78 THE MUSEUM OF THE vn 



old City Company of Barbers and Surgeons, 1 and although it 

 had thrown off the connection which restrained its members 

 from assuming the position of cultivators of a liberal profession, 

 it had as yet done little to raise itself in public estimation, 

 and had few resources from which to provide for the expenses 

 of such a collection. Nevertheless, the Court of the Corpora- 

 tion determined by an unanimous vote on 23rd December 

 1799 to accept the museum on the terms proposed by the 

 Government, and almost simultaneously obtained a new 

 charter, under which it became " The Eoyal College of 

 Surgeons," a body accredited by Government to examine all 

 persons wishing to practise surgery in the kingdom, and 

 migrated from its old quarters in the City to the house in 

 Lincoln's Inn Fields, round which the present establishment 

 has grown up. 



Thus John Hunter's museum and the College of Surgeons 

 of England, though of entirely independent origin, have had 

 their fortunes inextricably intermixed, since the former 

 became national property, and the latter took the title and 

 position it now holds. 



The College is still the principal examining body for those 

 who practise surgery throughout the kingdom. It takes no 

 part directly in professional education, though it exercises a 

 considerable indirect influence by the manner of conducting 

 its examinations, and by the curriculum it requires from 

 candidates. Its revenues are mainly derived from the fees 

 paid for the diplomas which it grants, which, for the last ten 

 years, have averaged 383 a year. In former times these fees 



1 By an Act of Parliament, passed in the 18th year of the reign of George II., 

 entitled, "An Act for making the Surgeons of London and the Barbers of 

 London two separate and distinct Corporations," it was enacted that the union 

 and incorporation of the Barbers and Surgeons of London, made by the Act of 

 the 32nd year of King Henry VIII. , should from and after the 24th day of June, 

 1745, be dissolved, and that such of the members of the said united Company 

 who were Freemen of the said Company, and admitted and approved Surgeons, 

 within the Rules of the said Company, and their successors, should from thence- 

 forth be made a separate and distinct Body Corporate and Commonalty 

 Perpetual, which at all times thereafter was to be called by the name of "The 

 Master, Governors, and Commonalty of the Art and Science of Surgeons of 

 London." The first Charter of the Company dates from the first year of the 

 reign of King Edward IV. (A.D. 1461). 



