THE PRESENT STATE OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 155 
and the public alike turn to the profession as their refuge, their 
tower of strength, their shield. 
Yet, with so great responsibilities, medical men not only fail to 
make themselves represented adequately in the senate by mem¬ 
bers chosen from their own profession, but the majority of them 
hold no definite ground in the great field of the British constitution. 
If this anomaly has recently puzzled our statesmen, so likewise 
has it bewildered as well our constitutional lawyers as the public 
at large. Intelligent foreigners, in the coteries of the scientific, are 
struck with the phrase, “ medical man.” “ A physician V’ say 
they. “ No; a medical man!” “ A surgeon]” “ No, not ex¬ 
actly,—but a medical man.” “ What!” say all intelligent fo¬ 
reigners, and, we may add, all reflecting persons of our own 
country also,—“ A medical man, but not a ph} r sician ! As well 
might you say, a clerical man, but not a clergyman—a military 
man, and not a soldier—a counselling man, but not a counsellor— 
a legal man, but not a lawyer.” “ Oh,” but some one shall say, 
“ Mr. So-and-So is a surgeon.” What! a surgeon, without hav¬ 
ing the requisite medical knowledge to take charge of disease! 
Have not all our eminent surgeons, so called, deliberately declared, 
that c ‘ he who has not the knowledge requisite for making a good 
physician must make a bad surgeon ]” And has it not equally 
been asserted by our most eminent physicians, that “ no man de¬ 
serves that appellation who is ignorant of the principles and 
practice of surgery ]” None of us affect to be ignorant that the 
great majority of cases attended by the consulting surgeons of this 
metropolis are decidedly medical, and a still greater majority of 
those ordinarily coming under the charge of the so-called rural 
surgeon. Whence has arisen all this confusion, and how are we 
to account for our low position on the scale of political importance] 
He who reads the history of his profession, from the Charters of 
Henry VIII to the Apothecaries’ Act of 1815, will be at no loss 
for an explanation. “ He who does not strenuously oppose the 
first infractions of his right,” says Coke, “ has already lost con¬ 
siderable advantage in any conflict which may be necessary for its 
defence.” The Charter of Henry VIII commences with this re¬ 
citation :—‘ Whereas we think it part of our Royal duty to con¬ 
sult for the happiness of our subjects, and that such happiness will 
be eminently promoted by curbing the attempts of impostors, ?vho 
practise rather for the sake of plunder than from any conscien¬ 
tious conviction of their own utility , by which an ignorant and 
credulous public suffer considerable damage; therefore, following 
the example of other nations [fyc. $c.], we appoint John Chambers , 
Thomas Linacre, and others [to do what]], to examine and to 
license all and singular persons presuming to take charge of dis¬ 
eases; all'which said persons, so licensed, shall aid and promote, 
