An address to the members of the Royal College of Surgeons of London: on the injurious conduct and defective state of that corporation; with reference to professional rights, medical science, and the public health / [John Armstrong].

  • Armstrong, John, 1784-1829
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address to the members of the Royal College of Surgeons of London: on the injurious conduct and defective state of that corporation; with reference to professional rights, medical science, and the public health / [John Armstrong]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    would be directly influenced by interested motives, in order to procure a licence or diploma, on payment of a sum of money, it was to be feared that the practice would ultimately degenerate into one of considerable abuse. It was natural to suppose a competition would soon be entered into between the several bodies who had a power to grant licences, for the purpose of procuring the greatest quantity of fees. The more testimonials they granted, the greater ivould be their profit. It would evidently be to their advantage to grant as many as possible, and therefore it appeared to him that unless they had some other test of ability beyond a mere dip¬ loma, a great abuse would he generated. On this account he should oppose the Bill being carried into a law. With respect to Ireland, where he believed the profession was most respectably carried on, he ivould not attempt to regidate it there without farther evidence of the necessity of legislative interference. In 1784, alterations of a beneficial character were made in the College of Surgeons of Dublin, without which, their new charter would not have been granted them. By those regulations, an apprenticeship was rendered necessary before an individual entered upon the profes¬ sion, instead of a mere appearance before the board, and receiving a Diploma. In the Bill now before the house, there was a clause which set forth that Surgical assis¬ tance was often necessary in practising Midwifery, and therefore, that every person practising that branch of the profession should also have a licence for acting as a Surgeon. By this means, a double imposition would be levied from persons acting as Accoucheurs, which appeared to be unjust and unnecessary. He was alto¬ gether an enemy to the principle of subjecting the Surgical profession to any such' restriction as this Bill proposed; for if such a Bill were adopted, he very much feared that the fees required for the Diploma would alone be looked to, and that the examination would be-