818 PHYS 
tury far behind her continental neighbours in the field of 
fcience 5 (fee the article Pathology, vol. xix. p. 23.) 
and, with refpeft to the ftudy and practice of phyfic, it 
feems probable that, until after the foundation of the 
College of Phyficians, it had not even affumed the cha- 
rafter and dignity of a regular profeflion; for we find 
that the very few learned men in that branch, which the 
annals of the period can furnifh, had acquired their know¬ 
ledge in the foreign univerlities. 
Until the aufpicious period of the Reformation, various 
circumftances contributed to retard the progrefs of me¬ 
dical fcience; the fir ft and moft confiderable of which 
may be traced to the many monaftic eftablifhments with 
which the country was infefted. The monks are known 
to have praftifed phyfic very extenfively ; and, When the 
fuperftitious charafterof thefe ages is confidered, we (hall 
not feel furprifed at the vulgar, and perhaps not the lower 
order alone, having preferred, to every other medical af- 
iiftance, the aid of thofe who arrogated to themfelves the 
immediate affiftance of heaven in the preparation aqd ad- 
miniftration of their medicines. 
The alchemifts were another, and very numerous clafs, 
to whom we may juftly refer the temporary degradation 
of the fcience of medicine. Like their lineal defen¬ 
dants, the empirics of modern times, their attention was 
direfted to the difcovery of an univerfal fpecific, which 
ffiouid be equally applicable to every difeafe ; and, as 
prefumption is ever proportionate to incapacity, we need 
not be furprifed that they fhould have been eagerly fol¬ 
lowed by the ignorant of their day, as their fucceffors are 
by the vulgar of our own. Under fuch circumftances 
there could have been but little encouragement to men 
cf real learning ; and, as we find by the recital of the Aft 
of 5 Hen. VIII. c. 6. that there were but twelve regular 
furgeons praftifing in all London, we may fafely conclude 
that the number of legitimate phyficians muft have been 
proportionally fmaller. The univerlities of Oxford and 
Cambridge had probably, from the time of their founda¬ 
tion, conferred degrees in medicine; but thefe do notap- 
pear to have carried with them any general privilege or 
authority : their rights, indeed, were referved by the 
concluding leftion of the 3d Henry VIII. c. n. but in 
what thofe rights confifted has not been judicially deter¬ 
mined, even though the litigation to which the aft and 
the fubfequent Charter of the College gave rife would 
naturally have produced fome decifion on this point, had 
the extent of thofe ancient rights ever been legally de¬ 
fined. We lhall not confume any farther time upon this 
queftion ; for, although it might be afubjeftof fome an¬ 
tiquarian curiofity, it would furnifti but little matter of 
profeffional intereft or praftical utility. 
In the prefent age, the univerlities of Oxford and Cam¬ 
bridge are firmly united by a communion of fentiment 
and intereft to the College of Phyficians; and phyficians 
are rarely admitted as fellows of this learned body, un- 
iefs they have previoully graduated in one of the Eng- 
lilh univerfities, or at Trinity College, Dublin; but, even 
in this latter cafe, it is required that the candidate for 
admiffion fhould have been previoully incorporated either 
into the univerfity of Cambridge or Oxford. That a dif- 
tinftion founded on fuch a balls fhould have excited an 
angry and jealous feeling in the excluded party, is not 
extraordinary ; and the arguments which have been fo 
repeatedly urged againft the juftice, as well as policy, of 
the bye-law, which thus excludes all but the graduates 
of an Englifh univerfity from the honours of the fellow- 
lliip, may be eafily refuted ; and its falutary tendency, 
in relation to the interefts of the public, as well as to the 
dignity of the profeflion, very fatisfaftorily demonftrated. 
For the complete knowledge of medicine, as a fcience, all 
the collateral lights of natural philofophy and erudition 
are required ; while, for its fuccefsful praftice as an art, 
the phyfician fhould poffefs thofe high qualifications of 
mind, and have received that moral cultivation, which a 
mere technical education can never beftow. We are wil- 
I C I .A N. 
ling to admit that “ the curative art cannot be learned 
on the fequeftered banks of the Cam or the Ills, fo well 
as amid the diftrefsand licknefs of a great city,” but we 
aflert, with equal confidence, that the liberal purfuits and 
wholefome difcipline of an Englifh univerty can beft pre¬ 
pare the mind for the full and extenfive benefits which 
the pupil is afterwards to derive from his profeffional ftu- 
dies in the metropolis; and, if it be eflential to encourage 
a liberal education amongft thofe who are deftined to 
move in the higher walks of phyfic, we would afk whether 
any plan could be devifed more likely to enfure our. ob- 
jeft, than that fair and honourable reward which is held 
out by this unjuftly-reviled bye-law of the College of 
Phyficians. 
It has been urged, that the education of a phyfician is 
thus rendered materially and unneceffarily expenfive ; and 
that the delay of twelve years, which are required for the 
full completion of the higheft medical degree, proves 
another great and vexatious hardfhip. To all this we 
reply, that we fhould politically refill any meafure that 
had the leaft tendency to divert medical education of its 
pecuniary facrifices, and to open the temple to a crowd of 
needy and half-educated adventurers. Tiffot feems to 
have entertained the fame fentiment; and he obferves 
that, for thefe reafons, no perfon ought to be allowed to 
ftudy phyfic in his native city. The operation of this 
bye-law will therefore furnifh the furert guarantee of pro¬ 
feffional refpeftability, and the College of Phyficians will 
continue to enrol names diftinguifhed for fcience and eru¬ 
dition, men who will call a luftre on the profelfion over 
which they prefide. Let, then, the praftitioner in me¬ 
dicine beware how he attempts to depreciate the dignity 
and importance of this ancient inftitution, or to deny the 
rights and privileges to which the corporate body is le¬ 
gally and morally entitled ; for to the College of Phyfi¬ 
cians, as it regards the whole profefiion of phyfic, we may 
addrefs the fame emphatic words that Cicero applied to 
Torquatus with reference to the ftate : “Tibi, nullum 
periculum effie perfpicio, quod quidem fejunftum fit ab 
omnium interitu.” 
The following may now be confidered as the legal 
daffies of phyficians : 1. The aftual members of the Col¬ 
lege of Phyficians, divided into their feveral denomina¬ 
tions of Prefident, Elefts, and Fellows. 
a. Thofe who, being graduates of the univerfities of 
Oxford and Cambridge, are licenfed to praftife by the 
Colfege in London and within feven miles during their 
refpeftive periods of probation, previous to becoming 
Fellows; thefe are candidates who, being doftors of phy¬ 
fic, have undergone their examination for the fellowfhip, 
and at the end of one year are capable of becoming mem¬ 
bers or fellows of the college; and inceptor candidates, 
who, being bachelors of phyfic, afpire to the fellowfhip. 
3. The medical graduates of our two univerfities. 
4.. The Licentiates who are admitted by the College to 
praftife in London and within feven miles ; and the ex¬ 
tra Licentiates, who are admitted to praftife in the 
country, but not within the privileged diftrift of the col¬ 
lege. 
A phyfician cannot maintain an aftion for his fees, 
for they are honorary, and not demandable of right; 
e< and it is much more for the credit and rank of 
that body (the phyficians), and perhaps for their benefit 
alfo, that they fhould be fo confidered ; and I much 
doubt, fays Lord Kenyon, whether they themfelves 
would not altogether difclaim fuch a right as would 
place them upon a lefs refpeftable footing in fociety than 
that which they at prefent hold.” Charley againft Bolcot, 
9 T. R. 3x7. It was contended in this cafe, that there 
was no authority in the books for placing phyficians’ and 
barrifters’ fees on the fame footing; the regulation with 
regard to barrifters being founded on grounds of public 
policy, as appears by a paffage in Tacitus, to which Mr. 
Juftice Blackftone refers; in which paffage it is taken for 
granted that the medici were entitled to a remuneration, 
, becaufe 
