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who were incompetent to the test of medicatshili: and this merely out os consideration forthe public sesely and wellare. The prescribed means are compatibie with such an intentionalone; for, as decisively as Words Can decide intention, the Charier, after declaring iis objes dictates as the first mean to accomplis h it, therestra ining of those audacious, ignorant, and rassi medicasters, who pursue the profession of physic, to the great injury of the illiterate and credulous multitude, more frona the motive of avarice, than frona the conscientious design of doing
To punish lach peopte for their delinquencies, in uia illatly practising physic, there mere certain existing laws of the land to be en rced, to
seamed by the college thenaseives, peculiartysor that pui posse and to compei praesition-ers, within their jurisdiction, to appear he re the president and censors for legat admisiton. But, in strict consistency with iis generat Vie in Order to prevent any arbitrary and undue exerci se of power in the members of the College, the charter quali fies the very privilege it granis to the college of making by-laws, by an Xpiession os restra int as to their o est and end ;pro si bri gubernatione, tac. That is, sex the whoo me
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fome govertament, supervi sing, and Correction of the s id college or commonalty, and of ali menexercising the fame faculty in London, and seven
In I 68 et a question was put to severat coun-sellors, by the college, respecting the necessitythere might be to obta in the lord chancellor's approbation and confirmation of the statutes, or by-laws of the college, accor ling to the statute of the nineleenth of Henry VII. ; and Alr. Blacker-by's opinion was, that he Conceived there was not any, for that the power the college hath to mine by-laws, is giseu item Θ ad I par ament; and is the by-laws thenaselves be made istu re onable penalties, and uot agains la , they are good in them lues, and need no Confirmation. How far the magisteriai condust of the college has corresponded with these fundamental principies of the existence of their authority can onlybe ascertained, by considering the nature and eX-tent of the power, whicli has been, frona time totime, delegated by the college to their magistri tagubernatores, their president and censors : and by investigat ing their by-laws, it may be readily di Covered, whether, as private legislators, they have exceeded the limits of royal and parti amentary
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The only statutes of the college that have been made public, were pubi istied in 1693 , and in 1763, eXcept the statuta moralia, which were publislied in 1 et g. There were sonae alterationSof the printed statutes of 176s proposed by a Committee of the college, and printed without a date :bui, by the teno ur of sonae of them, they appear toliave been priri ted about 1768 4 . Both those of 1693 and of 1763 pertain to the choice and dutyos ostic ers, and to the regulation and goverrament of the college and iis astairs. They are professed toliave been made by virtve of the right - Concede lto the college by the charter of king Henry VIII. sanctione d by the decrees of partiament. As the lalter copy of tlaese College statutes areos a date ne arly two Centuries and a half subsequent to the foundation of the college, it is butreas nable to supposse that they might be, and that consistently with the letter and spirit of the charter, Very considerably disterent, in sonae re- specis, frona the statutes that were found necessaryat an early period of the institution: for the circumstances of physic have altered very materiat lysiace the college was first e stablistaed. The fame observation will, in sonae degree, apply to the statutes publis laed in 1693. But is it appear,
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srom investigat ing their statutes, that the college of London, in proportion as the science of physichas been more generalty cultiva ted and bellerunderstood, have uniformly contributed to dampthe ardour for medicat improvement in Eng-Iand, by gradual encroachments Iapon the onlylegat road to professionat honours, the most directio professional reward, they may be fairly suspected of having lost fght of the spiris of their charter,
at least: and not any one Can dolabi but theyliave acted in diametrical opposition to iis Iesierat , is it cata be pro 'ed, frona those very statutes, that they have as gradually perverted the intention of their Charier, by an arbitrary impositionos undite restraliat iapon many, whom that waSgranted to protecto and enCOurage; and by a supine and negligent toleration os others, whomalone it was designed to stigmatiZe and repress.
The earliest statutes that Ι have been able toprocUre, in manus ripi, are sonae se , s id to have been made in July 16o7. I have read likewise, in manuscripi, Statuta CO DIE Medicorum Londinensium, dated 16 7; and sonae others, called satula noυa, Did to have been made in 1647 likewise, and confirmed in 1687. These arethe statutes that were publis hed in 1693. I have read another Copy, in manuscript, s id to have been enacted in i 736; and another of the date of I75Z.
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The sirit of the , whicli include the statutes pertaining to the elestion and duty of ossicers,&c. are the statutes of 1647. In those, and in allthe subsequent copies, prior to the printed Copyos 176s, the ossice of the president and Censors is expressed in nearly the Very fame wOrds. The ossice of the president was, to appotiat the comitia, Or meetings, accor ling to the statutes for that purpose; to declare the busi nest of the meetings; to talae the opinions of every one present, and to decide by the majori ty: to eXCJude parties and D fions: to choose with the rest, whose businesse it is, the elecis, the counci and the Censors of letters, of morais, and of medicines. In Choosing mem- bers, he was frst os ali to receive the suffrages of others, and then to give his o vn, and to de- cide by the majori ty: lao was to setile diffe- rences among the members ; but with the com- mon advice and approbation of the elefis and censors, separalely declared, in the way eXpres sed, in capite de conciliariis: he was to talae Care
that the common seat was sa ly deposited and preserved: to sign ali the decrees to whicli the rest of the members, according to their dub, and the statutes, had consented. Is any books
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were presented to the college, it was to be his care that they were deposited in the library; anil, at the end of his year of presidency, to ac-
count for them to the neW president, potiating them out nominalty by an indeX. He was to see that ali rental S, or annuat returias froin the college estates, ali gifis to the College, or other aCCes OnS, were preserved in the Common chest, of which he was to possest orae key, and - each of the counCil another . He was to de- mand froin the trealarer, and frona the other o ficers, an account of reccipis and di ursemenis for the year, in the presence of the rest of the eles is at that time in town; ali of whom were to be summoned to be present at adjusting the ac- counts, is convenient to them. He waS espe- cialty to se e that the statutes were diligently observed, and that they were read in the col-
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os sellow and licentiate is particularly recognised; for inste ad of the president having to choose with
The president Was by the prior statutes, and is by the statu te publimed in the copy of 1763 l ,
To pledge himself, that he will, to the ulmost of his power, ende avour that the honour of the college stiali be maintained ; that iis statutes siali be observed without fraud; and that he will ast in ali things for the public good, and for the fair advantage of the college. 'This description of the president's ossice is the just description of his delegated power. Is, there- fore, the decrees estabit med by the College priorto his appotniment, and those assented to by therest of the members, during his pressidentinis , and which he sigias, and pledges himself to see observed, be not Contrary to the purposses of the
η Electos, censores, ossiciarios, & collegas, nec non ad medicinae facultatem exercendam per Collegium admittendos cum ceteris, quorum ea res intererit, eligat. P. 6, 7.
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charter; then is there no position in the descrip tion of his ossice, that can be cavilled with asunwise, Unreas nable, or improper. The ossice of the censors, as enafted in ali thestatutes prior to those of 1763, was, to obtain a knowledge of ali praesitioners of medicine in
The printed statute of 1763, although in disterent Mords, is to the fame essest. By that , be- sides the superviling, eXamination, Correction, and governnient, os ali the physicians of the city of London; and besides the other du-
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liament the ossice of the censors is, to ad- monisti, together With the president or vice president, as they may think proper, ali those, V o practis e physic in London and severa miles round, unadmitted to the privilege by letters of the president and college, Under their Common stat; anil, together with the president and treairer, to prosecute them at law, is there mould be occasion ; likewise to eXamine those, isto destre to be admitted into the order of Candidates, or among the nUmber of licentiates. Thely are to 'ear, bes Ore the Pre- sident, that they will di harge their ossice faithfully. VThere appears nothing 1inwarrantabie in this delegation to the Censors, any more than in thatto the president. But is the described ossice and powers of the president and Censors, who are theonly agents of the college legalty appotnted, bestrictly in conformity with the declared views of
the college Charier: and is abuses haVe, neverthelesse, Crept into usage, whicli are repugnant both to the spirit and letter of that charter, then must they, undoubtedly, have originaled in the statutes or by-laws thenaseives, and their urce, Upon investigation, Will become evident.
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The most materiai abuse in the governinent of the College of Physicians, the most ui ustisable init is, and the most detrimental to society, is themonopoly of that governinent by the graduates of Oxford and Cambridge. By this, there have been many physicians eXcluded Dom a participation in directing the medicat assairs of England,
who have been as weli qualified for it a s any other men what ever, since they have beenas accomplis hed in every branch of education, whicli is connected either With medicat learn-ing, or with generat science: many who have been willing to subject theniselves to the proos of this, by submitting to any test of abilities, aC-qUirementS, or moralS, that is ever givera at the College of Physicians, by the graduates of OX- ford and Cambridge ; who, without limitation, are admitted into the order of candidates, as a progressive step to the fellowship of the college. This exclusion is arbitrary, and it has operate lin a great degree to retard the progress of medicat improVement, as it has manifestly contributed tothe toleration and advancement of a barbarous
and mischievous spirit os empiricisin. It has been suggested, indeed, that not any other than the siX physicians named as applicanis fortite Charier, were originalty incorporaled by it. Ini 767