OBSERVATIONS, &c. It might naturally have been expected that the morbid tendency of the present generation to reform, would have received such a check from the dreadful examples that have exhibited themselves in many situations, as at least to deter the prudent from dangerous attempts. Those examples, it is true, have been chiefly displayed by political reformers; they have run their course, their day is past, and most of them have experienced the lot they deserved. There is, however, a sign of the times, a portentous contempt of the great masters of ancient genius, which makes me suspect that the political reformer has only changed his garb, that he has descended from palaces and courts, to colleges and academies, only to play a surer game. I think myself justified in this remark, by the insolent tone of the medical reformers, as they styled themselves, by the clamorous audacity of their partizans, and by the levelling system they openly promulgated before the Apothecary's Bill, or Act, was hissed out of the House of Parliament in the last year. That the Reformers in their future endeavours may not have the excuse of ignorance, I take leave thus early at least to correct one of their mistakes relating to the College of Physicians, as to the utility of its establishment. The Royal College of Physicians of London was originally established as a check to ignorance, and a guardian of the public health. It is remarkable that mankind whose propensity is to watch and protect with more than anxious care common moveable property, should be so credulous in regard to health, as to be the dupes of every bold empiric and every specious pretender, nay, such is the fatuity of the generality of men, that they are disposed to hear and to trust as oracles, those whose opinions they would scorn on any topic of common prudence and common sense, when the most irredeemable of all possessions, life, is at stake."And though they scorn their parts, they take their oxymel." To prevent as much as possible the public from being cheated and poisoned by persons of this description, a charter was given to a society of the most learned men of the day, empowering them to examine all those, who professed to practise as physicians in the metropolis and its neighbour hood, and all other persons professing to practise as such in England, except those licensed to practise by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or a Bishop. They were moreover empowered to prohibit all those, who had been found to administer dangerous remedies rashly, from practising at all, and even to punish them by imprisonment, if, after due warning, they contumaciously persisted in their bad practice-such was the case of Dr. Greenfield for rashly administering Cantharides, and such ought to be the fate now of many a poisoner and many an empiric. They were also empowered to inspect medicaments, to inflict prohibitions, to confer licences, and in general to regulate the Republic of the art of healing. In order that a fit body of men might never be wanted for executing these beneficial regulations, the college was directed to admit as candidates for the vacant fellowships, all those doctors of medicine of Oxford and Cambridge, who had regularly taken their degrees, and to elect them, if after due examination they were found qualified. This examination is perhaps one of the most arduous that can be imposed. For three several days the candidate is questioned in Latin, on Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Therapeutics, and all other branches of medical science, and thrice is he obliged to display his knowledge of Greek literature by reading publicly and extemporaneously difficult passages of Aretæus, or some other medical classic. Such is the stream, which perpetually replenishes the college of Physicians, and I believe, that in no period of its history has any other corporate body contained more wise, more learned, more virtuous, or more illustrious men in proportion to its numbers. Shades of Caius, of Mayerne, of Harvey, of Sydenham, of Willis, of Freind, of Lister, of Morton, of Petit, of Mead, of Lawrence, of Nichols, of Baker, and of Heberden, ye are immortal witnesses. And I trust that in the number of those, who now fill the chairs of their illustrious predecessors, there is not one incapable of performing those duties towards his country, to which he is called. And here let me ask the Reformers from what purer source, or on what better principle they would improve the system of discriminating those practitioners, who should be licensed, and those who should be restrained? Doubtless the company of Apothecaries consists of many wise and virtuous, and of some learned men. Do they wish to prefer their own body to the English Universities? Would they prefer the ancient University of St. Andrew's, or the modern School of Edinburgh, or put them upon the same footing as the English Universities? Have they any other scheme of selection, from the hospitals of London, or the medical managers of Medical, Surgical, and Pharmaceutical Reviews? Though they may wish reform much, though they may envy distinction more even than they wish reform, sure I am that they must be too virtuous, so to pull down, and so to build up. To destroy a system the work of ages, more productive of advantage to society, than can be possibly appreciated, and to substitute in its room a theoretical structure, a baseless fabric, which has no form nor goodliness to recommend it, but the fancies of wild aspiring, and sometimes I fear it may be said, unprincipled lovers of change. So much has long been said and urged by the Reformers about an improved state of the practice of physic, that it will be well to consider for a moment the constitutional character and station of the Physician. In the early periods of our history the Physician was either educated at, or licensed by the English Universities, or if he had received his education, and his title of Doctor from a foreign University, he was licensed by the Bishop of the Diocese, in which he intended to practise. His station was high, his emoluments were large (his fee in the time of the Plantagenets being one pound). The increase of population, and the consequent necessities of the public, and perhaps we may add the progress of civilization, called into existence the corporation of the College of Physicians, which from the time of Henry the 8th, became the Constitutional head of the medical department of England, the co-adjutor of the Universities in the discriminations of persons fit to practise as Physicians. Until the end of the 17th century, this establishment continued uninterrupted; when the connection of Scotland with England, the still further increase of population, and a spirit of inquiry, and of science arising amongst our northern brethren, brought forth the school of Edinburgh. |