503 

 ABUSES IN THE PUBLIC HOSPITALS. 



WITHOUT minute inquiry no just estimate can be made of the exten- 

 sive ramifications of the monopolizing, or anti-social system ; without 

 deep reflection no adequate idea can be formed of the baneful influence 

 of this system on the prosperity and happiness of the human race. 

 Every where we find it in operation ; every where we see its injurious 

 results. Happily, however, on the more palpable monopolies and 

 abuses, the press has exerted its all-powerful influence ; hence the public 

 are alive to their mischievous effects on society, and the motto for them 

 must soon be " fuerunt" 



Yet there is one, the hospital monopoly, which (if life and health be 

 of essential consequence to all) is second in importance to no other, and 

 has received only partial consideration, although for the profligate dis- 

 regard of the general welfare, for the selfishness and reckless contempt 

 of opinion displayed by those upon whom the obnoxious priviliges have 

 been conferred, it is the most remarkable of any ; indeed, so clearly has 

 avarice been the sole spring of action, that it is to be feared the very 

 barefacedness, nay, the positive absurdity of the acts of our medical 

 corporations, and hospital medical officers, may throw an air of impro- 

 bability over our statements ; but we shall be careful to select only well 

 authenticated facts, from which the reader may draw his own conclu- 

 sions,, but no statements must be rejected merely because they appear 

 disgusting and extraordinary. 



An important department of the police of this empire, the power of 

 prohibiting individuals from practising the science of medicine and sur- 

 gery without previously submitting to an examination as to their quali- 

 fications, and being able to acquire a certificate (diploma) of their pos- 

 sessessing the requisite knowledge, has been entrusted by law, ostensibly 

 for the benefit of all, to certain corporations, denominated the " Royal 

 College of Physicians,"" of Surgeons," and " the Society of Apothe- 

 caries." Far be it from us to weary the reader, or trouble ourselves 

 with a detailed history of the medical corporations of the time and cir- 

 cumstances of their origin : such inquiries may be safely left to anti- 

 quarians, and to the more curious in the history of chartered nuisances. 

 We purpose to be more practical to show the injuries resulting from 

 corporations so constituted, to call attention to the execrable spirit in 

 which the privileges thus bestowed have been abused by those entrusted 

 with them, to point out how science has been sacrificed on the shrine of 

 avarice, how the student and junior practitioners are debarred all oppor- 

 tunity of obtaining practical knowledge, by the most monstrous pecuniary 

 exactions, and daring monopolies. 



The College of Physicians is perhaps the most contemptible of the 

 medical corporations, although practically it is the least injurious to the 

 public ; it enjoys no power, even nominal, beyond seven miles of the 

 city of London, and within this district the collegians have only the 

 miserable privilege of insulting the scientific physician. To be a " Fel- 

 low" (socius) of this medical college, it is necessary by their laws to be 

 a graduate of a university where medicine is NOT taught. Those who 

 have obtained a degree after years of hard study at some celebrated 



