ment of the condition of the General Practitioners cannot be denied ; but to ascribe to it all, or even the greater portion, of their progress, is to reason post hoc propter hoc with a vengeance. The advancement of the general practitioner has only been simultaneous with that of other branches of the profession, favoured by no such tutelary power, and with the progress of science and art, not only in England, but throughout the civilized world, from the period it has been in the enjoyment of peace. "The Act of 1815, which first recognised apothecaries as legitimate practitioners was," says the Quarterly Review, "not the cause, but the consequence of the change which had taken place in their condition. And we have no hesitation in stating, that this Act has of late been obstructive to farther progress; and that had a better licensing tribunal existed, both the scientific and practical attainments of the mass of practitioners would have, ere this, reached a still higher point.

Whether we consider the nature of the education enjoined, or of the examination the candidate is submitted to, we see much that calls for amendment. A servitude of five years to a practitioner, and the early age at which candidates are admitted for the license, render the preliminary education, which most who are desirous of the elevation of our profession maintain the importance of, short and unsatisfactory. Such education would be best ensured by the abolition, or great curtailment, of apprenticeship, and the admission of the licentiate a year or two later than at present; for examiners cannot otherwise expect to discover in the youth what he has had neither time nor opportunity of acquiring. The Latin examinations at the Hall, for example, are a complete farce; youths who have never seen a Latin grammar, getting up, by the aid of a translation or grinder, their Celsus or Gregory, after their arrival in London, when their whole attention should be absorbed by their medical studies. Then, again, the attending the enormous number of Lectures which the Hall directs, implies a physical impossibility of devoting sufficient time to the dissecting-room and hospital wards-i. e. the most valuable sources of knowledge. Often have we sighed with regret in observing the industrious student passing hour after hour upon the benches of a theatre, noting and afterwards revising his lectures, while living specimens of every variety of disease, and opportunities for the study of the natural and altered structure of the frame, were passed heedlessly or hurriedly by. Every hospital physician and surgeon will testify how small is the proportion of students who devote a sufficient time to hospital duties. Then, worst of all, and as a necessary consequence of this mode of pursuing study, there is the unpractical and uncertain character of the examinations. It is a growing conviction among students, that these are no fair test of their qualifications; and the necessity which well-informed and most industrious students find themselves in to be ground into the routine answers they will be expected to give, is a significant sign of the necessity of change. When a man who has studied under no other teacher than the grinder passes muster, and the laborious student, who believed himself to be above the necessity of resorting to him, is rejected, it naturally becomes a subject of inquiry upon what basis does this system rest, and why is it continued? The Examiners are not chosen from among the licentiates at large on account of manifesting fitness for a difficult avocation, but by

seniority from among members of the Company. They are frequently engaged in active and fatiguing duties, are in some instances somewhat advanced in years, and in few or any are their names before the profession as cultivators of medical science or contributors of practical facts. A curious tribunal, indeed, to decide upon the claims of youths just fresh from the lecture-rooms and hospital wards, where the latest discoveries in science and improvements in practice are in course of teaching! Is it surprising that the student complains he hears opinions broached in the examination-room which he had long thought exploded, or that the grinder should flourish just in proportion as what is called the strictness of the examination is increased? After all the trouble taken to obtain it, the Certificate of the Hall is never looked upon by the student as a mark of distinction, or to be coveted for aught else than its allowing him to practise; while the Diploma of the College of Surgeons, for which a less laborious attendance on lectures, &c. is exacted, and a far less severe examination is endured, is regarded by its possessor as an honour. It is so, because he feels his examination has been practical, and conducted by men of great eminence in that branch of the profession, and has been passed, that is to say if he has been moderately industrious, without the degrading aid of the grinder.

We repeat, we do not mention these circumstances as condemnatory of the Society of Apothecaries, whose act crippled their will and power to be serviceable. Indeed, it can only be the conviction of their having done as well as it permitted them, that has allowed the long continuance of the anomaly of the great body of general practitioners deriving their right to practise from a trading corporation, which possessed no claim for taking the lead in so momentous a matter. The General Practitioners who associated for the protection of their interests in 1812, had a far better idea of the requirements of their class, than those have who now propose a mere modification of the Apothecaries' Act. They proposed the licensing tribunal to be formed of Physicians, Surgeons, Apothecaries, and General Practitioners; and a board so constituted, and equitably adjusted, seems to us to afford the best chance for ensuring the efficiency and respectability of the examination. The confining the examination of the practitioner to his own grade, as recommended by the Manifesto," we think would be most injudicious. Engaged in the active duties of the profession, men of eminence of this class have little time to devote to the cultivation of its scientific departments, and are even sometimes ill-informed as to its actual progress. Admirably fitted for the more practical portion of the business, they should call to their aid, from the schools and hospitals, those who, from being engaged in the business of teaching, are best able to test the progress the student has effected, and the use he has made of the opportunities he has been invested with. For furnishing their quota of this examining body, as also for supplying a head to this portion of the Profession, some description of Incorporation of the General Practitioners, quite independently however of the Society of the Apothecaries, governed by its elective Council, and represented in the General Council of Health and Education, seems essential.

The provision in the proposed Bill, for a general superintendence of the Education and Examination of candidates by the Council, is excellent, No. 99.

19

and has been long needed. The expediency, and justice too, of allowing the man who has passed his examination before, and paid for the license or diploma of any of the licensing bodies, to practise in any part of the United Kingdom he sees fit, but without any additional fee or charge, must be obvious.

To allude to the pamphlets mentioned at the head of this article. The two first, as we have stated, deserve a careful perusal, especially Mr. Green's, in reference to the imparting a more scientific bearing to the Profession, which he justly thinks so desirable. The "Statement" and "Address" of the Society are in every body's hand, but will fail to convince, we believe, the great body of the Profession of the expediency of replacing this body at its head. The "Manifesto" is a sturdy denunciation of the Bill, and a demand for a separate incorporation, which it seems to us it would be the wiser course to seek to engraft on to the amended Bill. The Speech of Dr. Hastings and letter of Mr. Carter are temperate exposures of the alterations which are necessary to render the Bill satisfactory. Dr. Davies'"Exposition" contains a succinct account and criticism of the Laws which have hitherto governed the Profession, and in the Appendix an Analysis, or rather a Eulogium, of Sir James Graham's Bill, which it would seem, from his account, is perfection itself—a sentiment in which he will find few to participate.

The title of Dr. Thomson's brochure is not the most happy. We repudiate our wives-but not till after legal marriage: we repudiate our debts -but not till after they have been fairly contracted. But if Sir James Graham once rivets the chains of his Bill on the Profession, they will find it no easy matter to repudiate afterwards. No: oppose the Bill as much as possible, for we do not consider you have the power to repudiate or reject it, just because you do not like it. The Government is so strong, that they could carry a Bill authorizing every third birth to be destroyed, like a kitten, in the nearest pool or stream. Let not the Profession think themselves omnipotent, or they may awake, some fine morning, and find that the Home Secretary has been up before them. We are old enough to remember the effervescence produced from one end of the isle to the other, by the agitation among the "Surgeon-Apothecaries" prior to 1815-the memorable millennium of the General Practitioners! The Medical Reform Bill of that year was hailed with almost as much exultation as the Parliamentary Reform was in 1832. Now both reforms are trodden under foot, execrated-and REPUDIATED!

We suspect the author of this pamphlet is "clean daft." It appears that he addressed a memorial to Sir J. Graham, last year, in which the following passage occurred, and which is considered so important as to be reproduced in the present brochure :—

"Thus Education has to proclaim to mankind, that of all punishments inflicted upon civilized humanity, the most tremendous are inflicted by what is called the medical profession: that medical men, as permitted, authorized, and protected by the laws, usages, and ignorance of Governments, corrupt, torture, murder more helpless, unsuspecting victims, than a permanent cholera could ever reach; for every ten destroyed by war, medical men sacrifice twenty. Education looks forward with horror to the additional terrific incubus about to be immediately inflicted by Sir J. Graham."

The author is in a great rage with Sir James Graham for having apparently neglected his memorial. We are ourselves a little surprised that the Home Secretary should have forgotten so delectable a specimen of dogmatism! We apprehend it could hardly be paralleled in the " Annals of Medicine," which title he gives to his present memoir. We are inclined to the opinion that, were there not a single drug or a single doctor in existence, the rate of mortality would be little, if at all, increased. For if we endeavour to form some estimate of the number of people who are destroyed by quacks-by quacking themselves-and by the mistakes of the rash and the inexperienced, we shall be very likely to conclude that these contingencies pretty nearly balance the account against the number saved by regular advice. This, however, is a very different calculation from that which Dr. Thomson has formed.*

A DICTIONARY OF TERMS USED IN MEDICINE AND THE COLLATERAL SCIENCES. By R. D. Hoblyn, A.M. Sherwood, 1844. Second edition.

WE hardly remember to have seen so much valuable matter condensed into such a small compass as this little volume presents. The first edition was published in 1835, and the present may be said to be almost rewritten, introducing the most recent terms on each subject. The Etymology, Greek, Latin, &c., is carefully attended to, and the explanations are clear and precise.

In a large Appendix, Dr. H. has introduced several subjects of great utility to the student and practitioner. The first is headed "AFFIXES," in which are exhibited the principal affixes or terminations of words, in connexion with their compounds, which will be found to be a great aid to the memory. The next article is on Botany, and comprises a sketch of the artificial or Sexual System of Linnæus-also a sketch of the Natural System, and a Glossary of the adjective terms employed in Botany. The third article, on CLIMATE, is abridged from the work of Sir James Clark. A Posological Table, carefully compiled, succeeds; and then Materia Medica-Patent Medicines-Physiology-Toxicology-Vascular SystemWeights and Measures-and, lastly, Zoology.

We cannot too strongly recommend this small and cheap volume to the library of every student and every practitioner.

We omitted to observe in its proper place in this article, that the present Bill is farther defective, as containing no provision for the education, examination, and representation of the Chemist and Druggist, and for the examination of persons practising Midwifery. All these matters should be included in one comprehensive scheme of "Medical Reform."

Periscope ;

OR,

CIRCUMSPECTIVE REVIEW.

"Ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo."

Spirit of the Foreign Periodicals.

A NEW CLASSIFICATION OF CUTANEOUS DISEASES.

M. DEVERGIE is one of the Physicians of the St. Louis Hospital in Paris, and enjoys, therefore, an immense experience in the observation and treatment of cutaneous diseases. As a reason for proposing the following arrangement, he says that " every day medical practitioners send to me patients affected with what they most vaguely call dartres, without the species of the disease being even so much as named. This much-abused appellation unfortunately always suggests the use of sulphureous and depurative medicines-a class of remedies which very often exasperates, instead of curing, the existing skin disease."

Nosological Table of Cutaneous Diseases.