XIII STATE AND THE MEDICAL PROGRESSION 329 



no central authority^ there was nothing to pre- 

 vent any one of those Hcensing authorities from 

 granting a Kcence to any one npon any conditions 

 it thought fit. Tlie examination might he a sham, 

 the curricu]um might be a sham, the certificate 

 might be bought and sold like anything in a shop; 

 or, on the other hand, the examination might 

 be fairly good and the diploma correspondingly 

 valuable; but there was not the smallest guaran- 

 tee, except the personal character of the people 

 who composed the administration of each of these 

 licensing bodies, as to what might happen. It 

 was possible for a young man to come to London 

 and to spend two years and six months of the 

 time in his compulsory three years " walking the 

 hospitals " in idleness or .worse; he could then, 

 b}^ putting himself in the hands of a judicious 

 " grinder ^' for the remaining six months, pass tri- 

 umphantly through the ordeal of one hour's viva 

 voce examination, which was all that was abso- 

 lutelv necessarv, to enable him to be turned loose 

 upon the public, like death on the pale horse, 

 " conquering and to conquer," with the full sanc- 

 tion of the law, as a "" qualified practitioner." 



It is difficult to imagine, at present, such a 

 state of things, still more difficult to depict the 

 consequences of it, because they would appear like 

 a gross and malignant caricature; but it may be 

 said that there was never a system, or want of 

 svstem, which was better calculated to ruin the 



