174 Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



notes, which he permits the writer to subjoih by way of conclusion to 

 his own imperfect sketch. 



As a Member and afterwards as President of the Council, " he took a 

 leading part in the discussion of educational questions. His University 

 training and environment kept continually before him the necessity of 

 regarding Medicine as one of the learned professions, for which the 

 special training required for its efficient practice must be based on a 

 sound, general, and scientific education. In addition to his work in 

 Oxford as a busy practitioner, Acland's attention had continually 

 been drawn to the public relations of his profession. He kept in 

 view that it had important duties to discharge to the State and to the 

 community generally, and he took an active share in the discussions 

 in the Council on educational questions bearing on the wider relations 

 of his profession. As far back as 1868 he was appointed Chairman of 

 a Committee to report on the steps proper to be taken for granting 

 Diplomas or Certificates of Proficiency in State Medicine, and in 

 providing for their inclusion in the Medical Register. In the course 

 of time many of the examining authorities instituted Examinations on 

 Public Heath and conferred diplomas, but it was not until the passing 

 of the Medical Act, 1886, that these diplomas became registrable, and 

 that the sanction of the State was then given to the possession of such 

 diplomas, as a qualification to discharge the duties of a Medical Officer 

 of Health. 



" As President of the Council Sir Henry Acland was courteous in 

 manner, graceful in speech, dignified in presence. His academic and 

 social position, and the innate nobility of his nature, had from an 

 early period of his life gained for him the friendship and confidence of 

 the leaders of the medical profession, of statesmen of both parties, and 

 others eminent in public life, and contributed in no small measure to 

 ensure harmonious relations between the Medical Council and the 

 departments of Government with which it is brought into official 

 communication. From his urbanity and the consideration which he 

 showed his colleagues he inspired in them a feeling of affectionate 

 regard and respect." 



J..B. S. 



