51 
THE MEDICAL COUNCIL. 
The sessional meeting of this body for the present year has taken place in the 
month that has just ended, having commenced on Thursday, the 1st, and ter¬ 
minated on Monday, the 12th of July. Several important subjects have come 
under the consideration of the Council, and some of these have been very fully 
discussed. 
Questions relating to the amendment of the Medical Acts were submitted to 
the Council in a communication from the medical department of the Privy 
Council Office, in which the Lord President, through Mr. Simon, called atten¬ 
tion to a deficiency in the qualification of some medical men who are admitted 
to the medical register on a minimum qualification in surgery without any 
qualification in medicine, and similarly on a minimum qualification in medicine 
without any qualification in surgery. It is represented by the Lord President 
that this defect should be remedied by any Medical Act it might be thought de¬ 
sirable to pass. Reference was also made in the same communication to the 
constitution of the Medical Council, with the view of eliciting from the members 
of the Council whether they considered a change in this respect desirable. 
These and other subjects connected with medical reform occupied much of the 
attention of the Council, but no conclusive decisions were arrived at with refer¬ 
ence to them. One of the questions discussed was as to the desirability of having 
a class of medical men, recognized by law, who should possess a qualification in 
State Medicine, by which they would be specially qualified to express opinions 
and give evidence on subjects affecting the public health, where such questions 
arise in courts of law or otherwise ; and on this subject the Council resolved 
“ That in any amended Medical Bill which may be prepared for Parliament by 
the Council, it is desirable that the requisite permissive clauses for registering a 
qualification in State Medicine be inserted, in addition to any of the qualifica¬ 
tions sanctioned by the Medical Act.” 
The Committee to whom the subject of the Amendment of the Medical Acts 
was referred, in their comprehensive report, allude to the question raised by the 
Lord President of the Privy Council as to the constitution of the Medical 
Council. They say,— 
“ The duties imposed on the Council by the Act are four, viz. the supervision 
of medical education, the registration of qualified medical practitioners, the 
publication of a national Pharmacopoeia, and a certain judicial function, by the 
exercise of which the name of any registered practitioner, “who shall be judged 
to have been guilty of infamous conduct in a professional respect” maybe 
erased from the register. 
“With regard to two of these duties little need be said. The registration has 
been made in accordance with the Act, and with an accuracy which has never 
been questioned. A British Pharmacopoeia has been published, which has been 
universally acknowledged to be one of the best in existence. In this work the 
task has been accomplished of reconciling the different views and varying prac¬ 
tice of the three sister kingdoms. The new British Pharmacopoeia is acknow¬ 
ledged in England to be an improvement on the old London Pharmacopoeia; 
in Scotlaud it is preferred to the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia ; and in Ireland to 
that of Dublin. 
“ In regard, therefore, to those two duties of the Council, there is no reason 
(but rather the contrary) for proposing any change in its constitution.” 
A similar opinion is also expressed, although less strongly, with reference to 
the other duties of the Council. 
The two following resolutions were passed by the Council:— 
1. “ That having carefully considered the objects of the Medical Act of 1858, 
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