The morning times., 1896-02-12

| The House of Representatives yesterday
| devoted three hours and twenty minutes
to municipal legislation, and made u
commendabIe record for promptness and
dispatch.
The following bills were passed with
| out any unseemiy CONVENTIONS or evi-
dences OF dissatisfaction:
| To provide for the Incorporation and
| regulation of medical colleges in the
District.
| Extending the time in which the Mary
land and Washington Railway Company
| may complete its road.
TO incorporate the National University.
| To license billiard and pool tables in the
| District.
To prevent false swearing before police
and fire department trial boards.
To regulate the practice of medicine and
| surgery, to license physicians and surgeons,
and to punish persons violating the pro-
visions thereof in the District
This bill was explained by aIr. Babcock.
The report of the committee says:
At present there is no uniform standard
of medical education in the District of
Columbia. There are in the District
five medical schools without any uniform
! standard or qualification for the degree
of doctor of medicine. Each has its own
curriculum and standard of education.
THREE CHARTERED SOCIETIES.
There are also three medical societies,
chartered by acts of Congress, to wit:
The Medical Society of the District of
Columbia, the Washington Homeopathic
Medical Society, ard tie Eclectic Medical
Society of the District OF Columbia, each
authorized TO license men to practice
medicine in the District OF Columbia upon
the presentation of such diploma as the
applicant may offer, without any uniform
standard Of education or qualification.
Now, under the general Incorporation
law, any number of citizens not less than five
can obtain a charter authorizing them 10
confer the degree of doctor or>medieine
under such equations and coDdftionsast they
may choose to adopt. a representative of
one such institution chartered under this
law, has admitted in the presence of this
committee that it had neither building nor
any other provision for teaching medicine
in any OF its branches whatsoever.
1HlS lHdNf III
of the enactment of niedical-practice laws in
forty-three States and Territories, the Dis
trict OF Columbia has become a common
rendezvous for those who, from lack OF
proper qualifications, are forbidden To
practice in searly all the States and Ter
ritories, and that uniform grade OF quail
fications for medical practitioners VIII
elevate the standard of medical education
in the District.
This is shown by the reports of the boards
of medical examiners in number Of
States in which such laws exist About 80
per cent of the graduates of seyenty-fiye
schools of medicine have failed To pass
these boards of examiners on first exanlin-
alton, and those who have been finally
rejected have sought homes in those States
in which no such laws existed 4sonIeof whom
have located in this District and practice.
medicine upon such qualifications as would
not enable thenito obtain a. license in States
wherein such laws exist.
THE PRESENT LAWS.
At present laws governing the practice of
medicine exist in forty-three States and
Territories, as follows: In Alabama, Arkan-
sas, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachu-
sets, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey,
New York, North Carolina, North Dakota,
| Rhode Island, Texas. Utah, Virginia, and
Washington, the diploma cOnfers no right
topra ctice and has no legal value except, in
some cases. TO give its posseSsor standing
before an examining board. The right 10
practice in each OF these nineteen States is
determined by examination before boards
of examiners created by law,
In N HnIOrodn i1uF
Delaware. Illinois. Iowa, Kentucky, Lou
isiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New
Mexico, Oklahoma. Oregon, Tennessee, Yer
mont, and West Virginia the diploma is
subject to the supervision of some desig-
mated body vested by law with authority
to determine its validity as evidence of its
possessor's qualification for the practice OF
medicine. Failing the possession of such
recognized diplomas, the right 10 practice
| may be acquired by passing a satisfactory
examination.
In Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana,
Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, South
Carolina, Wisconsin,. and Wyoming, the
presentation of a diploma, provided that
it be from Chartered medical institu-
ton, is sufficient in law for county clerks,
clerks of courts, registrars of deeds, and
similarly qualified judges of medical fit
ness to admit to practice.
DOESN'T RESTRICT METHODS.
The bill confers the same privileges, rights
and immunities upon the three systems of
medical practice recognized by Congress
sional charter.
This bill will not in any way, restrict
| the methods of medical practice which may
be employed by properly qualified persons,
nor is 1t intended that it should do so. 1t
will, however, require every person desir
ing to enter upon the practice of medicine
to show that he has, by previous study,
acquired sufficient knowledge of the human
body, its natural ana morbid processes, to
enable him to determine the method of
To do this 1t requires of all candidates
uniform standard of medical education in
/ all those branches common to all systems of
medical practice, and thorough knowledge
of which is essential to any system whatSo-
| ever. 1t permits the candidate to be ex-
amined, of his own choice, in that system
| of medical practice in which he has been
educated, and having demonstrated the
! sufficiency OF his education, it permits
| him to pursue absolutely any system which
he may desire, whether among those named
in this bill or not.
| Mr.. Babcock said the committee was unau-
imous in the belief that bin of this char
acter should be passed for the better
! protection alike OF practitioners and ciu-