412 Cafe of the 
_ contend, that the college is bound to ex- 
amine every man who offers himfelf : 
they only infift, that the college is bound 
to examine every phyfician of good cha- 
ya‘ter, whofe education affords a reafon- 
able prefumption, that he can give fuch 
tefts of learning and fkill as the charter 
requires, and fuch as have been thought 
fufficient from the origin of the inftitu- 
tion. With regard to the prior rank, 
which may render a perfon eligible to 
examination, the Licentiates prefume 
that neither the College nor the Court 
of King’s Bench will be very tenacious, 
when they confider the inftances of men 
who have rifen to the higheft dignities, 
both in phyfic and law, from very in- 
ferior ftations. The interefts of learn- 
ing, and the advantage of the {cience of 
medicine, cannot furely be prejudiced by 
the admiffion of men who can. undergo 
examinations in the Latin and Greek 
Janguages, or the comprehenfive {cience 
of medicine, and who challenge any tefts 
of literature the College can adopt, pro- 
vided they are impartially extended to 
every candidate. A fociety, of which 
the original productions have only a- 
mounted to three octavo volumes of 
effays, in nearly three centuries; a’body, 
which from the narrow principle of con- 
fining the right of admiffion into it, to 
the graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, 
excluded a Sydenham, obliged a Mead, 
before he cculd become a member, to 
purchafe an additional degree, and which 
could not, till after Lord Mansfield’s re- 
monftrances, admit a Boerhaave, cannot 
certainly be rendered lefs ufeful, liberal, 
or refpectful, by enlarging its grounds of 
admiffion. By extending admifiion, with- 
out limitation to fchools, to every fkil- 
ful and learned phyfician, the College 
would concentrate all.the able men of 
the. profeffion in the metropolis, and 
unite, animate, and direét their efforts 
to promote the real dignity, interefts, 
ahd objects of the inftitution. . 
‘Mr. Erfkine next proceeded to fhow, 
that the exclufion complained of by the 
Licentiates, was not unqualified; for 
fubfequent-to Dr. Fothergill’s cafe, there 
-Was a xevifion of the ftatutes : and that 
the -College confulted Lord Cambden, 
Mr. Yorke, and Mr.- Dunning, and 
another perfon, whom he would’. not 
name, apparently one of the Judges who. 
prefide in this trial. He added,“ that 
the two bye-laws for the admiffion of 
“Licentiates before. tated, were made un- 
der the auipices of. thefe honourable,and 
learned perfons.’’? If thofe great men 
Licentiates. [June 
had been employed by the College to 
form a code of bye-laws calculated to 
accomplifh the ends of the charter, or 
equitable under the prefent circumftances, 
their opinion would be intitled to the 
higheft refpeét. But if they were em- 
ployed as lawyers, to frame fuch bye- 
laws as, would enable the College. to pre- 
ferve their monopoly, or only engage 
them to admit fuch. perfons.as might be 
agreeable to themfeives, then thefe bye- 
laws are to be confidered as ingenious 
devices to perpetuate injuftice. 
That this was the cafe can fcarcely be 
doubted: otherwife, why did -not the 
College promulgate thefe bye-laws when 
they were made >? Why did they alter a 
mode of examination, which had been 
adhered. to nearly three centuries, and 
fuperadd a teft, of little utility, which 
might be oppofed as a very difficult bar- 
rier to thofe who are obnoxious ? Why. 
did the fellows endeavour to intimidate 
and diffuade the only perfon who ever 
applied for examination, under one of 
thefe bye-laws, to defift, and when he 
was propofed in the manner required by 
the bye-law, why didthey not fabmit 
the propofal to a ballot ? Why have they 
gradually diminifhed the privilege, con- 
ferred by the bye-law, for admiifion. 
through favour, and difcontinued it al- 
together for three years? Mr. Erfkine 
next faid, “is it to be fuppofed, that 
there is not,one Fellow of the, whole 
College who would propofe a man of 
eminent learning and high qualifications 
under this bye-law.’ Admit there is, 
what would it avail the perfen propofed, 
if the College will not proceed to. a bal- 
lot ; or if a majority of rhe Fellows are 
determined to reject? The learned ad- 
vocate put this queftion, as if admiffion 
followed the being propofed as a matter 
of courfe ; as if five . fubfequent bal- 
lots, under all the obftacles before enu- 
merated, were no impediments. Mr, 
Erfkine next remarked, ‘‘ that the cha- 
rater of a phyfician has been different 
in England from that of any other na- - 
tion; that phyficians in this country 
have been the moft eminently learned 
" perfons that. have conferred dignity upon 
fociety, vaftly beyond the bounds of their 
own profeilion; and that has principally 
arifen from the care the College has 
taken in framing their bye-laws.”’. The 
moft diitinguithed phyficians that have 
conferred dignity upon their profedfion. 
and their country, have been ftigmatifed, 
and either totally excluded the college 
by their bye-laws; or obliged to pur. 
i OT OS Pe 
