The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-17 00:00:00

but we see no cause to depart from t be belief already ex-
pressed under this head, that it must have great weight,
as emanating from a department of the' Government. At
the same:time, it is to be kept in view that Members of
Parliament are the representatives of particular consti-
tuencies, whose interests will be more or less affected—
favourably or the reverse—by the result of their delibe-
rations, and when the decision of the Board comes into
collision with the wishes of the constituencies of Mem-
bers of Parliament sitting as judges, it is not to be pre-
sumed that the Committees will confirm the adverse
views to be expressed in the report by Lord Dalhousie
and his colleagues, without allowing evidence to be ad-
duced, and giving full scope to those parties interested in
the new schemes which have been rejected or postponed,
or which may be hereafter reported against in the future
" notifications" which are yet to be made in the Gazette.

-
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
(From the Tinos.)
In another column appears an " earnest and indig-
nant protest, by members of the Royal College of
Surgeons, residing in the rural parts of Surrey,
against the exclusion in which they are placed by the
proceedings of the Council of the College in the
matter of the recent charter." It is signed by no
less than 68 gentlemen of (as we are assured) 10, 20,
30, and 40 years' standing as members of the Col-
lege, and of large practice in their respective neigh-
bourhoods; and we are given to understand, by a
gentleman on whose information we have no hesita-
tion in placing reliance, that " it has not been got up
or instigated by any agitating society, but is the inde-
pendent expression of the feelings of the surgeons of
Surrey." Nearly six months ago we ventured to
give a piece of advice to the members of the medical
profession as *o the most prudent line of conduct they
could pursue. It was that they should memorialise
their representatives in Parliament, " earwig' than
as occasion offered, and take every care that they shoetli
feel satisfied that the votes at the next electissaa
would show how far the medical men, " voters to
a man," were satisfied or not with their conduct in
regard to Sir James Graham's Bill. We are glad to
see such an evidence, as this protest gives, of the
surgeons being alive to the necessity of expressing
their feelings in a mode which leaves no room fin
cavil. Resolutions passed at public meetings may
express the wishes of multitudes, or of mere coteries.
Some local information of a rather precise nature
may be necessary to test the practical value of such
resolutions. But protests signed by scores, like the
present, leave no space for dispute. These Surrey
surgeons—" voters to a man"—" protest against the
arbitrary elevation of a few gentlemen above those of
their brethren who were previously their equals in
professional rank, senior to many of them as members
of the College, and not inferior to most of them in
scientific and practical knowledge." This is the
expression of a feeling all but universal in the pro-
fession, and no less universal, we fully believe, is
the feeling which dictated the conclusion of the
protest, that these 68 gentlemen " consider the
invitation to the mass of the profession to undergo
examination, in order to obtain the rank which has
thus been conceded to a select few, to be an affront,
which, if we remained silent under, we might be con-
sidered to have deserved." We fully concur with
these protesters in regarding the offer of an examina-
tion to them as a sheer affront—an offer which the
Council of the College must have known beforehand
neither would nor could be accepted, and which,
therefore, under the semblance of politeness was,
in
fact, most insulting. The Collegellexarninations are
expressly framed to test mere rudimentary knowledge;
they are not capable of Lestins experimental know-
ledge. We have no hesitation in saying that the
ablest surgeon of 40, or 30, or •20 years' standing,
unless be had been in the habit of lecturing, or other-
wise continually recurring to the mere alphabst
of his profession, would not do himself credit
at an examination which any student, who had
just completed his hospital studies and courses of
lectures, might pass with comparative ease. The
A B C of the science must be learnt first ; not as the
ultimate object of study, but as preliminary to prac-
tice. What is of importance to the public is—not a
most minute acquaintance with redunents or prin-
ciples, but—the ability of practically applying that
knowledge to which those rudiments and principle.
have been the mere stepping tones. As this ability
is gained, the mere verbal recollections of the terms
in which the rudiments and principle's are to be most
correctly expressed fades away from the mind and,
as a general rule applicable to ell professions and to all
occupations, by so much the more As p. man is prac-
tically his business, by so rough the less is
he competent
to ~,,Indergo a satisfactory examination
in its mere prelit:"4l47
technicalities. If we re-
tes
point, we need do
no more than refer to
quired any evidence i,"l
ti Krinding system,
by which young men of more a.7tielY
t 9 get into
practice than honesty as to the mea:'
ywhich
they may acquire the right to practise, mati:.7,'e to
render themselves apparently qualified. We under-
stand that there is one " grinder" in London who
will undertake—" no cure no pay"—to fit any young
man to pass in six weeks, provided he puts his nose
to the grindstone without the least acquaintance with
his profession. If he happens to have a smattering
of medical or surgical knowledge, the grinding pro-
cess takes a proportionately longer time ; This pro-
test has been sent to the Council of the College, and
we hope, though we scarcely dare expect, that it may
have some influence with them. We foresee so many
evils consequent on revolutionary changes in the pro•
fession, that we would fain see the Colleges and the
Hall kept on their old foundations, but better adapted
to the condition of the present times ; and we tell the
Council of the College distinctly, that they have been
pursuing a suicidal policy, and that unless they take
some decided steps towards meeting the wishes of
their members at large, they will eventually rue it.
It appears from a letter in another column, ad-
dressed by the clerk of the Apothecaries' Company
to a Manchester Committee of General Practitioners,
that the Company, believing " that a very large pro-
portion of the general practitioners of the country
have declared their wishes in favour of a distinct
incorporation," and being consequently willing to.
act in accordance with what they understand to be a
very widely extended feeling, have applied to Sir James
Graham on the subject, and have had from him a
very diplomatic reply which, though it absolutely
pledges him to nothing, whatever beyond a readiness
to receive a matured plan, appears to afford them
" the utmost satisfaction !" They now invite assist-
ance from the profession towards complying " with
what Sir James Graham has required as a preliminary
to his forming an opinion on the proposed incorpora-
tion of the general practitioners." We must give
the Company full credit for the generosity with
which, for the benefit, as they think, of the profession
at large, they are willing to surrender all their own
exclusive privileges ; but we cannot applaud their
prudence in the present instance. They are, un-
consciously no doubt, playing the Home Secretary's
game. • The question of the most vital importance to
the profession, at the present time and for the next
few months, is Sir James Graham's Bill; and against
that Bill their exertions ought to be concentrated. The
discussion which he would, as the Company rightly
anticipates, excite in the profession on the mere details
of the proposed charter, would operate as a most
successful diversion in his favour. If a charter for
the incorporation of the general practitioners were
the best thing they could have, the chance of their
having it would be as good after as before the passing
of that Bill ; and it therefore is a mere question of
time whether they shall agitate for it now or six
months hence. But there is no time to be lost in
opposing the Bill. Parliament is on the point of
meeting, and the undivided energies of the whole
profession ought to be brought to bear, not only. on
each of the Houses of Parliament collectively, but
also on every member of each house individually
While they are in the country, the country practi-
tioners should avail themselves of every opportunity
of explaining to them the injurious effects of the pro-
posed reform, and especially how the penalties of the
Apothecaries' Act do tend to prevent irregular prac-
tice, and how imperfect is the penalty system esta-
blished by that Act. On this point the Members
i of
the Legislature most especially require to n-
formed. There is a very general belief among them
that the regular practitioners have already had a fair
trial of a protective system, and that it has been
found totally inefficient. This mistake ought, by
every fair means, to be thoroughly and immediately
exposed. As soon as Parliament meets, its various
Members will be beyond the reach of personal expla-
nations. Then they must be met by protests, memo-
rials, and petitions calculated to influence them in
their legislative capacity. But if, instead of concen-
trating their efforts to check the progress of the Bill,
the members of the profession waste their energies in
discussions on the details of a charter, as to which Sir
James Graham most explicitly declares that he will
not even form his opinion, or even consider it, until
all its details are laid before him, with the names of
the leading persons who promote it, they will soon find
themselves in the unenviable position of those who
endeavour to avail themselves at the same time of
"two stools?' That the charter will prove an apple of
discord, we have great fears, and we are, therefore,
earnest in our remonstranees against its present dis-
cussion. Let the question, by all means, be well con-
sidered and fully debated; and if the general practi-
tioners at large should eventually unite in calling for
their separate incorporation, let them have it ; but
while an enemy is at their gates, att.eeking their very
existence, in the name of common pruden‘a 142 t there
be no divisions in their camp.

THE APOTHECARIES' COMPANY.
Apothecaries' Hall, Jan, 8.
Gentlemen,—On the 23d ult. the Master of this So-
ciety had the honour of receiving a communication from
the Committee appointed at a general meeting of medical
practitioners of Manchester and its neighbourhood to
watch the progress of Sir James Graham's Bill, express-
ing the interest with wNch the Committee had observed
the various movements mide by gie prpfession in differ-
ent parts of the kingdom towards one esientiai °Web