506 ABUSES IN THE PUBLIC HOSPITALS. 



most cruel, iniquitous, and oppressive tax, levied on a most useful and 

 necessary science ; which, by obstructing its progress towards perfec- 

 tion, and by impeding the attainment of the knowledge essential to 

 those who practise it, inflicts an incalculable injury on the community ;" 

 and, he might have added, without in the least benefiting those who 

 levy this obnoxious tax. 



The utility and importance to students of hospital attendance is unde- 

 niable, and is universally acknowledged. It is in the hospital where 

 theoretical is converted into practical knowledge, the symptoms of dis- 

 eases only heard of in books or lectures, are here seen ; the art of recog- 

 nizing these symptoms, of appreciating their relative importance, of 

 connecting them with diseased alterations of the internal organs, and 

 finally, of becoming acquainted with the best and appropriate means of 

 relieving them, can be learned NO WHERE but in a hospital. Where- 

 fore, then, are these institutions closed against our students, by demand- 

 ing fees which the majority of them are unable to pay ? Mark ! these 

 fees are exacted only at the ' ' recognized" hospitals ; but what then ? 

 A certificate from any other will not be available to a student going for 

 examination. 



It has been justly observed, that other branches of medical education 

 may be cultivated at different times, and according to a certain order of 

 succession ; anatomy demanding one period, chemistry a second, materia 

 medica a third ; but with hospital attendance it is otherwise. From the 

 commencement, the student ought to witness the progress and effect of 

 sickness, and persevere in the daily observance of disease, during the 

 whole time of his studies. Convinced of this, we denounce the exaction 

 of a penalty of 50/. for one year's attendance on a hospital, as an act of 

 the most extraordinary and monstrous injustice, and as a complete pro- 

 hibition to the acquirement of the most essential part of medical science. 

 What are the consequences ? Inefficient, and (what are still more dan- 

 gerous) rash and ignorant practitioners. 



To this system, operating, as it does, in an extensive manner, must 

 be referred those mistakes in practice which unfortunately so frequently 

 occur, which inflict irreparable injury on the sick, ruin the reputation 

 of individuals, and impair the general character of the profession ; but 

 the loss of credit to the practitioner, and the injury to the patient, are 

 not the only ill effects resulting from unskilful treatment. The latter 

 may be a poor man, having a large family ; he is now no longer able to 

 support them by his labour ; he becomes, with them, a burthen to 

 society. This is no imaginary case. 



Impressed with a sense of the deep, the vital importance of this part 

 of the subject to the community, we have been led to devote more space 

 to it than we intended. We shall merely further observe, that the 

 governors of our national hospitals are greatly to blame ; they conceive 

 that when their names are enrolled as subscribers, their work is com- 

 plete, and will yield the expected fruit. Egregious mistake ! If the 

 farmer merely sowed, without cultivating, manuring, and clearing the 

 land, what kind of crop would he have ? Weeds. So the best institu- 

 tions may be lost, or become baneful to society, from the mere inatten- 

 tion of those who support them. We have time only to glance at one 

 other evil attending the monopolizing system of which we complain. 

 No doubt can exist, but that to it we are indebted for the introduction 

 of " burking." Have we not seen that immense numbers of students 



