The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-22 00:00:00

MEDICAL PRACTICE.

A BILL FOR THE BETTER REGULATION OF
-MEDICAL PRACTICE THROUGHOUT THE
-UNITED KINGDOM.
Prepared and brought in by Sir James Graham and

Mr. Manners Sutton.

The first clause repeals all existing statutes relat-
ing to the practice of physic and surgery.
2. And be it enacted, that a council shall he esta-
blished, which shall be styled " The Council of Health
and _Medical Education ; and that one of her Majesty's
principal Secretaries of State shall be a member of
the said council, n right of his office as Secretary of
State ; and that the regius professor of medicine in
the University of Oxford, the regius professor of
physic in the University of Cambridge, the regius
professor of physic in the University of Dublin, the
regius professor of clinical surgery in the University of
Edinburgh, and the regius professor of surgery in the
University of Glasgow, shall be members of the said
council in right of their severvl professorships; and
that the other members of the said council shall be
one physician and one surgeon, to be chosen by the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of England re-
spectively ; one physician and one surgeon to be
chosen by the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of
Scotland respectively ; one physician and one surgeon
to be chosen by the Colleges of Physicians and Sur-
geons of Ireland respectively ; and six other persons
whom her Majesty, with the advice of her Privy
Council, shall deem fit to be members of the said
council.

3. Provided always and be it enacted, that it shall
be lawful for her Majesty, with the advice her Privy
Council, to appoint all the members of the first coun-
cil of health and medical education, other than those
who will be members thereof in right of their several
offices ; and that, at the end of the third and each of
the two next following years after the first constitu-
tion of the said council, one physician and one sur-
geon of those first appointed on behalf of the said
several Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons shall go
out of office, in such order as her Majesty, with the
advice of her Privy Council, shall direct.
Clause 4 provides that the ex officio members of the
council shall continue to execute their functions while
they hold their 'respective offices, and that the six
members appointed by the. Crown shall continue
members during her Majesty's pleasure.
Clause 5 provides for the election of members from
any of the colleges, in case of vacancies, and also that
such member shall hold office for three years only,
but allows their re-election.

6. The details of elections are to be settled by the
bye-laws of the various colleges.
7. In a case of extraordinary vacancy another mem-
ber of the council shall be appointed in the same man-
ner and for the same term of years as the member by
whom the vacancy shall have been made.
Clause 8 provides for the appointment of a prin
cipal secretary and local secretaries for Scotland and
Ireland, to be elected by the council, subject to the
approval of her Majesty's princial Secretaries of State.
9. The salaries of the members of council and
other officers to be determined by the Lord High
Treasurer or Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury,
who will also allow travelling and other expenses in
carrying the Act into execution.
10. And be it enacted, that the said Secretary of
State shall be president of the said council, and shall
be empowered from time to time to nominate one of
the members of the council appointed as aforesaid by
her Majesty to be vice-president of the council, and
to act as president in his absence, and at every meet-
ing of the council in the absence of the president and
vice-president, some other member, to be chosen by
the council from the members then present, shall be
empowered to act as president.
11. And be it enacted, that the said council shall
be holden in such places and at such times as the
Secretary of State from time to time shall appoint ;
and that all the acts of the council shall be decided
by the votes of the majority of the members present
at any meeting, the whole number not being less than
seven; and at all such meetings the president for the
time being shall have a second or casting vote in all
cases of equality of votes.
12. And be it enacted, that minutes of the pro-
ceedings at all the meetings of the council shall be
drawn up and fairly entered in books, to be kept
for that purpose; and such minutes shall be at all
reasonable times open to the inspection of any person
or committee appointed for the purpose of inspecting
them by any of the said Universities or colleges.
13. And he it enacted, that a register shall be kept
and published from time to time, under the direction
of the said council, of all persons who shall have been
examined, and shall have received, and shall exhibit
before the said council letters testimonial as herein-

after mentioned of their qualification to practise as a
physician, or as a surgeon, or as a licentiate in medi-
cine and surgery; for which registry the council shall
be entitled to have from the person requiring to be
registered a fee of five pounds in the case of a phy-
sician or surgeon, and a fee of two pounds in the case
of a licentiate, which fees shall be applied toward de-
fraying the expenses of this Act; and every person
whose name shall be so registered, who shall be de-
sirous that his name shall be continued in the pub-
lished register, shall in the month of January in every
year send to the said council his name and place of
abode, with the date of his testimonials, and the
co.incil shall verify the returns so made to them by
comparison with the register kept by them, and shall
forthwith cause the names of all persons duly regis-
tered and so returned to them to be published in al-
phabetical order in their several classes, with their
several places of abode, and dates of their testimonials.
14. And be it enacted, that no person except such
graduates in medicine and such other legal practi-
tioners as are hereinafter mentioned shall be entitled
to be registered by the council as a licentiate in me-
dicine and surgery unless he shall have attained the
age of twenty-one years, and shall have been examined
by the colleges hereinafter named (that is to say), if
in England, examined by the Royal College of Phy-
cians of England, assisted by the Court of Examiners
of the Apothecaries' Company, and also examined by
the Royal College of Surgeons of England; and if
in Scotland, examined by the Royal Colleges of Phy-
sicians and Surgeons of Scotland; and if in Ireland,
examined by the Royal Colleges of Physicians and
Surgeons in Ireland ; and in every case shall have
received letters testimonial from each of the bodies
by which he shall have been examined, of his being
duly qualified to practise as such licentiate.
15. And be it enacted, that no person, except such
legal practitioners as are hereinafter mentioned, shall
be entitled to be registered by the council as a sur-
geon unless he shall have attained the age of twenty-
five years, and shall have been examined by one of
the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Scotland,
or Ireland, or the Royal College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Glasgow, after such proof as shall be
satisfactory to the examining college that he has
applied himself to surgical studies during at least five
years ; and shall have received letters testimonial
from the examining college of his being duly quali-
fied to practise as a surgeon.
16. And be it enacted, that no person, except such
legal practitioners as are hereafter mentioned, shall
be entitled to be registered by the council as a phy-
sician unless he shall have attained the age of twenty-
six years, and shall have graduated in medicine in
some University of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, or, subject to the restriction
hereinafter contained, in some foreign University,
and shall also have been examined by one of the
Royal Colleges of Physicians of England, Scotland,
or Ireland, or by the Royal College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Glasgow, after such proof as shall
be satisfactory to the examining college that he has
applied himself to medical studies during at least five
years, or if he is not a graduate in medicine of any
such University, unless he shall have attained the age
of forty years, and shall have been examined by the
Royal College of Physicians of England; and in each
case shall have received letters testimonial from the
examining college of his being duly qualified to
practise as a physician ; and no person shall be en-
titled to be received for examination for the purpose
of being so registered as a physician upon a foreign
degree in medicine, unless the Royal College of Phy-
sicians of England, Scotland, or Ireland, shall give
him a special certificate, to be laid before and ap-
proved by the Council of Health and Medical Edu-
cation, that they
have made inquiry into the manner
in which such degree was conferred, and have ascer-
tained that it has been granted, after residence
within the precincts of the same University during
at least one year, and after due examination and upon
satisfactory certificates of previous study.
17. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for
the same person, if
possessed of the necessary testi-
monials, to be registered as both physician and sur-
geon, and for a registered
physician, or a person ap-
plying to be registered as a physician, to offer himself
for examination as a licentiate in surgery by one of
the said Royal Colleges of Surgeons, and for a regis-
tered surgeon, or a person applying to be registered
as a surgeon, to offer himself for examination as a
licentiate in medicine by one of the said Royal Col-
leges of Physicians, assisted in England by the
Court of Examiners of the Apothecaries Company,
physician or surgeon shall be en-
and every such
titled to be also registered upon the testimonials
granted to him upon such additional examination, in
such form and manner as shall be determined by the
said council.
18. And be it enacted, that every person registered
after examination as a physician or surgeon under
this Act, shall be admitted as an associate of the
Royal College of Physicians, or as a fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons, from which he shall have
received his letters testimonial as physician or sur-
geon, or if he shall have received the said testimonials
from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Glasgow, then as a fellow of the last-mentioned
Royal College ' • and every such physician and sur-
geon who shall afterwards remove from that part of
the United Kingdom in which he obtained his letters
testimonial, shall be required, if he shall practise as a