Special report from the Select Committee on the Medical Act (1858) Amendment (No. 3) Bill [Lords] : together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, and appendix.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on the Medical Act (1858) Amendment (No. 3) Bill.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Special report from the Select Committee on the Medical Act (1858) Amendment (No. 3) Bill [Lords] : together with the proceedings of the Committee, 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.

    130/456 (page 116)
    Mr. IVuters, m.d., F.K.C.P.E. 4 July 1879. Chairman—continued. dently of the association ? —They hold annual meetings invariably, and many of them hold intermediate meetings as well. 1529. Would you tell the Committee who are the officers of the association ; there is a Council, I suppose?—Yes, there is a Council, and there is a committee of Council. 1530. What does the Council consist of?—The Council consists of the president, the president elect, the treasurer, the president of the Council, all the gentlemen who have read annual addresses, or presided at sections at the meetings of the current or the preceding year, and a secretary from each branch; those are all ex-officio members. There are besides, members in the proportion of one to every 20 members of a branch. 1531. How is the president elected? — The president is elected by the vote of the associa- tion at the annual meeting ; he is first of all president elect, being proposed at the meeting pre- ceding that when he will fill the chair as presi- dent. 1532. In your annual meeting all the members assemble, and I see you have a committee of Council as well as a Council. What does the council itself do?—The Council itself meets; it may meet at any time upon the requisition of a certain number of the members, but, as a rule, it meets only once a year, and it elects the elected members of the committee of Council, which is the executive of the association. 1533. Then what you may call the business of the association is very much managed by the committee of Council?—Yes, by the committee of council. 1534. How is that committee formed?--The committee of Council is formed of the president, the permanent vice presidents, the president of the Council, the treasurer, a secretary from each branch, and 20 members elected by the general body of the Council. 1535. That makes rather a large body of be- tween 50 and 60, does it not ?—About that; it is not quite so numerous I think, but it is a con- siderable body. 1536. There are 30 branches, which means 30 secretaries, and 20 members of the Council, which makes 50, besides others?—Yes, that is so. 1537. How often do they meet generally?-— They are obliged to hold four meetings in the year, and other meetings may be called, but, as a rule, I should think 25 or 30 meet sometimes more. 1538. You have given the Committee the constitution of the association; I must ask you what were the objects for which it was specially formed ?—The association was specially formed for the promotion of kindly intercourse between the members of a scattered profession, and also for the promotion of science, and the discussion, in fact, of all questions connected with the public good in relation to the profession. 1539. I ought to have asked you this: I sup* pose there is a necessary subscription, and, if so, what is it ?—One guinea, which entitles the sub- scriber to the journal of the association. 1540. But besides this object of friendly good fellowship with the members of the profession, I suppose the association had some distinct aim ?— At the second annual meeting of the association, Dr. Barlow read an address on medical re- form ; this address was printed, and widely distributed amongst the members of the profes- Chairman— continued. sion, as Avell as amongst the members of the association. 1541. In what year was that?—In theyearl833. General interest was excited in the question. A Committee of the House of Commons, the first Committee, sat in 1834, and received voluminous evidence in relation to the three divisions of the kingdom, the evidence as regarded England being alone published, and occupying a volume of about 800pages; that regarding Ireland and Scot- land was never published, and the Committee did not make a Report. 1542. In consequence of Dr. Barlow’s address, that was the first medical subject which may be said to have been taken up by the association ?— Yes, by the association ; there had been interest in the question outside the association as well, but in the association that was the first occasion on which the matter was taken up. In the year 1839 the medical reform committee of the asso- ciation, which had been formed in 1837, put in a report. 1543. Could you give the Committee any sort of statement which you may have prepared, with reference to the ground upon which that medical reform committee was formed ?—It was formed on account of the state of the profession, as set forth very fully in the petition of the association, which was agreed to at the meeting in the year 1839, and with the permission of the Committee I will read what the object of the association was. My object is to show that the profession has always aimed at the improvement of the education of its members. “ The senate of the university,” this is part of the petition, “ having in the fulfil- ment of its duties devised and adopted” 1544. What university does that refer to?— The senate of the Unversity of London, as a qualification for obtaining its medical degree, a course of studies general, as well as professional, suitable for all who engage in the practice of the art, has in this simple procedure laid the founda- tion of a plan of medical reform, which, if com- pleted in the way indicated, would, in the opinion of your petitioners, confer incalculable benefits on the whole profession. Your petitioners beg ” (I am leaving out a portion of the petition) “ leave to represent that the main requisite and only stable foundation for any sound system of medical polity is to establish an adequate and uniform education for the whole profession, so that all who enter it shall pass through the same course of preliminary and medical instruction, but tested by the same examinations, and when approved, entitled to the same privileges.” I read that extract from the petition with the view of showing the early period at which the associa- tions arrived at the conclusion that it was indis- pensable that the numerous examining bodies should in some manner or other be brought into shape, so that there might be something like uniformity of qualification and of tests on the part of every person entering the profession. 1545. Would you wish the Committee to gather from that statement that the first and principal object which the association took up, was a re- form of the profession by a more uniform system of examination ?—Yes. 1546. In fact, that rather would seem as if you considered that the notion of conjoint boards was very early held by your association ?—Yes, cer- tainly. The objects which the association had in view were, a good preliminary examination, to do