Proposed medical statute / John W. Ogle.

  • Ogle, John W. (John William), 1824-1905.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proposed medical statute / John W. Ogle. 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.

    1/4
    4/ .* £ / Ty PROPOSED MEDICAL STATUTE. London, May 2nd, 1860. Df.ae Db. Aclaxd,— As, owing to non-residence, I was prevented speaking in Con- gregation on the Medical Statute promulgated last week, and as along with other Oxford medical graduates in London, I feel how important it is that they who have to decide the matter by their votes should be made fully acquainted with all that is thought on the subject, I venture in a letter to you to submit the following observations with all respect and deference to the notice of Congregation. With the tenor of the Statute generally (as according so well with all the progress of physical science lately made in Oxford), I most entirely concur. I perfectly agree to the contemplated provisions in the new Statute regarding the extended period of study, the two-fold examination, and the more comprehensive examination which will in future he required from the bachelor in Medicine; and not only do I think the steps taken in this di- rection desirable, but absolutely necessary. There are, how- ever, two measures in the Statute which appear to my mind (as I see by the report in the Times, they did to the minds of several others), highly objectionable. They are as follows :— Fibst. That the Bachelor in Medicine, of whose knowledge, skill, and general ability, a far higher proof will henceforth be required at his two examinations than heretofore, shall, in order to accomplish the Doctorate, have written and produced a Dis- sertation of such a calibre, and so original, that it shall be deemed worthy of being printed and published; and that unless his Dis- sertation shall possess so high a value, the M.D. degree shall be refused to him. Second. That of the worthiness of his Dissertation, and conse- quently of the fitness of the Bachelor in Medicine to obtain his Doctorate, one indi vidual shall be the sole judge. Now. as regards the Fibst of these measures, I heartily agree with the intention according to which it is proposed by this Council. It does appear very desirable that some means should exist by vdiich graduates in medicine should be stimulated and encouraged to produce good and original works in medical and the collateral sciences, for the sake of knowledge generally, and tor the common benefit and credit of themselves and of Alma mater. But I by no means think that the proposed plan is ‘the’ One w'hich should be adopted for compassing this end. It appears nather to be one which, for the sake of producing some possible ^ood, would work much harm. And for the following reasons :— [a.) Because it would be a means of rejecting and cffs-qualifying those who already may not only have been, by permission of the University, in actual practice among the public tor very many years*, but who, under the new enactment, will have J1.1S might specially be so in the case of those who, after taking the II.1). degree may