a copy in the room for every Member of the Committee, you will find a summary of the accounts, and the average income for seven years has been 5,979/., and the average expenditure 5,867 /. 304. Can you state what balance there is to the credit of the Medical Council at present?— There is a considerable balance belonging to the Branch Council of England, as you will observe at page 61. At page 58, you will find the total of the General Council’s special receipts, and also the amount which is invested from the Mr. Errington—continued, receipts of the English branch of the Council, amounting to 25,000/. 3 per Cent. Consols, in- vested as an accumulation fund, which has been long going on. The meaning of that is, that the receipts come, to a great extent, from the English students upon the English Begister, and in certain proportions, from the Scotch and Irish students. There is a complicated system of balancing, taking the per-centages of the whole of them. The greatest accumulation has been in the English Branch Council; but then all those items are thrown into a common fund, with the total result that you see in pages 60 and 61. Dr. Cameron. 305. You stated, did you not, and, I think, very correctly, that it was one thing to test the results of education, and another to prescribe the methods of education ?—Yes. 306. But in testing the methods, is it in the power of the Council to state that examinations shall be held in this or that subject?—No, I do not think it is. I have already explained how that is, and that the Council must draw its own conclusions as to whether the examinations are adequate or not; and if it thinks them inadequate it has to represent that to the Privy Council. But then it is not satisfied with what might be called a perfunctory view of its duties in that way, and therefore it issues recommendations; but those recommendations they cannot enforce. I alluded just now to this, because I thought per- haps I overstated the power of the Council. It has power to issue recommendations at present, but it has not the power to enforce them. 307. Has it the power to issue recommenda- tions as to the examinations and as to the subjects in which professional examinations should be conducted?—No, I do not think it has exactly power to do that. It has power to inquire. It has power to get the fullest information as to the course; and then, as practical men, they meet together, and they endeavour to frame resolu- tions, according to the best of their combined judgment, as to what is the best course of educa- tion. These resolutions constitute the recom- mendations, but they cannot be enforced. 308. The Bight honourable Member for the Edinburgh University alluded to the subject of midwifery; is there any examination in mid- wifery, or any course of midwifery prescribed by the College of Surgeons in England?—The examination for the College of Surgeons in England is an examination in surgery, and their license is a license in surgery ; but they have an examination in midwifery too, and a license in midwifery; that is a separate examination, and the subject of a separate license ; so that there are licentiates in midwifery as well as licentiates in surgery. 309. Does a licentiate in surgery require to undergo any examination or instruction in mid- wifery, or is it optional with him to become a licentiate in midwifery, or is it compulsory ?— Optional. 310. Therefore a licentiate in surgery can obtain a license without any instruction or ex- < animation in midwifery, can he ?—I will get for j the Committee by the next meeting the regula- tions of all those bodies, if you please, and they : will furnish an answer precisely to every one of these questions. 311. I have