Third report from the Select Committee on Medical Registration and Medical Law amendment : together with the minutes of evidence and appendix.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Medical Registration and Medical Law Amendment.
- Date:
- 1848
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Third report from the Select Committee on Medical Registration and Medical Law amendment : together 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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![2 1 *-r MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE R. Christison, Esq., i 809. Because I apprehend that surgeon, in the strict sense of the word, m.d. applies to a branch of the profession which can hardly be practised by itself? — I have already stated, I think, in my evidence, that in the system followed at 9 May 1848. Edinburgh, where the great majority of the members of the College of Surgeons are general practitioners, there is nothing to prevent a practitioner becoming a pure surgeon, and in point of fact, Mr. Liston and Professor Syme were exactly in the circumstance adverted to ; they were fellows of the College of Surgeons, their brethren in the College were general practitioners, but they, from the very first, practised as pure surgeons, and never as general practitioners. 1810 Colonel Mure.] In point of fact, what is called a surgeon and general practitioner, are in Scotland combined in one ?—They are often combined in one, but there is nothing to prevent their separation, and as I have already stated, the separation has actually taken place. 1811. Is not their education combined in one ; is not a fellow of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh required to undergo that course of education which renders him fit for becoming a general practitioner?—Yes; their education is the same. 1812. You mentioned to the Committee that the College of Physicians neither examine nor educate of themselves, but they take certificates jof a certain course of education, upon which they found their license or diploma ?—Yes. 1813. Is not that course of education again the same which qualifies a gentle- man to be a member of the College of Surgeons ?—No, it is not the same ; it comes pretty near it, but it is not quite the same. 1814. It it were the same, it would, in fact, amount 10 one faculty as regards education ? — Yes. 181,5. What is the difference; what does the College of Physicians require which the College of Surgeons does not? —The qualification required for a fel- lowship in the College of Physicians in Edinburgh, must vary with the rules of the university whence the candidate comes ; I have already stated that the College of Physicians must admit as licentiates all Scotch graduates ; so we have been obliged to receive an old graduate of St. Andrew’s, who was admitted as a gra- duate without education or examination formerly; but that is at an end; the Committee will therefore understand, that the education required in the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, must vary with the rules of the various universities whom the College are obliged to acknowledge. i 816. But virtually it is understood to be a complete course of medical educa- tion, similar to what is required for the College of Surgeons ?—Quite analogous to the course of education required for a general practitioner, but it must be understood that the course of education required for a general practitioner by the College of Surgeons is an extensive one, it embraces every branch of medicine and every branch of surgery, everything with the exception of botany and natural history. 1 S17. Mr. Wakley.] What do you consider will be the standing of the new college if it should be instituted here, either as contrasted or in comparison with the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of London ?—It must be considered as the first or lowest grade of the profession; I will not say the lowest class of practitioners, because that would be using a term not fairly applicable to general practitioners ; but I think that college must be considered as constituting the first or lowest grade in the profession, and the others as belonging to a higher grade. 1818. Do you, therefore, consider that it would have the effect of lowering the general body of practitioners in this country in rank and public estimation, would you fear that it would have such an effect ?—That is a matter of speculation on which I would rather decline giving any answer; but I think that the College of General Practitioners, if they gradually raise their education as high as they are likely to do, will educate a highly accomplished class of medical men; and therefore I think that ere long, the College of Physicians and the College of Surgeons will find that they do not regard their own interest in throwing loose this great body. 1819. You believe that in not taking them under their own protection, they are acting unadvisedly with regard to their own reputation and their own interest ? —I think, in regard to their own interest, they are doing so, and for this reason; the education of general practitioners in Scotland has gradually and mainly through the example of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, been greatly](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24906803_0030.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
