322 PRESENT STATE OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 
confined to the old town of Edinburgh. The Faculty of Physicians 
and Surgeons of Glasgow has jurisdiction over four counties ; the 
College of Surgeons of Edinburgh over eight; and nearly one-half 
of the population of Scotland is not under corporate control. It 
should also be known that a Scotch diploma does not qualify a man 
to practise in England or Ireland, and vice versa. 
Let the reader now pause, and ask himself whether he is living 
in the nineteenth century, and whether the dark age has really 
passed? What would he think if some of the clergy were licensed 
to preach only in certain districts, and if barristers and attorneys 
were compelled to pursue their avocations within chalked lines 1 
What would he think of metropolitan and rural theology — of city 
law and country law? But let us contrast this state of things with 
that which exists in France, a country numbering a population of 
thirty-three millions. There, there are only three Faculties of 
Medicine that grant degrees, Paris, Montpellier, and Strasburg, 
and all candidates are, in addition to the degree of Bachelor of 
Letters, compelled to take one in Medicine and Surgery, and then 
practise as they please. The students obtain their posts at the 
hospitals by examination, and the hospital appointments are ob- 
tained by concours, or public competition, so that all drones are 
kept out of the hive. The examinations are not only open to the 
members of the profession, but to the public at large. In France 
there is uniformity of qualification, and the same title; but observe 
the diversity of titles and qualifications in this country. In our 
first number (March 1), we gave an analysis which we made of 
the London Medical Directory, and of the qualifications of the 
2,567 metropolitan practitioners for 1849. We now give an 
analysis of the Provincial Directory, (which has cost us immense 
labour), and the reader will be able to draw his own inferences as 
to the necessity of a sweeping measure of medical reform. Let 
him, whatever his political opinions may be, banish from his mind 
the hacknied expression “ vested rights.” The man whose open 
drain or cesspool is scattering death around might as well use 
the same argument. But to whom do these rotten corporations 
belong ? 
Before giving the following analysis of the Provincial Medical 
Directory for the present year, we must beg the reader to keep in 
view the relative population of the three countries, England 15 
millions, Ireland 8, and Scotland 2J millions. Another important 
fact must be borne in mind, viz. that a man’s proficiency must not 
be estimated by the number and quality of his titles, for as ex- 
aminations are at present conducted, a gentleman with one diploma 
may be in many instances a better practitioner than others who 
have three or four. Of the 1408 without titles, many were in 
