Observations on medical reform / by a member of the University of Oxford.

Date:
[1814]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on medical reform / by a member of the University of Oxford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/28 (page 428)
    honorable. On the same plea the King’s Physicians have place before all others of the same degree. I have made this statement to prepare the reader for my proposed regu¬ lation. Let the College of Physicians sit as a Quorum in every part of England, where three fellows can be assem¬ bled, to grant licenses—Let these Licenses be granted with¬ out expense. — Let none but English Graduates practise with¬ out these Licenses. — If three' fellows cannot be assembled monthly in each County to examine, and to grant Licenses, let one fellow and two M. Ds. of Oxford or Cambridge be a Quorum—North of the Tweed ; and for the Colonies, let Edinburgh and Glasgow grant Licenses to practise. Aber¬ deen and St. Andrew’s will do well enough for granting distinctions to the Solomons, Brodums, &c. But let not their degrees be a sanction, or a license even for Scots or Colonial practice, unless they reform. The Bill, called the Apothecaries' Bill, had for its object, the improvement of the condition, the ascertaining or the fixing of the emoluments, and the limiting to the order of Apothecaries, the dispensing of Medicines. That the condition of the Apothecary has not improved, is owing to many causes, but I shall briefly discuss the chief cause, as it has been so repeatedly touched on before. The Apothecary is not in the present condition of society a mere storer, preparer, and dispenser of Medicine—He is in most situations a deputy or Sub-Physician, a Surgeon, and an Accoucheur.—Nor can this multiplicity of occu¬ pation be prevented, or avoided.—All men are exposed to accidents and diseases, but all men do not possess property. There must be therefore, the general Practitioner for hum¬ bler stations. Let us suppose a Parliament, then, enacting that none but the apprenticed for 5 or 7 years shall be al¬ lowed to practise, under penalties and pains.—The conse¬ quence will be that the law will be evaded. Two or three