Report of the Executive Committee on the constitution and working of the General Medical Council : memorandum by Dr. Pitman and Sir James Paget : memorandum by Dr. Quain : and appendix containing documents in regard to the Council.

  • General Medical Council. Executive Committee.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Executive Committee on the constitution and working of the General Medical Council : memorandum by Dr. Pitman and Sir James Paget : memorandum by Dr. Quain : and appendix containing documents in regard to the Council. 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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    and dilatory. I believe the present duties of the Council could very well be performed by a diminished number, and with fewer members there would be less waste of time, less inclination to make long speeches, and less expense incurred at each session. But if the Council is to have new duties imposed upon it, and to be converted into a medical parliament, I think the number of its members could not be advantageously diminished, as it would be necessary that not only the Universities and medical Corporations should be represented in it as they now are, but also that places should be found in it also for representatives of the general practitioners (surgeon-apothecaries) of the entire kingdom. But even under these latter circumstances I think it would be undesirable to increase the number of the Council, for that change would tend to diminish the working power of the Council as a whole. Whether the Council were increased or diminished in numbers, if it is to remain what it has hitherto been, a Council of Medical Education and Registration, I think the admission of a certain proportion of its members by universal suffrage of the profession would be most prejudicial to its reputation, and would impair its working power in the subjects which have hitherto occupied its attention. Should the principle of the election of a certain proportion of the Council be adopted, it would certainly be only just and proper that all doctors of medicine should be excluded from the electoral lists, and the election be confined to surgeon-apothecaries or general practitioners. The physicians and doctors of medicine in the three divisions of the kingdom are already largely represented in the Council by the members from the several Universities and Colleges of Physicians. The election of a certain number of Members of Council by (the so called) universal suffrage ought to be exclusively conducted by those members of the profession who are surgeon-apothecaries or general practitioners. Supposing a certain number of gentlemen of this order in the profession were to be elected into the Council, they would by their presence scarcely assist that body in their deli- berations upon medical education, and I should fear the class of per- sons who would be elected would not be those most distinguished for their professional attainments, and most largely engaged in practice, but rather bustling, talkative busy bodies who had not succeeded in their professional career, and whose vacant time