The following physicians were elected members and signed the constitution :- Doctors J. R. Walker, S. H. Harry, C. R. Parke, John Edge, W. 1st Vice President.—Samuel McCleane. Drs. Pennington, Thomas, Harry, Harris, Walker. Parish, and Huddleson, were appointed a committee to ascertain and report to next stated meeting, the names and residences of all the regularly educated physicians in Chester and Delaware counties. Adjourned to meet at Westchester, on the first Wednesday of September next, at 2 o'clock, P. M. WILMER WORTHINGTON. Report of the Committee appointed under the fourth resolution of the National Medical Convention, which assembled in New York, in May, 1846. Resolved, That it is desirable that a uniform and elevated standard of requirements for the degree of M. D. should be adopted by all the Medical Schools in the United States; and that a committee of seven be appointed to report on this subject, at a meeting to be held in Philadelphia on the first Wednesday in May, 1847. Committee-Drs. Haxall and Cullen, of Richmond; S. A. Patteson, Manchester, Va,; A. Fiint, Buffalo, N. Y.; J. Perkins, Castleton, Vt.; J. A. Wing, Albany, N. Y.; Geo. W. Norris, Philadelphia. The committee under the fourth resolution of the convention which assembled in New York in May, 1846, and which has for its object the adoption of a uniform and elevated standard of requirements for the degree of M. D., have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to offer the following REPORT. The excitement which appears to have pervaded the medical mind for some considerable time in relation to the subject of reform, not only in this but in foreign countries, would of itself present an argument sufficiently demonstrative of its importance. The ceaseless and unwearied exertions of the master-minds of the profession, constantly urging on improvement in the various departments of medicine, have elaborated a work which it will require years of toilsome study justly to appreciate; and while we are far from indulging the Utopian idea that the newly graduated student is to be immediately transformed into the accomplished physician, yet. do we believe from the complaints which spring from almost every quarter, that lamentable deficiencies do exist, and that these deficiencies should be corrected. Nor do we stand alone in this opinion. The same spirit of reform which has assembled this convention, produced in Great Britain amendments to the charters of her Colleges, and convoked the Medical Congress which sat in Paris, than which a more renowned body of men never met to deliberate upon the interests of the profession, Not a great deal, it is true, has yet been accomplished in Great Britain, owing to the influence still exercised by medical corporations, and the indifference with which Parliament has regarded the efforts of the reformers. But in enlightened France, protected and cherished as are all her literary institutions by government, the most propitious results have been obtained. The term of study has been prolonged; other branches of medical education have been added to the already extensive curriculum, and more frequent and rigid examinations have been adopted by which to test the qualifications of the candidate. And when we consider the existing systems of other countries, how vast a difference is manifested upon the most cursory examination; truly must it be acknowledged that the mass of our medical graduates is inferior to those of other climes, or that the talent of America, like its broad and impetuous rivers, or its majestic forests, can recognize no equality in others. We are free to confess that within the last twenty or five-andtwenty years, medicine has been better taught among us than at any former period. It is difficult to imagine, indeed, that the progressive efforts of foreign lands should pass wholly unnoticed in this; and, while their example has been productive of some improvement, much yet remains to be accomplished. It is unquestioned that the facilities for education have been augmented not only in the public schools of the country, but private enterprise has exerted no slight influence in the attainment of this end. But let us not remain stationary while the interests of society and the profession impel us to further advance ment. If we discard the preliminary education demanded of students in Europe, and confine our attention to the branches actually taught in the medical schools, it will be perceived that the deficiency on our part is sufficiently apparent. All the branches which we profess to teach are taught by them; in addition to which (and now we refer more particularly to continental institutions) we may enumerate the several subjects of Zoology, Botany, Comparative Anatomy, the History of Medicine, Hygiene, Medical Physics, and Clinical Medicine and Surgery. All these branches, it is true, are not crowded upon the mind during a single session, but are distributed throughout successive years; while clinical instruction, in both medicine and surgery, is reserved for the last year or two, after it is presumed the student has made such advances in his primary studies as will enable him per H fectly to understand the lessons which are taught him at the bedside of the patient. Instruction so full and so complete must, of necessity, require a lengthened period for its accomplishment; hence we find that, in France and Austria, the term of lectures is extended to a fraction more than four years; in Germany to three years and four months; in Great Britain to two years, while in the schools of our own country, two sessions of four months each are alone sufficient to entitle the candidate to an examination. And if we extend our inquiries a step further, we shall find as great a contrast in regard to the examinations by which the qualifications of candidates are tested. Nowhere, we believe, except in England and America, is the qualification made to rest upon a single viva-voce examination; but throughout the period of the student's probation, repeated examinations are held at stated intervals. By proceeding in this manner, not only is the qualification more accurately ascertained, but certain branches are completely mastered before others have been commenced. Thus we learn from Mr. Surgeon Wilde's work on Austria and her institutions, that, at Vienna, the student is compelled to undergo an examination at the end of every six months by each professor whose lectures he may have attended. During the fifth year, which completes his term of study, he is subjected to two other examinations, besides giving a detailed history of two or more clinical cases, and defending in public a thesis written in the Latin language. In Prussia, four examinations are required. When the pupil has satisfactorily completed the third, the honors of the Doctorate are conferred upon him; but he is not yet permitted to enter upon the practice of his profession. To enjoy this privilege, a more rigid ordeal must be passed; he is now called upon to demonstrate his practical acquaintance with the several subjects in which he has been instructed; to take charge of patients under the immediate inspection of his teachers, and finally to be questioned by eight of the most distinguished professors of the country in every department of medical science. By a recent decree of the University of France, it is now ordered that examinations shall be held at the termination of each year upon the branches which have been taught during the year; at the conclusion of the whole term of study, a final examination is instituted, embracing the subjects taught throughout the whole course. A knowledge of clinical medicine and surgery is also required, and a thesis must be publicly defended. Although thus rapidly and most imperfectly enumerated, we have thought it not inappropriate to the subject to mention the requisitions which are demanded in foreign schools. They either exact of their pupils an unnecessary standard of requirements, or we, on the contrary, are satisfied with too low a grade of qualification. Which alternative is this convention prepared to adopt? Are we willing to assert, and maintain the opinion that he who has passed eight months within the walls of a medical college is as well fitted for the practical duties of his profession, as he who has devoted years to more extended studies? Assuredly we cannot advocate a proposition so absurd. Nor, perhaps, is it at all requisite to occupy the time of the convention with a long detail of arguments in order to prove the necessity of some measures of reform. In regard to the two subjects of preliminary education and the mode of examination, this committee has nothing to do. But being charged with the duty of reporting upon a uniform and elevated standard of requirements for the degree of M. D., whatever alteration in the present system it may recommend, will more iminediately bear upon the interests of the schools. Yet let it not be supposed, as some we fear have imagined, that the object of this Committee, or of this convention, is to attack with a ruthless hand the institutions of the country, rendered venerable by time, or that still larger number whose charters have been obtained at a more recent date. We believe that no agrarian feeling has stimulated to action the advocates of reform in this or any other land: we dare express the conviction that the best interests of society and of the profession itself (which spring from no selfish considerations,) could alone have cominenced a work, which, if calmly and perseveringly conducted, must redound to the good of all. We are aware that many obstacles are opposed to the successful prosecution of the several matters upon which we have assembled to deliberate. With no National Legislature to regulate our Medical Institutions, and with a reckless indifference to their concerns too often practised by our State Governments, each has endeavoured to build up for itself, if not an enduring reputation, at least a long catalogue of names. And the colleges themselves, resting secure in their chartered rights, may contend against any interference with their several systems of education; although we would fain indulge the hope that some among them stand prepared to listen to that voice which rarely speaks in vain-the voice of public opinion. This it is which now agitates the professional mind from one end of this Union to the other; and this it is which, if not now heeded, will not cease to reiterate its cry. Let but a very few even of our conspicuous institutions demand of their pupils a more extended course of study, and so far from their interests perishing in the attempt, we cannot doubt that an accession to their numbers will ere leng reward their efforts. The possession of the diploma no longer tests the qualification of the man ; and it cannot be doubted that the large number of Medical Colleges throughout the country, and the facility with which the degree is obtained, have exerted a most pernicious influence. Numbers of young men have entered the profession who were not prepared for its onerous and responsible duties, who, after a longer or shorter period of disappointment, have served to swell the list of empirics, or to seek employment by means unbecoming the character of the physician or the gentleman. Nor can it well be otherwise, when each returning spring lets loose upon the community some twelve or thirteen hun dred graduates, whose professional existence must depend upon the encouragement they receive. To correct these evils it is indispensable that the standard both of preliminary and of medical education should be elevated; and as we have said before, let no institution fear to commence the laudable undertaking. The encouraging plaudits of the profession will cheer it on, and its general voice will direct our medical students to that source of information from which is to be derived the largest supply. We are, moreover, unwilling to inflict such discredit upon the ingenuous youth of the land as to imagine, that they would not voluntarily become the pupils of that school whose diploma is to be gained by a more prolonged and complete course of study. They will feel that their success in after life will mainly depend upon the labours of their earlier years; and when success shall crown their efforts, they will enjoy the proud satisfaction of knowing that it is based, not upon the disgraceful trickery of the impostor, but upon the solid foundation of positive acquirement. It may not, perhaps, be wandering too far from our legitimate course to remark, that no ordinary responsibility rests upon Professors themselves. They stand as the guardians, more than any others, of the public weal; for every student who receives the diploma, is furnished by them with prima facie evidence, that he is prepared for that important occupation in which he seeks to engage. And if we admit the supposition that in any case he is not thus prepared, it will require the prediction of no seer to foretell the lamentable result. We believe the opinion defensible, that in no profession is it more difficult to arrive at just conclusions, as to real merit, than in that of medicine. "And hence (in the language of another) there devolves upon those who are the most competent to judge, and who have the best opportunity for judging, a vast responsibility to see well to it that none but the truly meritorious should be admitted to the profession under their sanction. From the fact that society cannot in this respect adequately protect itself, the Teachers in our Medical Schools should exercise a guardianship the more watchful, a jealousy the more keen, and a firmness the more unyielding." With a determination thus expressed, to furnish the community with individuals who have gained the honours of the Doctorate solely on account of their merit, it cannot be saying too much when we assert that a reciprocal duty rests upon it; a duty which should ever lead to the protection and encouragement of those who have devoted their time and talents to its dearest interests. The most beneficial consequences may also be expected from the efforts of private Preceptors. The position can scarcely be controverted, that a proper inquiry into the fitness of young men to become Students of Medicine is but seldom instituted; and numbers have been admitted into the offices of their Preceptors who were deficient even in the most common branches of an English education. Too long has it been imagined, and too often has it been asserted, that the veriest dolts possessed intellect sufficient for the study of medicine. To such the idea could never have occurred, that within its broad and expanded limits may be profitably included a knowledge |