652 



MERIONETHSHIREMICROSCOPE. 



cians, by its charter, that body had only received 

 Mich privileges as are commonly bestowed at the 

 present day on similar corporations, the right to 

 elect its own members, and to regulate their con- 

 duct by its by-laws. This we regard as the legiti- 

 mate, and the only proper means, of combining the 

 influence of individual character and conduct, so as 

 to produce a united effect on public opinion. Had 

 this been the only power of the college of physi- 

 cians, the first effect must have been to prevent 

 the division between the fellows and licentiates. 

 The fellows would have perceived, that the value 

 of the distinction which they enjoyed as such, 

 could only be maintained by the same professional 

 ni.-rit by which it was first acquired; and, conse- 

 quently, instead of framing their by-laws so as to 

 exclude those whose education and character 

 equally entitle them to the same privileges, they 

 would have taken care so to frame them, that the 

 line of distinction should correspond with that of 

 desert. Had they done otherwise, those who 

 were excluded, no matter by what name they were 

 called, would soon have become the most honoura- 

 ble body. 



Another effect of such a limitation of the powers 

 of the college of physicians as we have supposed, 

 would have been to prevent the introduction of 

 the apothecaries into practice as physicians, in 

 1704. Whatever was the cause of the necessity 

 for additional practitioners of medicine, whether it 

 arose from a deficiency in their number, or the 

 want of a different class, with lower attainments 

 and lower fees, the college of physicians might 

 easily have prevented or removed it, by diminish- 

 ing the obstacles to obtaining a license. No one 

 can doubt that they would have done this, if in- 

 stead of relying upon the arbitrary privileges 

 vested in them by the charter, they had felt that 

 their power was derived from the confidence of the 

 public. By this means, the apothecaries would 

 still have been excluded from practising a profes- 

 sion for which they were not educated. At the 

 same time they would have suffered no hardship, 

 because although as apothecaries they might not 

 practise physic, yet the individuals among them 

 who were in any good degree qualified, would have 

 been admitted to practise, as physicians. The 

 necessity for a greater number, or a different class 

 of practitioners, would have been provided for, 

 without the enormous evil of introducing a great 

 body of unqualified practitioners of medicine ; and 

 without the additional evil, which it is more particu- 

 larly our present object to notice, of entailing per- 

 petual discord and contention upon the profession. 

 That such has been the result of the present insti- 

 tution in England, is sufficiently apparent from 

 what we have already said ; and to such an extent 

 have these contentions proceeded, that it is not 

 easy to see how society can much longer endure 

 them, or what remedy can be devised for them. 



MERIONETHSHIRE; a small county of North 

 Wales, bounded on the north by Carnarvonshire 

 and Denbighshire, on the east by Denbighshire and 

 Montgomeryshire, on the south by Cardiganshire, 

 and on the west by the Irish channel. Its length 

 is about thirty-six, and its breadth thirty-four 

 miles. Its area is estimated at 666 square miles. 



This county is a portion of the Alpine district 

 which, commencing in Carnarvonshire, and traver- 

 sing South Wales, dips under the coal strata, on 

 the borders of the Bristol channel. The surface 

 is rocky and unequal, the valleys afford some fer- 



tile fields, and the vicinity of the sea is also found 

 sheltered and productive, but the major part of the 

 county is sterile and irreclaimable. Many of the 

 mountains of this district, as Arrenig, Moelwyn, 

 Rhinog, &c. exceed 2000 feet in height, while 

 Arran, Mowddwy, the loftiest, is elevated 2955 

 feet above sea-level; and Cuder Idris reaches 2914 

 feet. The scenery of the glens in this county is 

 singularly beautiful, and is enlivened by many ro- 

 mantic cataracts. The principal rivers are the Dee, 

 the Maw, the Dovy, the Gleslyn, and Dwyrid. 

 The agriculture of the county is in a very imper- 

 fect state; the principal pursuit of the farmers being 

 that of breeding and rearing cattle. Flocks of 

 sheep and herds of small black cattle are pastured 

 on the hills, and some store cattle sold to the En- 

 glish drovers. The genuine Welch poney is to be 

 found here in all its primitive symmetry, although 

 the breed is nearly extinct in other parts of the 

 principality. The geological structure of the 

 mountainous district consists of grey-wache, flinty 

 slate, and roofing slate, intersected by veins of 

 quartz containing copper pyntes. The vales con- 

 tain schistose clay, and sometimes peat, constitut- 

 ing bogs and turbanies. The hundreds into which 

 the county is divided are denominated Ardudwy, 

 Eidernion, Estimaner, Penllynn, Tal-y-bount, and 

 Mowddwy ; and in these are contained the follow- 

 ing towns, Bala and Dolgelly, in which the ses- 

 sions are held alternately. Corwen, an improving 

 little place, upon the great parliamentary road ; 

 Harlech, anciently a borough and the capital of 

 the county ; Towyn, Dinasmowddwy, and Aberdyfi. 

 The great staple of this county is slate ; these are 

 raised near Festiniog at the quarries of Diffwys, 

 Rhiw-briwdu, lord Newborough, and Mr Holland's 

 works. The slates are conveyed by waggons to 

 the waterside, a distance of seven miles, where 

 lighters receive and convey them to the vessels 

 lying at the port. About 500 persons obtain con- 

 stant employment in these four quarries. Manu- 

 factures of wool are also established in this county, 

 and coarse cloths, kerseymeres, druggets, flannels, 

 and stockings are made in various places. Popu- 

 lation of the county in 1821, 34,382; in 1831, 

 35,315. in 1841, 39,332. 



MERTHYR TYDV1L; a thriving town in 

 Glamorganshire, South Wales, 171 miles from Lon- 

 don. Not many years since it was an insignificant 

 little village, but the discovery of iron in its vicin- 

 ity raised it rapidly to importance. The town 

 stands upon the river Taff, in a country naturally 

 sterile and cheerless; it does not possess any degree 

 of regularity of plan, nor can it boast of any pub- 

 lic buildings claiming attention for their architec- 

 tural graces. Here is, however, a spacious palish 

 church, a chapel of ease, several meeting-houses of 

 Dissenters, and a theatre. The cast and forged 

 iron made in this place amount to many hundred 

 tons weekly. The number of hands employed in 

 each of the principal iron-works exceeds 1000, but 

 the whole population of the parish may be said to 

 subsist by means of the iron manufacture solely. 

 The iron, when wrought into bars, is transported 

 to Pennarth, the port of Cardiff, by the Glamor- 

 ganshire canal and the adjacent railroad, and then 

 shipped for the English and foreign markets. By 

 the reform act, Merthyr Tydvil obtained the pri- 

 vilege of returning one member to parliament. 

 Population in 1801, 7,705; in 1841, 34,977. 



MICROSCOPE, (rt.) In the article on this sno- 

 ject already given in the body of the present Enr yclo- 



