August 17, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



253 



land and rents in mortmain to the annual 

 value of £2000 instead of £1000. It was 

 not, however, completely satisfactory to 

 the general body of members, and it was 

 felt to be somewhat too narrow and oli- 

 garchical in character. The governing 

 body, though it had very great authority 

 in the affairs of the college, was small and 

 self- elected, and its members held their 

 position for life ; it was composed of sur- 

 geons connected with the metropolitan 

 hospitals, and teachers in private and pro- 

 vincial schools did not think they enjoyed 

 all the privileges to which they were fairly 

 entitled. But, though a Parliamentary 

 committee investigated the matter in 1834, 

 nothing was done until 1843, when a new 

 charter established a more democratic form 

 of government. The title was altered to 

 the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 

 and a new class of ' Fellows ' was created. 

 The council, which was to be selected from 

 among these, was increased to 24, and the 

 three senior members were to retire every 

 year, though they were eligible for re-elec- 

 tion. Ko Fellow practicing pharmacy or 

 midwifery could be on the council. The 

 constitution of the court of examiners also 

 was altered; its members were to be se- 

 lected from the general body of Fellows 

 and not exclusively, as formerly, from the 

 council, while the office was to be held not 

 for life but at the pleasure of the council. 

 The charter ordained that between 250 

 and 300 members should be selected to be 

 Fellows within three months, and it gave 

 the council further powers to appoint a 

 number of other members to be Fellows 

 within the succeeding nine months. The 

 first Fellows, of whom three still survive, 

 were appointed on December 11, 1843, 

 mainly from the surgeons and lecturers 

 at metropolitan and provincial hospitals, 

 while in August, 1844, a further batch of 

 242 were selected, including a number of 

 representatives of the naval, military and 



Indian forces. Of these also three survive. 

 All subsequent Fellows were admitted only 

 after examination. Some slight modifica- 

 tion of these arrangements was brought 

 about by the charter of 1852, which gave 

 the council power to elect members of 15 

 years' standing to the Fellowship without 

 examination, provided they had obtained 

 their diplomas of membership before 1843 ; 

 also to elect two Fellows annually who 

 were members of over 20 years' standing 

 without restriction as to the date of their 

 diplomas. A supplementary charter in 

 1859 regulated the appointment of exam- 

 iners in dental surgery, and a fresh one in 

 1888 increased the annual value of the 

 land that might be held by the college to 

 £20,000. The final modification in the 

 constitution took place this year, when the 

 council was empowered to elect honorary 

 Fellows to a number not exceeding 50. 

 The first of these is the Prince of "Wales. 

 Since 1800 there have been 61 masters or 

 presidents of the college, who have included 

 the most distinguished surgeons of the time. 

 The great majority only held office for a 

 year, but in six cases the term was three 

 years and in one four; Sir William Mac- 

 Cormac, therefore, who is now the president, 

 has exceeded all his predecessors in length 

 of service, for the present centenary year 

 marks his fifth year of office. John Hun- 

 ter, perhaps the greatest surgeon that has 

 ever lived, was never a member of the col- 

 lege, because he died before its incorpora- 

 tion ; yet he may be accounted its greatest 

 ornament. His famous anatomical collec- 

 tions, greatly enlarged, but still arranged 

 on the simple plan he devised, are housed 

 within its walls. At his death Parliament, 

 tardily enough, voted £15,000 for their pur- 

 chase and entrusted them to the keeping of 

 the old Corporation of Surgeons. When 

 this was dissolved they were handed over to 

 the custody of the present college, which 

 has proved itself worthy of the trust. The 



