GOVERNMENT. 41 



Most of the medical practitioners in Bermuda are 

 able, intelligent, and well-educated men; but still, 

 any man who has a diploma from an American 

 college or university — or whether he has a diploma 

 or not — may commence practice as a doctor, with- 

 out being called upon to exhibit any proofs of his 

 knowledge or experience. The profession ought to 

 be better regulated ; and in a community now so 

 rapidly increasing, and where men of learning and 

 talent abound, some arrangement should be made to 

 prevent the mischief which ignorance and impudence 

 are calculated to produce in a population not yet 

 sufficiently enlightened to distinguish the true phy- 

 Mcian from the false pretender. I doubt not that the 

 present Governor of the colony is fully disposed to 

 support any measures which the faculty themselves 

 may suggest for the better ordering of their depart- 

 ment ; and I do hope and trust that the leading men 

 of the profession will take the mattef into their 

 serious consideration, and agree upon an ordinance 

 to be passed by the Governor and Council, for regu- 

 lating the practice of physic and surgery. 



As to the form of government, Bermuda, and 

 most of the West Indian colonies, appear externally 

 to be governed on the model of England; but in 

 reality they only possess in a small degree the 



