Report of the National Institute of General Practitioners in Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery, on the present state of the medical reform question.

  • National Institute of General Practitioners in Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the National Institute of General Practitioners in Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery, on the present state of the medical reform question. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ]6 medical reform, except such as are thus by education fully qualified so to do. Fourthly—the 27th clause of the bill provides as follows;— “ Tliat nothing in this act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to prejudice or in any way to affect the trade or business of a chemist and druggist in buying, preparing, compounding, dispensing and vending drugs, medicines, and medicinable com- pounds, wholesale or retail; but all persons using or exercising the said trade or business, or who shall or may hereafter use or exercise the same, shall and may use, exercise, and carry on the same trade or business, in such manner and as fully and amply, to all intents and purposes, as the same trade or business was used, exercised, or carried on by chemists and druggists before the passing of this act.” Thus, should the “Registration Bill” become law, every chemist and druggist would be exempt from the operation of this law, and from any penalty whatever, provided he can show that he carries on his business, not as the business of a chemist and druggist was carried on before the passing of the act of 1815, but as it is conducted at the present day. The members of our profession can form their own opinion as respects the chemists and druggists, whether they do or or do not practise, both at the counter and by visiting patients at their own houses. The Council of the Institute trust that this commentary will, for the present, sufficiently explain the objections to the bill, and render unnecessary any further public remarks untU the Special Committee of the House of Commons have made their Report. By Order of the Council, GEORGE ROSS, Secretary. 4, Hanover Square, May 27, 1847. The opposition offered to the “ Medical Registration Bill,” led to tlie appointment in the House of Commons of a Select Committee, “On Medical Registration and Medical Law Amendment,” referred to in the above advertisement. This Committee continued its sittings until the end of the Session, and accordingly, up to this period, and until the re-opening of Parliament in November, no further progress was made in Medical Legislation. As the present Session of Parliament approached, the Council of the Institute felt it their duty to put themselves again in