August 17, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



261 



surgeons for those services, which had been 

 instituted in the reign of Henry VIII., was 

 continued for a long time by the Court of 

 Examiners until other arrangements were 

 made at a comparatively recent date. It 

 was for this examination, I may note in 

 passing, that Oliver Goldsmith presented 

 himself in order to qualify as a naval sur- 

 geon's mate, December 21, 1758. He was 

 unsuccessful, and it was well perhaps, 

 since he could scarcely have written The 

 Vicar of Wakefield in the cockpit of a man- 

 of-war. In Roderick Random we possess a 

 graphic and probably fairly correct descrip- 

 tion of one of these examinations, derived, 

 doubtless, from Smollett's personal experi- 

 ence, as he obtained the Company's diploma 

 for a post of surgeon in His Majesty's navy. 



The Surgeons established themselves in 

 the Old Bailey, and there they built a 

 theater. In 1753 Percivall Pott and John 

 Hunter were chosen as the first Masters in 

 Anatomy, and no more bi-illiant choice 

 could have been made. It is recorded that 

 immediately after this election the Court 

 proceeded to discuss how they should dis- 

 pose of the bodies of three persons who 

 were to be executed a few days afterwards 

 for ' murder,' and then sent to the College 

 theater to be dissected. Amongst these 

 brought in this way was that of Lord Fer- 

 rers, executed in 1760 for killing his stew- 

 ard. It was not, however, dissected, but 

 buried in Old St. Pancras Churchyard at 

 the intercession of Lady Huntington. 



On July 7, 1796, Henry Cline the elder 

 was elected a member of the Court, but, as 

 it subsequently turned out, the meeting at 

 which this occurred was irregular, and its 

 proceedings illegal, a properly constituted 

 quorum not being present. Although only 

 a technical illegality had taken place, this 

 incident led to the final extinction of the 

 Company of Surgeons, for a bill shortly 

 afterwards introduced into Parliament to 

 legalize the proceeding was thrown out. 



and the Company was thereupon dissolved. 

 The bill passed the Commons, but was re- 

 jected in the Lords, mainly through the 

 influence of Lord Thurlow, who was bit- 

 terly opposed to Mr. Gunning, a very dis- 

 tinguished surgeon, and at the time Master. 

 ' ' There is no more science in surgery," Lord 

 Thurlow is reported to have said, " than 

 there is in butchery." "Then," replied 

 Gunning, ' ' I heartily pray your lordship 

 may break your leg and have only a butcher 

 to set it, and my lord will then find out the 

 difference between butchery and surgery." 



In 1796 the Surgeons migrated from the 

 Old Bailey to Lincoln's Inn Fields. In 

 that year a new bill they sought for was 

 rejected in the Lords on the ground that 

 the College premises were too far removed 

 from the place of execution, and that it 

 would be indecent and improper to carry 

 the bodies of deceased criminals so long a 

 distance through the streets of London. Fi- 

 nally, the Court in 1797 decided to apply to 

 the Crown, and not to Parliament, for a new 

 charter, and, although opposition was again 

 ofiered, it proved unsuccessful, and March 

 22, 1800, the Eoyal College of Surgeons in 

 London was established by charter of King 

 George III. This charter gave the College 

 its former rights on condition of resigning 

 its municipal privileges. The titles of Mas- 

 ter and Governors were retained for a time, 

 but a supplementary charter from King 

 George IV. in 1821 replaced these by those 

 of President and Vice-Presidents. In 1843 

 another charter, granted by Her Majesty 

 Queen Victoria, changed the title to that 

 of ' Royal College of Surgeons of England,' 

 with a President, two Vice-Presidents, 

 Council, Fellows, and Members, as they 

 exist at the present time. Thus it was 

 that the Eoyal College of Surgeons of 

 England was created. 



During the century of its existence this 

 College has witnessed discoveries which 

 have profoundly changed the character of 



