441

shut up for bad purposes." We shall not extract from this portion of the volume.It is directed to the state of the law inFrance.

Though we have gleaned nothing thatis very new from this volume, yet it has afforded us an oppcrturaity of drawing at-tention to a subject which is seldom .ablydiscussed, and never, probably, has beentreated by a more experienced observer.

Thirty years ago the admonitions of Es-quirol, addressed to the French Govern-

ment, led to the abandonment of a mea-sure which was about to be introducedrelative to the legal treatment of the in-sane.

THE LANCET.

London, Saturday, June 29, 1833.

FALSE STATEMENTS AGAINST THE NEW BILL.

WHATEVER may be the sins and fail-

ings of the incorporated mellical monopo-lists, it must be admitted that the chargeof inconsistency cannot be imputed to

them. They maintain an unabated per-severance in dishonesty. They fight like

. bandits. You find them in ambush, and

dirty lanes; they extort your money underthe falsest pretences. If the WorshipfulSociety of Apothecaries were accessible toa feeling of shame, would they now, atthe eleventh hour of the contest, unblush- !

ingly stand forward as the utterers andabettors of falsehood ? Aware of their de-

graded position, conscience-stricken at

their numerous misdeeds, they know, fullwell, that it is not in their power to gainover a single legislator to their cause, ex-

cept by resorting to practices which wouldbe wholly rejected by honourable dispu-tants. Never was there greater effronterydisplayed by any band of intriguers thanis exhibited by the Worshipful Company,when they allege that the enactment of theBill introduced into the House of Commons

by the Hon. GEORGE LAMB, would destroythe -Company’s power over unqualified

practitioners of medicine in England andWales. Fortunately, the allegation is sodistinct, that we are enabled to bind the

Society down to it, and call for such an

explanation as shall amount to a justification of the daring statement. If the

proposed measure contained any clause

for the annihilation of a power which

might prove salutary in the suppressionof quackery, that provision would receiveour unqualified opposition. Instead of re

pealing the laws against unlicensed prac=titioners, the penal statutes which alreadyexist, affecting quacks and other slaugh-tering pretenders, ought to be strength-ened in a tenfold degree, so that the com

munity might be secured against the evil

practices of men whose avocations are notless pernicious than are those of the in*corporated monopolists,—fit coadjutors indeception and crime.

In calling on the Worshipful Society topoint to one line of the new Bill which

tends to diriinisli, much less to destroy,the power which, by the Act of 1815, theycan at this time exercise over the un-

licensed practitioner, we are actuated onlyby a sense of duty to the Legislature, andby an earnest desire to prevent our ’pro..fessional brethren from coming forwardas the supporters of an interested gang of

monopolists. It should be recollected that

impudence is not argument, and that as-sertion is not fact. As the Bill has for

some weeks past been before the legal ad.visers of the Worshipful Company, if itcontained one clause, or one word, which,by even a forced construction, could beconsidered as a repeal of the penal portionof the statute of 1815, would not that

clause, or that word, have been exhibited

to every member of the Legislature, toevery licentiate of the Company? Un-

doubtedly it would, and we should have; ‘ heard of little else., Instead, however, of adopting a manly,straightforward course, the Worshipful

442 COMBINATION BETWEEN THE HALL AND THE COLLEGE.

Company have set their agents in motion .from such interested individuals. When

in every part of the kingdom, and have before that honourable gentleman, how-succeeded, in a few instances, in cajoling ever, they did not dare repeat the alle.

some respectable men into a belief that gation that the amended Bill would, if

the new measure is designed as an instru- enacted into a law, destroy the powerment for the total repeal of the only useful which the Company can enforce againstportion of the Act of 1815. But the de- unlicensed medical practitioners. But the

lusion thus practised has been only of whining old ladies, the discomfited re-

short continuance. The practitioners who tailers of jalap and salts, deign to act inwere thus grossly deceived, have acknow- concert with the " certificate " hucksters

ledged the mistake into which they had of Lincoln’s-Inn Fields, the "sound-chi.

fallen, and with characteristic integrity rurgical" mongers. Hence the Bill, whenand fairness, have pointed to the authors it was recommitted on Monday eveningof the scandalous falsehood. So disgusted last, on the motion of the LORD Anvo.were the members of the " Associated CATE, to a select Committee of the HouseGeneral Practitioners of England and of Commons, exhibited the followingWales," who met at the Crown-and-Ancher clauses,-clauses introduced at the specialon Friday last, that they adjourned their suggestion of the two gangs of mono-

meeting to some day in July, thus with- polists,-the part of chief ear-wigger on

holding that support from the Company the occasion having been enacted by Mr.which they were at first inclined to afford GUTHRIE, a gentleman who is better

on the supposition that the proposed Bill known by the title of " the modest

was brought forward in order to accom- author."

plish the total repeal of the restrictive " And be it further enacted, that every..’ person who has obtained, or who shall

clauses of the Act of 1815. Conduct like hereafter obtain, the Diploma of either ofthis is calculated to uphold the character the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of London,of the profession., and to wipe t the Dublin,

and Edinburgh, or of the Facultyof the profession, and to wipe out of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow,stain on the high-mindedness of medical shall, upon the production of such diplomapractitioners, designedly inflicted by the and a certificate of his having attended,. for at least twelve months at the labora-disgraceful proceedings of Rhubarb Hall. tory of a surgeon or apothecary, or of a

Happily, we are relieved from dwelling public hospital or dispensary, be admitted.. ’ , ,

to examination by the examiners, ap-on this portion of the subject, as the Wor- pointed by the master, wardens, and so-shipful Company have furnished a clear il- ciety of the Apothecaries of London, forlustration of the bareface effrontery r the certificate of his qualification to prac-lustration of the barefaced effrontery tise as an apothecary.their own assertions. Had there existed " Provided always, and be it further en-in the Amendment Bill the alleged repeal acted, that such examination shall be con-. . fined to the subjects of the theory andclause, would not the Company have sti- practice of physic, pharmaceutical che-

pulated for its erasure ? For it should be mistry, materia medica, and botany."known, that the agents of the monopolists Now observe. In those Clauses of the

of Blackfriars and Lincoln’s-Inn Fields, Bill, in which it was proposed tu eman-have had a " conference with the Parlia- i cipate the diplomatists of the three Col-

mentary promoters of the Bill. We blame leges of Surgeons, and of the Faculty ofnot the UNDER SECRETARY for having al- Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, alllowed these parties to visit him in his le- the words relating to those institutions

gislatorial capacity, but we entirely dis- were expunged at the earnest solicitationsent from the propriety of his acting on of the monopolists, and thus the Bill,a single suggestion which could emanate whilst it in principle professes to pro-

443RECEIPTS OF THE LONDON COLLEGES.

vide an antidote for the removal of a bane any rate, let us know how you have ap-which has grievously afflicted the mem- propriated nearly one-third of that sum

bers of all the Colleges of Surgeons since which you have abstracted from the

1815,-while, we repeat, this Bill, in prin- pockets of medical students since the 1stciple, professes to bring forward a potent of January, 1823. To thy Batiish haunts,

remedy for a grievous wrong-in detail it then, Mr. GuTHRiE, and think no more of

expressly stipulates for the continuance and ear-wigging under Secretaries of State.

perpetuity of the wrong doing ! It is to be Mr. LAMB, henceforth, will be deaf to all

regretted, that when Mr. GUTHRIE was thy entreaties.

urging his claims to the consideration of " House of Commons, DieJunii 22, 1823.the UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE, that PHYSICIANS’ COLLEGE.—"Copy ordered

some gentleman was not at hand to tell of the regulations or by-laws under which

Mr LAMB, that Mr. GUTHRIE and his Graduates in physic have been admitted as

Fellows of the Royal College of Physicianscolleagues had so misconducted them- of London since the year 17/1.selves as the Council of the College of Accounts of the number of the persons ,

.

.. who have been admitted as Fellows of theSurgeons, that they had excited the in- Royal College of Physicians in each year

dignation of the whole profession, and since 1771, distinguishing the numberthat petitions praying for inquiry into admitted under each by-law, and alsothe number rejected.

their flagrant malpractices, signed by " Of the number of persons who havehundreds of the members of the College, been admitted as Licentiates of the Royalhad long since been laid on the table of College of Physicians of London, from 1sthad long since January 1823 to 31st December 1832.the House of Commons. Possibly Mr. " Of the money which has been receivedGUTHRIE would not have been checked by the Royal College of Physicians from. , .... , - persons admitted as Licentiates from thein his career of persuasion by any such Ist January 1823 to December 1832, andannouncement, but at any rate Mr. LAMB of the manner in which it has been appro-would have been instructed that it was priated.". SURGEONS’.—"Accounts ordered of thepossible that he might be listening to number of persons who have obtainedtainted testimony. diplomas from the Royal College of Sur.As appears to deiight in geons

of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin,As Mr. GuTHRiE appears to delight in I in g each year, from lst January 1823 toparliamentary pursuits, we feel much plea- 31st December 1832.

sure in directing his attention to the fol- " Account of the money which has been

received by the Rcyal College of Surgeonslowing " Notices," extracted from the of London, of Edinburgh, and of Dublin," Orders " of the House of Commons, dated for Diplomas granted to persons who have

June 22nd, 1833, when he will quickly been examined from lst of the 1823to lst December 1832, and of the man-

perceive that a scheme of operations, in ner in which it has been appropriated."which his best energies will be reduired, The poison which has been designedlyhas been devised by Mr. WARBURTON, instilled into a measure framed with con-

through whose zeal and ability these ap- siderable liberality, will be instantly de-propriate " orders" were framed and ob- tected and extracted by the able and im-tained. Avaunt then, Mr. GUTHRIE, from partial analysts, who have been appointedthe purlieus of Apothecaries Hall, and ren- by the House of Commons to investigateder an account of thine own stewardship, and report on the Bill on its recom-

as one of the Council of the College of mittal. The following list embraces thoseSurgeons. Tell us how you and your col- members of the House on whom this im-

leagues have expended three hundred portant duty will devolve. Need we saythousand pounds of the public money, that the majority of the names gives ussince you were chartered in 1800 ; or, at the fullest assurance of the integrity and

444 CHOLERA IN PARIS.-THE HALL EXAMINERS.

judgment which will characterise the re-port which these gentlemen will feel it tobe their duty to present to the House ? In ithis instance, at least, the defeat of the imonopolists is certain. Mr. LAM]3.Col. WooD."Mr. ABERCROMBY.Sir J. HEY.Mr. F. KENNEDY.Sir R. INGLIS.Mr. WARBLTRTON.Mr. HAWES.Mr. HuME.Mr. SHAW.Mr. EwiNa.Mr. ROMILLY.

Mr. J. OswALD.Mr. GOULBURN.Mr. F. LEwis.Mr. T. GLADSTONE.Mr. Serg. PERRIN.Mr. BRODIE.Mr. ORD.Mr. E. STANLEY.Mr. H. HuGHES.Dr. BALDWIN.Mr. HURST. t

If the present discussion should termi-nate by relieving the members of all theColleges of Surgeons from the surveillanceof the Company of Apothecaries—thusrendering the Bill a general and not a par-tial measure—and also, by subjecting un-licensed chemists and druggists, who maydispense the prescriptiorls of physicians,to the penalties which are now enforced

against " unlicensed" apothecaries, it willbe received with satisfaction and grati-tude by almost the entire body of the pro-fession in Great Britain and Ireland.

WITHIN the last fortnight, several casesof cholera have appeared in the Parisianhospitals, particularly the H6tel Dieu; theleading symptoms are identical with thosewhich characterised the malignant or

Asiatic cholera, but they are intermixedwith some of the appearances usual in the

ordinary cholera. Many of the physiciansare inclined to regard them as isolatedcases of the disease which prevailed epi-demically ; while others think that thecommon cholera may be so far influenced

by a remnant of the epidemic disposition, ias to simulate strongly the Asiatic disease. IPROVINCIAL MrDIC-tL AND SURGICAL

ASSOCIATION.—The first annual meetingof this " Association" will be held atBristol on the 19th of July next. Anadvertisement thereof appears on the

wrapper of our present Number.

MEDICO-DRAMATIC SKETCHES.

No. II.i

SCENE I.—Board-room of the Society nf! Simples, Disunion Street, Crutched Frrars.

Mr. CHRISTOPHER CRABS’-CLAWS, Mr.ALBUM GRÆCUM, and Mr. DEADLYNIGHTSHADE, seated at a Table.

. CRABS’-CLAWS. (Porinc over a Newspa.

per.) Humph! What the dickins wouldthe medical radicals be doing ? They havelong been kicking up a dust, and have now

set all London in an uproar.GRÆCUM. They have indeed, and theirmotive and object can hardly be mistaken;the former being envy, the latter, plunder.Every jack-rag of them is coveting pro-fessional advancement, and nothing will

satisfy them but the demolition of theexisting corporations, the establishment

’ of new ones, and a general scramble forthe honours and appointments.

; i NIGHTSHADE. It seems so really; andall this, I fear, comes of over-educatingthe medical profession. In my time, a

seven years’ apprenticeship, enabling ayouth to make a tolerable acquaintancewith officinal &imples, and to become adexterous manipulator of pills and boluses,with a sufficient knowledge of Latin toconstrue " propria quœ zaaribus," and " ac inprœsenti," constituted the only necessaryqualifications for a respectable apothecary.Now your modern Galen must be the scho-lar and fine gentleman. He must readVirgil and Celsus off-hand, study botanyin Chelsea Gardens, and chemistry at theRoyal Institution. Thus, as Pope says," All quit their sphere, and rush into theskies." Your Court of Examiners are

over-much severe. I have seen its curri-culum, and it is really awful. I marvelhow it comes that you, my friends, whohave each numbered nearly as many sum-mers as myself, could so modernize your! stock of knowledge, as to qualify your-selves for the task of examining candidatesin so many abstruse sciences!CRABS’-CLAWS. Be assured, Mr. Night-shade, I am as great an advocate as your-

self for the good old-fashioned innocentmode of educating an apothecary. What

good comes of so many innovations andrefinements ? Many of our vaunted newchemicals are either inert or poisonous,and they have not abated one jot of myadoration for pulvis e chele, gattœ vitœ,sperrnaceti (which last, by-the-by, Hotspursaid was the " sovereign’st thing on earthfor an inward bruise "), and many othervaluable but neglected preparations of theold school. So would contend my old,friend Charles Nevmson, were he alive