Observations on the education and examinations for degrees in medicine, as affected by the New Medical Bill ... in a letter to the Right Hon. Sir James Graham, bart. / by Richard Quain.

Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the education and examinations for degrees in medicine, as affected by the New Medical Bill ... in a letter to the Right Hon. Sir James Graham, bart. / by Richard Quain. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    reference is made in tins letter, but merely that attention will here he confined to some subjects of much importance, which, perhaps in consequence of the excitement existing with refer- ence to other parts of the Bill, have hitherto, so far as I know, passed without public examination. The twenty-second clause refers to the general and pro- fessional attainments to be required of candidates for Degrees in Medicine. It enacts that no such Degree shall be conferred by Universities, except after two years’ study of Medicine, and after examination in Medicine and the allied sciences, as well as in the Latin and English languages at least. The twenty-sixth clause provides for the coalition of certain Examining bodies, and this provision, taken in connexion •with other clauses (the sixteenth and twenty-third), may, and proba- bly will, confer on the Professors of certain schools the pri'vdlege of taking part in the examination of their own pupils for the Letters Testimonial of Physicians and of General Practitioners. It is to these provisions of the Bill especially that I ■ndsh to caU your attention; and the observations to be submitted to your consideration will be directed to the follo'wing points :— First: The small amount of preliminary education it is pro- posed to require for University Degrees in Medicine; together ■with the manner of testing the attainments of the Candidates for Degrees in general and professional knowledge. Secondly: The share to be assigned practically to the Professors of some Schools, in examining into the fitness of them o'wn pupils to receive the Diplomas or Letters Testimonial of Practitioners. To the discussion of these, the main object of this letter, will be added some remarks on other pai’ts of the BUI, which have a bearing on the same subjects. Instead of entering directly into a statement of the objections to which the provisions of the Bill here referred to are liable, and placing before you the result of my own experience and reflection, I will, in the first instance, avail myself of the labours of eminent public men who investigated the same subject ■adtli great care and al)ility some years ago, under the responsibility of appointment for that purpose by the Crown