PRESENT STATE OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 319 
few horses, of Mr. Plomley’s shoe, and we have spoken of it ac- 
cordingly; we hope to have three or twice three months’ more trial 
of it, and on a more extended scale, which will enable us to speak 
of it, as a shoe for general purposes, in more definite language. 
For tender, flat, weak, and spraw feet, there cannot be a doubt of 
its adaption and serviceability. 
Home Extracts. 
The Present State of the Medical Profession in the 
United Kingdom. 
There are no people on the face of the earth who know so little 
about the qualifications of their medical attendants as the subjects 
of Her Britannic Majesty. Talk to John Bull about food and 
commerce, and you excite his interest and attention ; ask him about 
Blair’s Pills and Holloway’s Ointment, he has heard of them, and 
perhaps tried them both ; mention legitimate medicine to him, and 
he is fairly at his wits’ end : he knows not the difference between 
a physician, surgeon, and general practitioner, and this ignorance 
extends to almost every rank of society. The following extract 
from the Morning Herald , during the late epidemic, is a good ex- 
ample. The writer, after trying very properly to soothe the public 
anxiety, says — 
“ The patient can have a Bright, Paris, Latham, Southey, Elliotson, 
Seymour, Marshall Hall, and Prout ; that he can have the aid of Brodie, of 
Hammick, of Guthrie, of Stanley, of Keate, and of numerous others as able 
though not so celebrated as physicians, surgeons, and general practitioners.” 
As a vast number of the members of our profession are ignorant 
of its present condition, we purpose, first, to endeavour to enlighten 
them upon this subject, and then to suggest a practical remedy for 
the incongruous and chaotic state of things that now exists. It 
must be apparent to all, that it is the duty of a good government 
to provide an efficient class of medical practitioners for the people; 
it must also be clear to the meanest capacity, that, if an examina- 
tion is necessary at all, it ought to include both medicine and 
surgery ; that these two sciences are one, and indivisible ; that a 
disease so called “ surgical” to-day may be “medical” to-morrow; 
that the knife in many cases should only be resorted to when in- 
ternal treatment has failed ; and that a surgeon should be well ac- 
quainted with the condition of the heart, arteries, lungs, kidneys, 
and other viscera, before he subjects his patient to a dangerous 
