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quisitc qualiHcations, to kecj) out, which 

 has tended no less to the increasing re- 

 spectabihty of that honourable and learn- 

 ed profession, than to tlie comfort and 

 safety of the lives and property of all 

 of us. 



From the increase of accidents and 

 maladies occasioned in the army and 

 navy during a long series of warfare, 

 a great number of young men are em- 

 ployed as assistant siu'geons, &c. with 

 very slender medical knowledge, from 

 which circumstance, similar evils have of 

 late also crept into that profession, and so 

 much so, that it was found necessary, last 

 sessions, to pass a bill in i)arliament, to 

 prevent any person in future from prac- 

 tising as an apothecary, unless he had 

 studied all its departments sufficiently, 

 and could produce testimonials of proper 

 qualifications, which must, of course, 

 have the effect of keeping down the 

 number of irregular })ractition'jrs, and 

 thus render the profession more re- 

 spectable. 



This digression is made only with a 

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