xii THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 143 



II. THE Society OF (LICENTIATE) PHYSICIANS REVOLT 

 OF THE LICENTIATES OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF 

 PHYSICIANS 



The example of the small society last noticed early led to 

 the formation of others on a like plan. By the year 1767 

 there were several such in existence. The Society of (Licen- 

 tiate) Physicians arose in the last-named year, and to explain 

 its origin we must trace the history of a controversy that has 

 never been fully recorded. The Royal College of Physicians 

 of London, founded in the reign of Henry VIII., has always 

 been a body of much learning and dignity. In the eighteenth 

 century it had become a close and rather contentious corpora- 

 tion. Like every other institution in those days it fell under 

 the lash of the satirist, who saw a gilded pill crowning its 

 dome in Warwick Lane, and the god of sloth enthroned within 

 its halls : 



Mean faction reigns where knowledge should preside, 

 Feuds are increased, and learning laid aside. 1 



The college was originally constituted of all men of the faculty 

 of physic then practising in London ; these became fellows 

 of the new college. Licences to practise were at a later date 

 given to others, but the charter and bye-laws vested the 

 government entirely in the fellows. The latter were recruited 

 almost wholly from the graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, 

 members of the Church of England in conformity with the 

 Test Act. In the course of the eighteenth century many 

 Englishmen obtained medical training elsewhere, especially in 

 the new medical schools which arose north of the Tweed, 

 where there were no religious tests. The body of licentiates 

 practising in London became larger ; they were mostly 

 graduates of Scottish and foreign universities, especially of 

 Leyden, and scarcely any of them were elected to the 

 fellowship of the college. 



In 1746, two years after Fothergill's admission as a licen- 

 tiate, the fellows numbered fifty-six, and the licentiates 

 twenty-four. The latter continued to increase, and came to 

 include some of the most distinguished physicians in the 

 capital, who yet had no share in the government of the college. 

 They were restive under this deprivation ; they thought that 

 such a share was their right ; and some of them could not 



1 Garth, The Dispensary, Canto I. 



