A corrected report of the speeches delivered by Mr. Lawrence, as chairman, at two meetings of members of the Royal College of Surgeons, held at the Freemasons' Tavern : With an appendix, containing the resolutions agreed to at the first meeting, and some illustrative documents.

  • Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet
Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A corrected report of the speeches delivered by Mr. Lawrence, as chairman, at two meetings of members of the Royal College of Surgeons, held at the Freemasons' Tavern : With an appendix, containing the resolutions agreed to at the first meeting, and some illustrative documents. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    sequent] y devoted themselves to scientific pursuits, are carefully excluded from all participation in the adminis- tration of College concerns. They have no voice in tlie election of the ruling body, which is strictly self-elected, and its members hold their office for life; they have no controul over the expenditure of the College funds, nor any knowledge of their amount or appropriation, which are kept profoundly secret; they have only a very limited access to that Museum, which has been so liberally pro- vided for their use; they are not allowed to enter the theatre of the College by the same door which gives ad- mission to the Members of the Court, and their friends: lastly, in the charter obtained by the College in 1822, the commonalty or members are, I believe, not once men- tioned. Our rulers, having left the city for a genteeler residence, seem to have become ashamed of every thing that could remind them of their former civic abode and their humble origin as a trading' corporation. Hence they took the trouble of gaining the Royal permission to exchange the names of Master, Governors, and Court of Assistants, for the more high-sounding titles of Pre- sident, Vice-President, and Council ; and they at the same time achieved the important object of having a mace; the constitution of the College remaining un- altered, and the narrow exclusive system of manage- ment, which existed in Monk well Street and in the Old Bailey, being most carefully preserved. A recent act of the governing body has added largely to the negative privileges of the Members ; and, but for that act, the present meeting would probably not have taken place. Mankind are generally patient under in- justice, when not immediately affected ; resistance is not offered until individuals suffer, until personal interests are attacked. In the year 1824, the ruling body of the b 2