REPORT ON MEDICAL EDUCATION, &C. 
67 
ous; and, in the present case, Mr. Nussey, in endeavouring 
to aggrandize the apothecary, has precluded him from treating 
many of those diseases in which the aid of the general prac- 
titioner is most frequently required. The apothecaries, 
however, do not confine themselves within the narrow limits, 
prescribed for them by their chairman. They engage in the 
practice of midwifery, and that nothwithstanding it is declared 
by one of the Court of Examiners, that the delivery of a 
woman is considered a surgical operation, and according to 
the opinion of counsel, they have no power to examine a can- 
didate for their license, on his obstetrical knowledge. 
By another member of the Court, Mr. J. Bacot, it is ad- 
mitted that although it is necessary that every general prac- 
titioner should be well instructed in surgery, many apothe- 
caries are quite ignorant in this respect. Thus a licentiate of 
the Apothecaries' Company may practise Midwifery and Sur- 
gery, without having his qualification to do so tested by any 
board. It is true, the witnesses seem to regret this state 
of matters, but it does not appear that any very active steps 
have been taken to obviate the evil. It may be urged by 
way of palliation, that most of these licentiates pass the Col- 
lege of Surgeons, but there is no power to force them to do 
so, and this at all events would be no guarantee that they are 
possessed of any knowledge or skill in Midwifery. They 
seem to have been quite content to leave matters as they were; 
satisfied that their licentiates possessed a monopoly of general 
practice. From their not asking power to examine the can- 
didates for their license on Surgery and Midwifery, it would 
appear that they conceived less mischief to be likely to result 
from an ignorant individual treating a case of strangulated 
hernia, or retention of urine, or managing a delicate woman in 
the most critical situation of her life, than in failing to give 
an ointment its proper consistence, or a draught an agreeable 
colour and flavour. With them, a knowledge of pharmacy 
and the external characters of drugs would appear to be the 
most important to be required ; but the reader will find in a sub- 
sequent part of the present article, that these patrons of phar- 
