48 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 



derivatives are registered, and all of the drug is 

 also registered and so easily traced from importa- 

 tion to consumption. Where registration is the 

 chief object, the fee must be small, or it will defeat 

 itself. Where income is the object the fee may be 

 ample, but not so excessive as to be prohibitive. 

 Under police power, the fee may be small for regis- 

 tration purposes, large for regulative reasons 

 (such as high license in the liquor business), or 

 moderate, and practically supplying the funds for 

 enforcing the special regulative law. This last is 

 the case with regard to the license fees charged 

 in the regulation of the practice of medicine in any 

 of its branches. 



32. Standards for License. The object of laws 

 regulating the practice of medicine is to insure the 

 reasonable competence of those attempting to 

 practice. It rests with the judgment of the legis- 

 lature as to what kind of a standard shall be estab- 

 lished, and the tendency must be for the gradual 

 elevation of the standard with the advance of 

 scientific knowledge, and of the number of prac- 

 titioners. When practitioners are few, the stand- 

 ard must be relativel}'- low, or those in need of such 

 service may be deprived of help. The first require- 

 ment has generally been the possession of a 

 diploma from a legally incorporated medical col- 

 lege, or an examination before a board of exam- 

 iners composed of experts. The next step has been 

 to specify certain standards for the schools whose 

 diplomas will be accepted, and then to require 

 both diploma and examination. In addition it is 

 customary to require evidence of good moral char- 

 acter, for the intimate relationships which the 



