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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 294. 



theater thereon. This was first used in 

 1751, the meetings of the court of assistants 

 being meanwhile held in the hall of the 

 Stationers' Company. The company started 

 in favorable circumstances; its fees were 

 lower than was possible in the old com- 

 pany, and its members were relieved from 

 the onerous and expensive civic ofi&ces 

 which formerly they were liable to serve. 

 But for all that it did not prosper very 

 greatly the cause being to a large extent 

 mismanagement. At first its available 

 funds were scanty, and in 1780 it was 

 nearly insolvent. A new clerk, who was 

 engaged at this time, affected a great change 

 in this respect ; but as the finances im- 

 proved new methods of spending money 

 were discovered— e. g., assistants attending 

 punctually at the meetings of the court 

 were rewarded with half-a-crown, later 

 with half-a-guinea, while meetings of the 

 courts, in some years held almost once a 

 fortnight, were supplemented with expen- 

 sive dinners at the sole cost of the com- 

 pany. Yet while this sort of thing was 

 going on the lecture theater was without 

 lectures, and the library without books. 

 In 1796 the buildings were found to be 

 very much out of repair, and it was sug- 

 gested that rather than spend money on 

 them it would be better to sell the lease of 

 the land on which they stood and purchase 

 freehold ground elsewhere on which to 

 erect new premises. Accordingly bids were 

 invited, but at the very meeting at which 

 it was announced that no one of them 

 reached the amount fixed on, the company, 

 by a final act of mismanagement, succeeded 

 in destroying itself. On July 7, 1896, a 

 court, not constituted according to the Act, 

 assembled and transacted business, the re- 

 sult being to determine the corporation's 

 legal existence. Attempts were made to 

 legalize the irregularity by a new Act 

 which also conferred new powers, but they 

 were defeated by the opposition of persons 



who were in practice without holding the 

 diploma of the company. In the mean- 

 time the property in the Old Bailey was 

 sold and a freehold house in Lincoln's-inn- 

 fields — on the site of which stands part of 

 the present Royal College — was purchased. 

 But, as the result of the rejection of its 

 Bill, the company found itself very awk- 

 wardly situated, for its business was at a 

 standstill, it could hold no examinations, 

 and many of its members declined to pay 

 their dues. Ultimately a compromise was 

 affected between the court of assistants 

 and the opponents of the Bill, and it was 

 agreed that a new Act should be sought 

 converting the old company into a college. 

 All practitioners in England and Wales 

 were to be subject to its examinations, 

 lectures on anatomy were to be given on a 

 more extended scale, and a library and 

 museum were to be formed. After these 

 terms had been arranged it occurred to 

 some one that a Eoyal charter was prefer- 

 able to an Act of Parliament. Accordingly 

 a charter was sought and granted, March 

 22, 1800. 



In this way was constituted the ' Royal 

 College of Surgeons in London,' for the 

 promotion of the study and practice of the 

 art and science of surgery. The number of 

 members in 1800 was about 230, all those 

 who belonged to the old company having 

 the right to become members, though sub- 

 sequent candidates for membership had to 

 pass a prescribed examination. The court 

 of examiners, whose members held office 

 for life, had also to examine all Army 

 and Navy surgeons, their assistants and 

 mates, and also to inspect their instru- 

 ments. This constitution remained prac- 

 tically unaltered until 1843, the changes 

 introduced by the supplementary charter 

 of 1822 being merely the substitution of 

 the titles of president and vice-presidents 

 for the old ones of master and governors, 

 and the permission to the college to hold 



