398 
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN FRANCE. 
on anatomy ; the second, on the elements of medicine ; and the 
third, on surgery and the ordinary knowledge of pharmacy ( les 
connaissances les plus usuelles de la pharmacie). Officiers de 
sante are authorised to practise only in the department in which 
they have been examined ; they are prohibited from taking the 
title of doctor; but, through a curious oversight of the law, they 
may with impunity assume the appellation of “ medecin,” given in 
common to doctors, officiers de sante, and veterinaires. The new 
bill contains provisions to remedy this abuse. Officiers de sante 
may not perform important surgical operations, except under the 
surveillance of a doctor of medicine. The penalties which may 
be at present enforced against persons practising illegally are, a 
fine of from lOOf. to lOOOf. against any individual practising as 
doctor; and a fine of from 25f. to 500f. against those practising 
as officiers de sante. In case of a second offence, the fine may be 
doubled, and the offender imprisoned for a period not exceeding 
six months. Foreigners transgressing the above regulations are 
subject to the same punishments as Frenchmen. Such is the state 
of the medical profession under the existing system. In the new 
bill the leading points of reform (those at least which seem to us 
of most interest for our readers) relate — 1. To the two classes of 
practitioners, doctors of medicine and officers of health. 2. To 
the repression of illegal practice. 3. To foreign physicians who 
desire to practise in France. The government’s plan, which has 
been fully adopted by the committee of the Chamber of Peers, 
proposes the suppression of the officiers de sante. This clause is 
called, in Count Beugnot’s report, la disposition capitale de la 
nouvelle loi. The congress, by an immense majority, had already 
demanded the suppression of this grade, which measure would, it 
was said, have the effect of increasing the respectability of the 
medical body in France, and, what is still more important, of 
affording more security to the lives of the inhabitants. On the 
second point to which we have adverted above — the illegal prac- 
tice of medicine — the new law declares that any person practising 
the healing art without having graduated in one of the French 
faculties, or without a duly legalized authorization from the French 
government, shall be liable to imprisonment for a period of not 
less than six months, and not exceeding two years ; for the second 
offence the minimum imprisonment is two years, and the maximum 
five years. A proposition which, it is probable, will meet with 
general disapprobation, and, we think, deservedly so, is one which 
exposes all medical men who may incur the slightest punishment 
of the simple correctional police to be deprived of their right to 
practise. This has been modified by the committee, and the 
penalty is to be applicable only to those who transgress the fol- 
lowing articles of the penal code, to which we refer our readers; 
