The laws relating to the medical profession; with an account of the rise and progress of its various orders

Preface

As this is the only work affecting to treat gene. rally on that branch of the law to which it relates, the Author’s endeavour has been to render it useful, as well to the members of the medical as to those of the legal profession. With this object he has divided it into two parts. In the first, _he has treated the subject in such a manner as he hopes will relieve those to whose pursuits it particularly applies, from the irksomeness of which the general reader has often to complain, in the perusal of works more immediately addressed to the lawyer. ‘The second part comprises the Acts of Parliament, the decided cases, and several ancient records, which will supply the legal student with the information in which the Treatise may be found deficient, and the medical reader with the most authentic sources of the history of -his profession, while they may, from their spirit and language, occasionally afford him amusement.

For the present at least, the Author reserves his opinion on the propriety of continuing the existing medical institutions, or substituting any new or general arrangement of their professors: although

A 2 iv PREFACE.

it will be evident that the Legislature has seldom interposed for the regulation of the practice of medicine, with a view either to the relative situation of the practitioners, or to the security of the public health ; most of the provisions which have been introduced for that purpose having originated in the establishment of the particular institution which applied for the enactment.

The Author cannot dismiss these pages without acknowledging his obligation, for much valuable information, to Dr. Macmichael, lately the Registrar of the College of Physicians, from which learned gentleman he was.induced to seek such information, by the perusal of a volume of very elegant and entertaining biographical sketches of the most distinguished Presidents of the College, which is said to have emanated from his pen under the title of the «* Gold-headed Cane.”

61. Chancery Lane, 19th July, 1830.

Chapter I

Page ANCIENT ORDERS OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION : Druids and bards - - - - hae Romans - - - - - 4 Saxons - - - - ee Various orders of practitioners - : - 8 physicians - - - - - 16. surgeons - - - : - - 12 apothecaries - ~ - - - 18 empirics : - = . ao experimentalists - - = cla. - 20 alchymists - - - - 1b. astrologers - : - - 24 sorcerers - . - - 25 witches - - - - 26 Jews - - - - - 16. pretenders in all sects ~ - oe | ladies - . PS ee CHAPTER II.

PRESENT ORDERS OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION : Sect. 1. Physicians - - . - 30 their practice - - - - 0. classes - - ° - «31 college - > - - 16.

vi

SEcT. 2.

Sect. 3.

Sect. 4.

SECT.

SEcT.

Oo

CONTENTS.

London licentiates - 2 officers of college - x examiners of apothecaries’ wares constitutional members of college original fellows - - succeeding fellows ° - duties of college - - community : : . vice-president - - licentiates in London - candidates . : : fellows - - S country licentiates - - partial licences ~ - university physicians - cid Surgeons - - = their practice one ~ - classes of - - - of the college “ - in and about London - in the country - - right to be examined - - by the college - - by the ordinary, &c. .

Apothecaries - - - their practice - - - - classes - : i licentiates of the company - examination - - * assistants - - - duty on licence - - in practice before Ist August 1815 Chemists and Druggists - -

. Accoucheurs - - I . Persons administering medicine gratuitously

Chapter III. Unqualified Practitioners In Medicine ‘

Sect. 1.

SEcT. 2.

SEctT. 3.

Unqualified practitioners in physic — -

- in surgery = - as apothecaries

Page

CONTENTS. vii

Chapter IV

Page MAtpractice In MEDICINE Kinds of - - - - - 86 Punishment of by the general law - - = 4b. — the college of physicians - - ~91 ——__—_—_——— the college of surgeons - - 101 —- the apothecaries’ company - - 103 * CHAPTER V.

Civit Responsispitiry of MepicAL PRACTITIONERS: Sect. 1. Want of skill or attention - - - 105 Sect. 2. Experiments in medicine and surgery - - 109 CHAPTER VI.

REMUNERATION OF MeEpicaL PRACTITIONERS: Sect. 1. Physicians - - - - lll Sect. 2. Surgeons - - - - - 113 Sect. 3. Apothecaries - - - - 115 CHAPTER VII.

Protection oF Mepicat Men Sect. 1. Character - - - - 120 Sect. 2. Writings, lectures, &c. - : - 129 copyright at common law - : - tbe legislative provisions - . - 130 protection in equity - - - 131 works not printed by the author : - 26. injurious works - - - 132 CHAPTER VIII.

PriviLEces oF Mepicat Men Sect. 1. In respect of insane persons - - 133 form of certificate - - m - 134 false certificate - - - ~ 26. medical attendants of madhouses - - 16. exceptions - - - - 2. commissioners and visitors - : - 1b.

Sect. 2. In respect of employment - - - 135 for public purposes - - - - 2. surgeons of vessels - . mit t0s selling spirits as medicines - - - 137

Vill CONTENTS.

Page Srcr. 3. Exemption from serving on juries - - 137 physicians - ~ - - - 1b surgeons - - - - - ib apothecaries - - - - - 138 Sect. 4. Exemption from serving offices ~ - 2b. « physicians - - eon - 16. surgeons ~ - - - 139 apothécaries - - - - 140 Sect. 5. Exemption from bearing arms - - - 141 CHAPTER IX.

ContTaGious DISEASES, &c.

Small-pox - - > - - 126.

CHAPTER X.

On DIssECTION the operation - - - - - 148 obtaining bodies for - - . - 150 PART II. .

PHYSICIANS statutes, charters, by-laws, &c. ~ - - ili cases - - - - - XXXVii SURGEONS statutes, charters, by-laws, &c. ” - - clxv cases “ “ - - - - CCl APOTHECARIES statutes, charters, by-laws, &c, : - - CCXixX cases . - - < = §.— 5 Geis

PHYSICIANS. 9 Hen. 5. 22 Hen. 6. 19 Hen. 7. c. 7.

APOTHECARIES.

PHYSICIANS. 32 Hen. 6.

Canon of Lateran — Tours

7 Eliz.

Statutes of the College

STATUTES.

Page ill 10

clxx clxxi clxxvi clxxvii clxxxv XXxi

Xli

PATENTS, &c.

Page 1 Mar. Ses. 2. c. 9. XV 6 & 7 Will. 3. c. 4. | CCXXXiV 10 Geo. 1. c. 20. CcCXXXV 55 Geo. 3. c. 194. CCXXXVI1 6 Geo. 4. c. 50. s. 1. XXXi 6 Geo. 4. c. 133. : cel

CASES.

PHYSICIANS.

Alphonso ». Physicians’ Col.

Page cxxxili

Askew, R. v. xlvii Atkins v. Gardiner XCVIII Bolcot, Chorley v. cli Basset, Physicians’ Col. v. —cxiil Bonham’s case Ixxx Bowerbank, R. v. CXXXiV

Brendon v. Lewes (Prior of) 9 Brown, Fell v. chili Burnell or Burwell, Groenvelt v.

CXXXvil

Cxil

Bush, Physicians’ Col. ».

Butler 0) CXIX -v. Physicians’ Col. - cxxi Chorley v. Bolcot cli Darby, Pindar v. clxiv Fell v. Brown cliil Gardner, Atkins v. XCVill » Laughton ». XCVil Goddard’s case XXXvli Groenvelt’s case CXXXiV v. Burnell or Burwell CXXXVil Gutch, Pickford v. clvili Harrison, Physicians’ Col. v.

CXXVill Holmes, Lipscombe v. clii Huybert, Physicians’ Col. v. exxiii

Laughton v. Gardiner XCVil Letch’s case XXXIX Levett, Physicians’ Col. v. Ixxix

Lewes (Prior of), Brendon v. 9 Lipscombe v. Holmes clii

123 clviii

Macleod v. Wakeley Moises v. Thornton

Needham, Physicians’. Col. ».

CXXVIi

Physicians’ Col., Alphonso ».

CXXXIiil

case cxl

v. Basset CXil

v. Bush 16.

v. Butler c. cxix

Butler v. CXX1 v. Harrison cxxviii wv. Huybert cxxiil v. Levett Ixxix v. Needham cxxvii v. Rose XClil Rose v. XCiV v. Salmon CXill v. Talbois c

v. Tenant xcviit”

—————————- v. West Ixxx Phillips, Turner v. cliv Pickford v. Gutch elviii Pindar v. Darby clxiv Pordage’s case clxiii Pordich, R. v. 2b.

Rex v. Askew et al. xl vii v. Bowerbank CXXXiv v. Physicians’ Col., Ist case lv Zd case lvii ————— 3d case Ixvi

CASES. Xl

PHYSICIANS — continued.

Rex v. Physicians’ Col. 4th case

Ixvi

Rex v. Pordich cl xiii Rose, Physicians’ Col. v. Xcill v. Physicians’ Col. XCiV Salmon, Physicians’ Col. v. cxiii Schomberg’s case Ixxviil

Sloane’s, Sir Hans, case 35. 141

Tenant, Physicians’ Col. v. xcviii

Thornton, Moises v. clvili Turner v. Phillips cliv Wakeley, Macleod v. 123 West, Physicians’ Col. v. Ixxx

Liability for neglect and want

Talbois, Physicians’ Col. v. c of skill, — extracts cly SURGEONS.

Abernethy v. Hutchinson 132 Law, Sharpe v. cciil Allison v. Haydon ccxx Lawrence v. Smith 132 Anderson, Dunn v. 125 Lynn, R. v. 155 Anon 143 | Mason, Davis v. CCXViii Baker et al., Slater v. ccxili M*Mullen, Kannen v. ccix Batting, Tuson »v. ccvii Morton’s case CCXXI Bois Valon, Gremaire v. ccvi Burnett, R. v. 143 ~Pond, R. v. CCXVIL Prentice, Seare v. ccx Chapple, R. v. CCXVii Cooper v. Wakeley 124 Rex v. Burnett 143 Cundick, R. v. 156 vw. Chapple CCXVii | ve Cundick 156 Davis v. Mason CCXVill ». Lynn 155 Duffit v. James ccvill -——~ y, Pond ib. Dunn v. Anderson 125 v. Simpson CCXXVIl 2 v. Surgeons’ Company cciii Farriers’ (the) case CCXXIi RO Sation 143 v. Van Butchell CCXXiV Gremaire v. Bois Valon COVE Ree Veneadillio 14:4 v. Williamson CCXXiil Haydon, Allison v. CCXX Haynes's case 153 Seare v. Prentice ccx Hayward v. Young CCXVili Sharpe v. Law cciii Hutchinson, Abernethy v. 132 Simpson, R. v. CCXXVii Slater v. Baker CCXiil J , Walden v. cCxxil Smith, Lawrence v. 132 James, Duflit v. ccvill Sorcerer’s (the) case 26 _ Surgeons’ Comp., R. v. ccili Kannen v. M*Mullen CCiIX ‘Sutton, R. v. 143

Xi CASES.

SURGEONS — continued.

Tuson v. Batting ccvii Wakeley, Cooper v. “124 Waldon v. J CCXxii Van Butchell, R. v. ccxxiv Williamson, R. v. CCXXxiii

Vantandillio, R. v. 144 db a Young, Hayward v. CCXviii

Abbot, Walmsley v. celxx Lewis, Thompson v. -eclxxvi

Anon cclxi sian cds Apothecaries’ Comp, v. Bentley _—_ Phillips, R. »v. 89 celxii Pinkers, Blogg ». cclxix celxvii Rex v. Clapham cclxi ». Warbur- v. Hatto 4b. ton cclxiii v- Phillips ~ 89 Robinson, Brown v. cclxxvi

Bentley, Apothecaries’ Comp. v.

celxii Blogg v. Pinkers cclxix Brown v. Robinson cclxxvi Bunning, Chadwick v. cclxxiv Chadwick v. Bunning 1b.

Roby, Apothecaries’ Comp., v. cclxvii

Sherwin v. Smith cclxxili Smith, Sherwin v. 20.

Somerville, Wogan v. — cclxxviii Steed v. Henley cclxxv Thompson v. Lewis cclxxvi Towne v. Gresley cclxxvii Walmisley v. Abbot cclxx

Warburton, Apothecaries’ Comp.

Ve cclxiii Wogan wv. Somerville — cel xxviii

THE LAWS

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Part First

cyirys oe we Ey ey ft. Ete ; cn? a ide ae, ae 4 AY ba. \

THE LAWS

RELATING TO

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Chapter I. Ancient Orders Of The Medical Profession

We possess few materials for a history of the medical profession anterior to the reign of Henry the Eighth. Science has little to regret the circumstance; nor is it probable that much amusement would be derived from the story of desolation and misery, involved in a detail of the attempts of ignorance to alleviate the sufferings of mankind.

Some of the medicinal properties of herbs have been known in the most savage state of society, and applied as well for the cure of wounds as of other corporeal maladies. We are informed that the druids and their attendants cultivated the science of physic and surgery to this extent; and to acquire the reputation of supernatural power, mingled incantations with their medicaments. We are told that their panacea was the misletoe, clipped from the oak on a certain mysterious night, when the moon, in a particular stage of her renewed existence, lighted on it a propitious beam, with a consecrated

BZ

Druids and bards.

Romans.

Saxons.

golden hook used by sacred hands, and received on a pure white and sanctified cloth, and afterwards treasured for many a day in the sanctuary of the woodland god. As every failure of the medical art was readily ascribed to some omission in these numerous ceremonies, or to some religious disqualification of the patient, the skill of the physician and the v.rtues of the misletoe were ever secure from imputation. We read also, in the pages of Tacitus, of the competition of the German dames with these venerable priests in the science of physic ; and as they were believed to be endued with divine wisdom, and were naturally both more attentive in the choice of their medicines and to the comfort of their patients, it is highly probable that their reputation was by no means inferior to that of the regular physicians.

During four hundred years the Roman dominion was established in this country; and so considerable became its power, that one of our governors appeared as a candidate for the imperial diadem, and for a long time wore the purple, though at length overthrown. Yet scarce a wreck of Roman magnificence remains, and the retiring legions seem to have left not a trace of science or of learning in their rear.

We find. the Saxons almost as barbarous as the Britons had been, before the eagle visited our shores. There was scarcely a historian to record their battles: » the humble efforts of science were of course unworthy of memorial. The introduction of Christianity from the papal states brought with it many of the Roman writings ; but they were confined to the monastic libraries, where they were more frequently obliterated than read. ‘The barbarous of all ages have believed in the existence of spirits, and their interference not only with the ultimate destinies, but also with the health and happiness, of mankind. The nations of southern Europe, and even the druids of the north, assigned a divinity to every sanitary herb ready to exert its benign influence in in favour of weak mortality, and to counteract the ma-

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

lignity of the evil genii who presided over the poisonous and unwholesome. ‘This superstition of the Britons was probably little affected by the residence of the Romans among them; and the Saxon tribes brought other legions of spirits as auxiliaries to the ancient mythology. Nor was it eradicated by the introduction of the Christian religion. It was modified only, the new faith converting the deities into demons, who were now supposed to exert a beneficent influence on the bodies of men to establish dominion over their souls. The gloomy fancy of the times representing necromancers and witches engaged in intercourse with these spirits, in the most monstrous and ridiculous forms.

The first of the monkish practitioners, perhaps, blended with their medical applications a little learning, and all the other pretenders in physic mixed with theirs a great deal of superstition. Yet the monastery which produced a Bede can hardly be supposed to have been destitute of students in the medical science to the extent in which it might have been derived from the Latin authors; and on the institution of colleges, medicine necessarily became an object of considerable attention. Could we fully authenticate the cure of the unfortunate Queen Elgiva, whose lovely and fascinating face the brutal clergy are said to have mutilated with hot irons, we should place the science of surgery, in the Saxon times, ona higher footing than it seems to have held for many ages after. In the middle of the seventh century, was founded the medical school at Salerno, an establishment not long afterwards followed by similar seminaries in every kingdom of Europe. ‘The degree of bachelor of physic seems to have been known at Oxford soon after the conquest *; and in the fourteenth cen-

* We find from the Exon Domesday, which furnished a portion of the materials from which the Great Domesday, or General Survey of William the Conqueror, was compiled, that Nigel the physician (Medicus, and not Bachelor or Doctor of Physic) had five hydes of land in demesne in the hundred of Scipe,— Exon Dom. 5.

B 3 or tury, we find that the degree of doctor of physic was by no means uncommon. *

The monks and other clergy were necessarily the only regular physicians and surgeons, as none but the learned could be deemed fully accomplished in this science, and none but the clergy paid the slightest attention to learning. The Latin was the only language generally known in the Catholic states of Europe. ‘To supply the deficiency of medical books in that language, the students of Salerno resorted to the Arabic authors, which were for the most part bad translations from the Greek, abounding with the interpolations and commentaries, undistinguished from the text, of the Arabian physicians. These were at length presented to the world in a Latin garb. ‘This bad translation of a bad translation, overwhelmed with the new commentaries of the scholastics, which were mere sophistical speculations founded on the Aristotelian logic, and having no relation to experience, formed the library of the doctor of physic in those days.

These doctors appear to have practised physic in all its branches; that is, in the operative parts of surgery, and in the administering as well as the prescribing of medicine, in imitation of their Grecian, Arabian, and Roman preceptors. This practice seems also to have become so lucrative, as to induce many of the monks to leave their monasteries during long intervals, to the neglect of their religious devotions. Their brother ecclesiastics, either scandalised by this neglect of their order, or envious of the profits derived from these secular avocations, prohibited them by the canons of several councils +; and at length, at the council of Tours, it was by the eighth canon declared, that none of the regular

* Wood’s Hist. of Oxford, fo. vol. ii. p. 18. Quarto, Gutch, vol. ii. p- 765. vol. i. p. 52. 54. Chaucer’s Doctor of Physic’s Tale.

+ Council of Rheims, 1131. Council of Lateran, 1139.— Concilia, vol, ii. pp. 986. -1004.°1421.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. ?

clergy should devote their attention to physical compositions *, and that such as should absent themselves from their house during two months, should be treated as excommunicated, and afterwards degraded. ‘This canon is drawn up in terms of great moderation, and with an unusual degree of respect towards the persons against whom it was aimed; for at the same time that it charges them to have been tempted by the arch-enemy to undertake duties at variance with their religious character, they are complimented as being the dainty morsels of Satan, the most worthy members of their profession, and seduced through the best feelings of their nature — a desire to alleviate the sufferings of their brethren. From this time the monks confined themselves to the prescribing of medicines, to be compounded and administered by others, and wholly abstained from the manual operations of surgery; and the secular clergy, though not within the interdict of the council, “may in general be supposed to have imitated their brethren of the rule. And as the monks were in possession of the seminaries of learning, the study of prohibited surgery probably found but few admirers.

B 4

Various orders of practitioners.

Physicians.

Hence arose the distinction of the orders; the abandoned profession of surgery fell into the hands of the barbers and smiths, as the kindred avocations, of whom more will be said hereafter.

From this time there grew up three regular, and many irregular, orders of medical practitioners. But as there was no legal prohibition to restrain any adventurer from entering upon the profession, it may, perhaps, be better distributed into the following classes: first, the scholars ; secondly, surgeons of all sorts; thirdly, the grocers or poticaries; fourthly, the empirics; fifthly, the alchymists; sixthly, the sorcerers; and lastly, the witches or herbalists ; to whom may be added the astrologers, who rather foretold sickness and recovery, than attempted by any natural means to prevent or cure diseases.

The physicians were almost uniformly of the order of © Galen,ever compounding and varying their compositions. To have prescribed a simple medicine would have been an act of ignorance; it was necessary to prescribe a mix= ture. in all cases to prove that they were learned, and the learning of the rival physicians was estimated by the number of ingredients in a mixture. It is not therefore surprising that the unfortunate bishop of Salisbury should have found that no two of his physicians could ever agree in opinion, and that the results of their practice should have proved so greatly at variance with what their learned disquisitions might have led him to expect.*

The more ingeniously complicated mixtures were duly recorded and pressed into the commentaries on the already deformed Greek writings, until every disease was provided for by a thousand contradictory prescriptions, and a mighty thesaurus medicinze compiled, of which we have the quintessence transmitted to us in

John of Gaddesden’s Medical Rose.+

* J. Sarisburiensis, Policrat. lib. ii. c. 29. p. 147. Ib. Metalog. lib. i. c. 4. p. 743. t Some of their prescriptions were of a very fanciful character, of

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

These gentlemen however made a vast parade of their learning; and being often men of ecclesiastical rank obtained for themselves great wealth, and for their profession a respectable footing in society, with which the surgeons and apothecaries, though often rewarded by considerable profits, could never raise themselves to any degree of equality ; and the rate of their remuneration may be inferred from the case and patent given in the note.} which the Medical Rose furnishes among others the following infallible remedy for the small pox :—

+ Master Simon de Brendon v. the Prior of Lewes. Writ of annuity for 20]. arrear. Plaintiff declared that the predecessor of the prior granted him an annuity for the term of his life.—Candish. It appears that it was granted for his counsel and aid, and Master Simon is a doctor of physic, and defendant's predecessor, the successor of him who granted the annuity, was ill, and sent to plaintiff one A. of B., and requested his counsel and aid in the presence of A. C., and he would neither counsel nor aid him, whereby the annuity is extinct.—Belknap. It is a double plea to say he requested his counsel and also his aid et non allocatur, for the one is dependent upon the other. Wherefore he afterwards said, the deed does not show expressly that plaintiff must travel to him, but that he is to have our counsel and aid, that is in the place where we may be found, and he has not shown what his complaint was, so that we could give him counsel, nor does the deed show that we were to give him counsel rather in physic than in any other thing.—Candish. Wehave alleged that you are a physician, and that the annuity was granted on that account, and the malady he could not himself have known, in as much as it is a private thing which appears only by inspection of urine, which he could not himself understand, and therefore could not certify to you. If I grant an annuity to one pro consilio et auxilio habendo, that shall be understood in such matters as he best understands ; for if such annuity be granted to a lawyer, he ought to aid and counsel in the law.—Finchden. It has been adjudged that where an annuity was granted to a lawyer pro consilio, &c. he is not bound to travel, but only to counsel him where he may be found ; therefore, since the prior did not goto him he was not in

Se Ib.

In the year 1237 were made the celebrated regulations of the college of Salerno, by which every person was required to spend three years in the study of philosophy, and five years in the study of physic, and to obtain a licence after examination by two doctors before he could enter upon practice in that faculty. Similar regulations appear to have been soon after adopted by the French and English universities.

The laity were never expressly excluded from the practice of physic, provided that they obtained the default, and therefore he could not give his counsel unless the prior signified to him what was his disease, for if one grant you such annuity, you cannot counsel him unless he disclose his case. — Candish. As to the law every one knows how his case stands, in point of fact, on which I can give advice ; but a disease is so secret that no one can know it except a physician ; therefore, as the party could neither inform the physician of his case, nor travel to him on account of his disease, the physician was bound to go to him. — Thorpe'to Candish. The deed is pro consilio et auxilio, &c. and if he were learned in any science other than physic ; as surgery, law, or the like, tell me in which he is bound to counsel and aid him. — Candish. In that for which the annuity was granted. —Thorpe. Put it that he knew not how to counsel or aid, would the annuity be extinct ? — Candish. No truly, for he is not bound to aid or counsel him beyond his knowledge; but when we have alleged that he was a doctor of physic, and that that was the reason why the annuity was granted, sc. pro consilio et auxilio suo nobis et monasterio nostro impenso et inposterum impendendo, and that our predecessor sent to and requested him, &c. and he does not deny ‘it, it seems that the annuity is extinct. — Belknap. You have not said that you informed us what was your complaint, so that we could give you our counsel, and the deed does not show that we ought to travel. Besides we say that the prior purchased the church of Thames to his own use, of which Master Simon was in possession, and Master Simon resigned the church to them, and that the annuity was granted on that account.— The remainder of the case turned on a point of pleading, and no judgment is reported. Pro physico Regis, j

Rex collectoribus parve custume sue in portu civitatis suze Londonia,

qui nunc sunt et qui pro tempore erunt, salutem.

Cum de gratia nostra speciali concesserimus dilecto servitori nostro magistro Johanni Faceby, physico nostro, centum libras percipiendas annuatim a festo Sancti Michaelis ultimo preterito pro termino vite suze de parva custuma nostra in portu predicto, &c.

The patent afterwards proceeds to direct the collectors to pay this sum annually, and take Faceby’s receipt for the same, which is to be allowed them in their accounts at the Exchequer.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

necessary degree; but as few remained long at the colleges without receiving holy orders, we do not find many laymen among the medical practitioners, who were often beneficed clergy, and sometimes even bishops and other dignitaries of the church. The canon of the council of Lateran*, also, which provides that the physician for the health of the body should first call in the physicians of the soul, and postpone all attempts to cure the body until the sick person had taken care for his spiritual medicament, gave the clerical physicians a considerable advantage over their lay competitors.

Nor could the English colleges of their own authority. prevent any from undertaking to practice, though they had not obtained a degree in physic. On this account, therefore, in the ninth year of the reign of Henry the Fifth+ our universities proposed to pass an act of parliament for the purpose of excluding every one

from the practice of physic who had not taken the degree

of bachelor of medicine, either at Oxford or Cambridge, under the penalty of 40/. and imprisonment, whether man or woman.

This measure had not, however, the desired effect ; indeed, there appears to be some doubt whether it ever obtained the force of an act of parliament, on account of its being referred to the privy council for confirmation. In the third year of the reign of Henry the Eighth was passed an act, which is generally received as the first operative law on the subject, and which takes no notice of the supposed statute of Henry the Fifth. By this, which is especially aimed against the sorcerers, witches, and smiths, “who can no letters on the book,” provision is made both as to sufficiency of learning, and purity from supernatural attainments, by appointing the bishop of the diocese to exorcise the fiend, and two doctors to examine the medical qualification of the candidate. This statute evidently shows that there were many phy-

* P. iii. + Ibid. t P. vi

Vide p. iv. and Lord Coke’s eulogium on the royal precaution,

Surgeons.

sicians openly and legally practising, who had derived no sanction from Alma Mater; for they alone appear to have been the proper objects of the examination, as the third clause of the same act provides for the right of the university graduates to practise without undergoing it.

In the fourteenth year of the same reign *, another act was passed, relative to physicians only; by which, in as much as they were concerned, the examination was taken from the persons appointed for that purpose by the former statute, and reposed in the college instituted by a charter of that king. Under this the university graduates who might desire to practise in London, were included, as well as the other physicians; and since that time the Legislature has seldom interfered on the subject.