Plan of medical reform and reorganization of the profession, without subverting the existing colleges of physic and surgery : addressed to the Right Hon. Sir R. Peel, bart. / by Richard Carmichael.

Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Plan of medical reform and reorganization of the profession, without subverting the existing colleges of physic and surgery : addressed to the Right Hon. Sir R. Peel, bart. / by Richard Carmichael. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    The great measure of Medical Reform can only be ac- complished by a statesman of a comprehensive and active mind, capable of estimating the necessity as -well as the difficulty of the subject, and who possesses firmness of purpose, not to be deterred by the latter from yielding to the former: in fact, a man who, in the emphatic words of a judicious writer, “ is not bigoted to abuses because they are ancient, or averse to improvements because they may be novel—who is essentially a man of the new era, imbued with the wisdom of the old ; who stands as it were on the brink of the great stream of time, adhering with one hand to our rooted institutions, while he endeavours Avith the other to seize every passing hint for improvement; one Avho Avill neither reject Avholesome reform because it is change, nor precipitate changes under the pretence of reform.”* A mind like yours, sir, thus formed, can find no great difficulty in grappling Avith institutions and usages, no matter Iioav long established, Avhich are decidedly injurious to the best interests of society. During your former ministry you conferred the greatest benefit upon the nation, by your improvements in the criminal code of laAvs, and, even Avhen you ceased to be minister, lent your poAverful aid to every measure that AA'as useful. Noav, sir, you have an opportunity of bestOAving still greater benefits upon the country, by a re-organization of the medical profession, which, in its present state, is, I venture to assert, more frequently the source of mischief than of benefit to society. So much is this re-organization required, that, notAvithstanding these countries can boast of having given birth to the ablest medical authorities * Quarterly Review, No. 136, p. 627.