396 
MEDICAL LEGISLATION. 
quack, whose success would be in proportion to his unblush- 
ing impudence in denouncing and ridiculing the orthodox and 
recognised conventionalities of the profession. Leaving this 
question, however, for the present, we find in the bill a mode 
of effecting the registration of practitioners in medicine and 
surgery without the complication of establishing a medical 
council, and thus avoiding some of the intricate sources of 
jealousy and disputes in which medical bills usually flounder 
and ultimate^ perish. The bill before us provides that every 
practitioner possessing any of the qualifications enumerated 
in a schedule (A) to the act, shall be entitled to registration 
on application in the proper quarter. The existing bodies 
having the privilege of granting diplomas or licences to prac- 
tise, are enumerated in the fifth section, each of which is 
required to furnish to the registrar-general of births, &c., a 
correct list of all its members and licentiates, the registrar- 
general being empowered to employ the district regis- 
trars to assist in the registration. A provision is added for 
enabling foreign practitioners to acquire the privilege of regis- 
tration. Each person is to be registered according to the 
qualification which he possesses, and upon obtaining a supe- 
rior qualification, he may claim to have the same notified in 
the register on the payment of a small fee. The registrars of 
deaths are to give special notice to the registrar-general of 
the death of medical practitioners, that their names may be 
omitted in the register which is to be published annually ; 
and each corporation or licensing body is required to furnish, 
within two months, the names of all candidates admitted. 
The seventeenth section is a peculiar one : “ Every person 
registered under this act shall have the right to practise 
medicine or surgery in any part of her Majesty’s dominions, 
and all by-laws of any college or colleges, university or 
universities, or corporations, interfering with or limiting this 
right, are hereby declared null and void, and are hereby 
repealed.” 
We cannot pretend to calculate what might be the effect of 
this random shot among the by-laws, but its apparent ten- 
dency is the removal of all distinctions of rank or degree in 
the profession, a result by no means conducive to the public 
benefit. It should be the object of the Legislature to pro- 
mote and encourage the highest qualification which is attain- 
able ; and for this purpose it is necessary that those persons 
who take the trouble to acquire a high qualification should be 
distinguished from those who are content to take the minimum 
rank entitling them to registration. 
The bill further provides for the establishment of any new 
