PHYSICIANS, ROYAL COLLEGE OF. 



PHYSICIANS, ROYAL COLLEGE OF. 



ta licentiates obtained UM miM right to practise in London aa 

 UM licentiate*. It was eren doubtful, under the old law, whether 

 the licentiate infra *rbtm had the right to prescribe beyond aeven 

 Bittfts of London. 



It would be impossible hero to give an account of all the literary 

 controversies in which the College of Physicians have been continually 

 encaged, partly in support of their own just and undoubted righto, and 

 pertly in defence of their arbitrary and unwise limitations with respect 

 to the election of fellows. A list of the titles of more than fifty 

 pamphlets, Ac., written for or against the college between the years 

 1665 and 1810, is given in a work entitled ' An Exposition of the 

 State of the Medical Profession in the British Dominions ; and of tbe 

 Injurious Effect! of the Monopoly, by Usurpation, of the Royal 

 College of Physicians in London,' 8vo, Loud., 1826, pp. 373. The 

 following regulations for admisaion to the licence hare been pul 



by authority of the college. 



ftymJalioia of At Kuyal Colleye 



of Phyticiani of London The 



College of Physicians, having for some years past found it necessary, 

 from time to time, to make alterations in the terms on which it 

 would admit candidates to examination, and license them to practise as 

 physicians, has reason to believe that neither the character nor object 

 of those alterations, nor even the extent of the powers with which it is 

 invested, has been fully and properly understood. 



The college, therefore, considers it right at this time to make public 

 statement of the means which it possesses, within itself, of conferring 

 the rank and privileges of physician on all those who, having had the 

 advantage of a liberal education, both general and professional, can 

 prove their qualifications by producing proper testimonials and sub- 

 mitting to adequate examinations. 



Jieyitlatiaiu regarding Ccrtijirata and Tettimoniab. Every candidate 

 for a diploma in medicine, upon presenting himself for examination, 

 shall produce satisfactory evidence 1. Of unim peached moral cha- 

 racter; 2. Of having completed the twenty-sixth year of his age; 

 anil, 3. Of having devoted himself for five years at least to the 

 study of medicine. 



The course of study thus ordered by the college comprises : 



Anatomy and physiology, the theory and practice of physics, forensic 

 nedicine, chemistry, inatoria mcdica and botany, and the principles of 

 midwifery and surgery. 



With regard to practical medicine, the college considers it essential 

 that each candidate shall have diligently attended, for three entire 

 years, the physicians' practice of some general hospital in Great Britain 

 or Ireland, containing at least one hundred lxil, and having a regular 

 establishment of physicians as well as surgeons. 



Candidates who luivu beeu educated abroad will be required to nhow 

 that, in addition to thn full courw of Htndy already specified, they have 

 diligently attended the physicians' practice in some general hospital in 

 this country fur at least twelve months. 



Candidates who have already been engaged in practice, and have 

 attained the age of forty years, but have not passed through the 

 complete course of study above described, may be admitted to 

 examination upon presenting to the censors' board such testimonials 

 of character, general and professional, as shall be satisfactory to the 

 college. 



The first examination is in anatomy and physiology, and is under- 

 stood to comprise a knowledge of such propositions in any of the 

 physical sciences as have reference to the structure and functions of 

 the human body. 



The second examination includes all that relates to the causes and 

 symptoms of diseases, and whatever portions of the collateral sciences 

 may appear to belong to these subjects. 



The third examination relates to the treatment of diseases, including 

 a scientific knowledge of all the means used for that purpose. 



The three examinations are held at separate meetings of the censors' 

 board. The rir4 rofc part of each is carried on in Latin, except when 

 the board deems it expedient to put questions in English, and permits 

 answers to be returned in the same language. 



The College is desirous that all those who receive its diploma should 

 have had such a previous education as would imply a competent know- 

 ledge of Greek ; but it does not consider this indispensable, if the 

 other qualifications of the candidate prove satisfactory ; it cannot, 

 however, on any account dispense with a familiar knowledge of the 

 Latin language, as constituting an essential' part of a liberal education ; 

 at the commencement, therefore, of each oral examination, the candi- 

 date is called on to translate rird voce into Latin a passage from Hippo- 

 crates, Galen, or Aretceus; or, if he declines this, he is, at any rate, 

 expected to construe into English a portion of the works of Cclsus, or 

 Sydenham, or some other Latin medical author. 



In connection with the oral examinations, the candidate is required, 

 on three separate days, to give written answers in English to questions 

 "i the different subjects enumerated above, and to translate in writing 

 from Greek or Latin books relating to medicine. Those who 



are approved at all these examinations will receive a diploma under 

 the common seal of the College. 



The College gives no particular rules as to the details of previous 

 education, or the places where it is to be obtained. It will be obvious, 

 however, from a reference to the character and extent of the study 

 above described, the manner in which the examinations are conducted, 



and the mature age of the candidates, as affording full time for 

 acquiring the necessary knowledge, that there will be ample security 

 afforded to the public and the profession that none but those who have 

 had a liberal and learned education can presume, with the slightest 

 hope of success, to offer themselves for approval to the censors' board ; 

 and as the College trusts that, by a faithful discharge of iU own duty, 

 it can promise iteelf the satisfaction of thus continuing to admit into 

 the order of English physicians a body of men who shall do it honour 

 by their qualifications, both general and professional, it is prepared to 

 regard in the same light, and address by the same appellation, all who 

 have obtained its diploma, whether they have graduated elsewhere 

 or not. 



In drawing up and promulgating the above regulations, the College 

 has endeavoured fairly to look at that which is substantial, rather than 

 that which is merely nominal, in all that concerns the qualifications 

 of its members. It has resolved to estimate all testimonials, whether 

 they are presented under the name of certificates, diplomas, or degrees 

 strictly with reference to their value, and to measure them by this 

 standard alone, as parts of the previous qualification of candidates, 

 which they are to verify in their examinations. 



The College feels confident that it has overstepped neither the spirit 

 nor letter of the laws which have invested it with the power of govern- 

 ing and legislating for the whole faculty of medicine within it- juris- 

 diction, by thus earnestly endeavouring to maintain its character and 

 reputation, and vindicate its claim to be the source of professional 

 honour. 



Dec. 22, 1833. FRANCIS HAWKINS, 



Registrar. 



The Medical Act of 1858 [PHYSICIAN] has very considerably modified 

 the position and character of the College of Physicians of London. By 

 giving the right to practise, according to their qualifications, to all 

 practitioners registered under that Act, the exclusive privileges of the 

 fellows and licentiates of the London College were abolished. The 

 College of Physicians of Edinburgh at once opened its doors to all 

 those who, by previous education and examination, were entitled to 

 practise as physicians; and in order to prevent its own extra-licentiates, 

 and those graduates in medicine practising in London and as physician* 

 in the provinces, from obtaining their right to register from Edinburgh, 

 the London College was compelled for some time to admit to its 

 licence, at a fee of ten pounds, all those who were desirous of joining 

 the College. At the same time, and for the same period, the College 

 declared a year of grace for the admission of fellows, and a large 

 number of licentiates were selected for this honour. 



The future of the College is still, however, involved in obscurity. 

 Whilst n large number of the fellows are still desirous of maintaining 

 the College as an institution for uniting those only who practise 

 strictly as consulting physicians, there are a number of the younger 

 fellows whn ore auximin to place the College at the head of the whole 

 profession, by instituting examin.at.ion9 \vhi.-h Khali entitle the class of 

 general practitioners to its diploma. Overtures have been mode to the 

 College of Surgeons to unite with the Physicians for this purpose, but 

 they have hitherto refused to countenance such a plan. By the new 

 Medical Act, the College of Physicians of London is entitled to apply 

 for a new charter in the following clause : " It shall be lawful for her 

 Majesty to grant to the corporation of the Royal College of Physicians 

 of London a new charter, and thereby to give to such corporation the 

 name of ' The Royal College of Physicians of England,' and to make 

 such alterations in the constitution of the same corporation as to Her 

 Majesty may seem expedient; and it shall be lawful for the said corpo- 

 ration to accept such charter under their common seal, and such 

 acceptance shall operate as a surrender of all charters heretofore 

 granted to the said corporation, except the charter granted by King 

 Henry VIII. ; and shall also operate as a surrender of such charter,and of 

 any rights, powers, or privileges, conferred by or enjoyed under an Act 

 of the session holden in the 14th and 15th years of King Henry VIII., 

 chap. 5, confirming the same as far as such charter and Act respectively 

 may be inconsistent with such new charter. Provided, nevertheless, that 

 within twelve months after the granting of such charter to the College 

 of Physicians of London, any fellow, member, or licentiate of the 

 Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, or of the Queen's College of 

 Physicians of Ireland, who may be in practice as a physician in any 

 part of the United Kingdom called England, and who may be desirous 

 of becoming a member of such College of Physicians of England, shall 

 be at liberty to do so, and entitled to receive the diploma of the said 

 College, and to be admitted to all the rights and privileges thereunto 

 appertaining, on the payment of a registration fee of two pounds to the 

 said College." Up to the present time (1860) the College of Physicians 

 has not applied for a new charter. 



Much curious information respecting the antiquities of the College 

 of Physicians is to be found in ' The Gold-Headed Cane,' an amusing 

 and interesting little volume by the late Dr. Macmichoel. He tells us 

 (p. 120), that its very first meetings, immediately after its establish- 

 ment, 1518, were held in the house of Linacre, called the Stone House, 

 No. 5, Knight Rider Street, which still belongs to the College. About 

 the time of the accession of Charles I., the College removed to another 

 spot, and took a house of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, at the 

 bottom of Amen Corner. During the civil wars their premises woro 



