A letter to the Right Hon. Lloyd Lord Kenyon : Relative to some conduct of the College of Physicians of London, posterior to the decision of the Court of King's Bench in the case of Dr. Stanger; and containing observations on a principal ground of that decision / by William Charles Wells.

  • Wells, William Charles, 1757-1817.
Date:
1799
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Right Hon. Lloyd Lord Kenyon : Relative to some conduct of the College of Physicians of London, posterior to the decision of the Court of King's Bench in the case of Dr. Stanger; and containing observations on a principal ground of that decision / by William Charles Wells. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    amply enjoyed by individual according as few or many are entitled to partake of them. Whether any body of men would be able to refill fuch a temptation to reftrain the increafeof their number, I know not. It is certain, at leaft, that the college have not been fo, but have often adopted meafures for this purpofe, which are declared, by perfons of the higheft authority, to have been contrary to the laws of our country. <c Licences,” faid Lord Mansfield, while deli- vering a judicial opinion upon the conduct of that corporation, “ probably took their rife from that illegal bye-law, now at an end, which re- firained the number of fellows to twenty. This was arbitrary and unjiiflijiable; they were obliged to admit all fuch as came within the terms of their charter.” The effe£l, which was once derived from re- flraining bye-laws, is now produced by means lefs odious in appearance, but not lefs fure in operation. Though a degree of do6lor in me- dicine, from Oxford or Cambridge, has- been de- manded by the college, almoll from its founda- tion, as a qualification for a fellowfhip; yet, for a confiderable time, it was occafionally dif- penfed with, and when it was not, phyficians, who had graduated elfewhere, could for a final] fum