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CHARTER OF THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS AND THE YOUNGER MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE.
460 tion of those who enter it, an object in which they can have but little hope of succeeding so long as the management of its affairs is so much influenced by men whose pecuniary interests are more concerned in lowering the standard of education and in increasing the facility of obtaining their diplomas, than in raising its character and rendering its acquirement, as it has hitherto been, a proof of superior attainments. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, VERAX.
June,1844. CHARTER OF THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS AND
THE
YOUNGER MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE. To the Editor
of THE LANCET. received some SIR,—Having regulations regarding the late charter granted to the College of Surgeons, I would beg to insert a few lines in your Journal, as they may have some effect in showing that the council have not acted exactly in a manner suitable to the feelings of the young practitioner. I the first clause we see that there are placed amongst the list of fellows surgeons of hospitals, and the reason why they are chosen is because they see more practice in surgery. We will allow that this is the case, and that from this circumstance they may be in some degree superior to ourselves ; but, then, we know there are many equally as good surgeons, from the long practice they have seen at hospitals, and from their constant study of surgical cases, who have not the opportunity, not the interest, to be able to get such offices; and, may I ask, is not a young practitioner, who has studied carefully, fully as competent to attend surgical cases as one who has such high repute? Surgery does not consist entirely of operations; in fact, that ’forms the smaller portion of the surgeon’s practice. Again, we know the principal surgeons to country hospitals are appointed almost entirely through interest, not from their knowledge ; and I think few can deny that there are many men of very superior attainments who fail in obtaining such offices for want of interest. In the second clause there are members chosen to be fellows who have considerable reputation. Now, how is it possible to judge that such men are superior to others? For instance, we will say, here is an old practitioner who has been residing in such a place for a number of years ; younger men are practising about him ; is it not probable that such a man may be called in consultation in any particular case ? Yes ; not because he is known to be a man of greater abilities, but because he is thought to have seen more practice. Is not the younger man equally as eligible to the fellowship as the senior practitioner, when the abilities of one are not more known than those of the other? However, I would not wish, as a young man, to say many words upon the subject, as it may not be my place so to do, but there is one question that I would wish to ask the council of the College of Surgeons, viz.-How is it that after receiving from the examiners a diploma certifying that I am competent to practise the art of surgery, I am required, in order to place myself on a level with many who are now elected fellows, to undergo another examination, as if the former one was not sufficient? It must be quite clear to all that I am as fit to practise by an examination which has only just taken place as if I underwent another, and, therefore, equally fit for the fellow’s degree; and I think the student who has only just now undergone his examination is supposed to have acquired more than one who passed a few 3 ears back, inasmuch as we expect the practice of surgery is much improved within these few years, and that more would be required by the court of examiners. Hoping that the council will have some com. passion on those who have just finished their arduous studies, and not oblige them to recommence, I remain your obedient and humble servant, M.R.C.S.
Harlington,
June
17,1814.
proper to state the reason for asking it. I have in your valuable Journal letters from students complaining of the systematic way of overcharging for subjects in London. I wish, however, to point out an evil no less injurious to the student in Edinburgh. Before the cadavre quits the infirmary it is taken to the theatre appropriated to the post-mortems, and the contents of the thorax and abdomen examined, so that the relations being destroyed, these " parts" are worthless to the student ; in the majority of cases it is the same with the brain. I have been informed that this system has continued for upwards of two years.
thought it seen
If the subject comes from a dispensary the parts are likewise mutilated. Add to these grievances the great dearth of subjects in modern Athens (last winter-session, in a large school, there were two parts for each pupil during the whole six months), and no one, I think, will feel surprised at the decline of the Edinburgh school. The advice I would ask is, your opinion of the Dublin schools, of the lecturers, and of their dissecting-rooms. Really, Sir, the present system is most pernicious to the student’s interests. In order to lay a proper foundation for the science he must be continually dissecting, and how can he accomplish this with only a part every three months? And, again, he passes for surgeon without ever having attempted an operation on the dead body. For these evils the passed surgeon sees only two ways before him,-to go to Paris for six months to operate on the dead body, or, qualified, to practise upon the living unfortunates of his own country. Hoping that this letter and the advice I ask will not be too great a tax upon your patience, I remain, yours
obediently,
,
UN ETUDIANT
EN MEDECINE. We are not sufficiently acquainted with the practical working of the anatomical schools in Dublin to give the advice demanded. If matters really are as our correspondent states in Edinburgh, they, certainly, loudly call for reform. The claims of anatomists should not be entirely sacrificed to morbid anatomy. In France, during the winter session, the physicians have only a right to open one half of the subjects sent from their wards to the schools. The other half remain entire, for the purposes of dissection.
*.
JOSHUA BROOKES’S METHOD OF PRESERVING BODIES FOR DISSECTION. To the Editor of THE LANCET. 8 of the present volume of THE LANCET, " his communication, complains as follows, among other matters :-" The students really desirous of learning anatomy have to ponder, weeks and weeks, over a limb which has long since lost the colour, the consistence, and even the position of nerves, muscles, and arteries." In 1774, my late most excellent teacher, Joshua Brookes, communicated to the Royal Society his antiseptic process, by which dead bodies can be preserved in their pristine colour, and even the hue of the muscles heightened, for months ! This process was nothing more than injecting a hot saturated solution of the powdered nitrate of potass in water, prior to injecting the blood-vessels with the ceraceous
SIR,-In No. A. E. P.," in
injection. In the hot
summer
of 1822
we
had
a
fine male
subject in
the
dissecting-room for four months, on which Mr. Healy, of St. James’s-street, myself, and other gentlemen, were engaged in dissection. One advantage connected with Mr. Brookes’s process is that no serious, much less fatal wounds,
attended the dissections in the late Blenheim-street School of Anatomy. I therefore respectfully advise "A. E. P!’ and his preceptors to adopt the antiseptic process of one of England’s best anatomists. Yours obediently, H. W. DEWHURST, Ph. D., Surgeon. Richmond-street, June 19th. ever
MEDICAL PROTECTION ASSEMBLY. ANATOMY IN EDINBURGH. THE committee
To the Editor nf THE LANCET. I am unnecessarily taking up your time feel that SIR,—I with complaints of the bad system the operation of the Anatomy Act has fallen into, but, as I want your advice, I
met
June 24th at Exeter-Hall.
In
question from the chairman (Mr. Itugg) the Secretary stated that no reply to the last communication from the committee to the council of the College of Surgeons had as yet been received. It was, therefore, resolved that answer
to a
June,1844. CHARTER OF THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS AND
THE
YOUNGER MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE. To the Editor
of THE LANCET. received some SIR,—Having regulations regarding the late charter granted to the College of Surgeons, I would beg to insert a few lines in your Journal, as they may have some effect in showing that the council have not acted exactly in a manner suitable to the feelings of the young practitioner. I the first clause we see that there are placed amongst the list of fellows surgeons of hospitals, and the reason why they are chosen is because they see more practice in surgery. We will allow that this is the case, and that from this circumstance they may be in some degree superior to ourselves ; but, then, we know there are many equally as good surgeons, from the long practice they have seen at hospitals, and from their constant study of surgical cases, who have not the opportunity, not the interest, to be able to get such offices; and, may I ask, is not a young practitioner, who has studied carefully, fully as competent to attend surgical cases as one who has such high repute? Surgery does not consist entirely of operations; in fact, that ’forms the smaller portion of the surgeon’s practice. Again, we know the principal surgeons to country hospitals are appointed almost entirely through interest, not from their knowledge ; and I think few can deny that there are many men of very superior attainments who fail in obtaining such offices for want of interest. In the second clause there are members chosen to be fellows who have considerable reputation. Now, how is it possible to judge that such men are superior to others? For instance, we will say, here is an old practitioner who has been residing in such a place for a number of years ; younger men are practising about him ; is it not probable that such a man may be called in consultation in any particular case ? Yes ; not because he is known to be a man of greater abilities, but because he is thought to have seen more practice. Is not the younger man equally as eligible to the fellowship as the senior practitioner, when the abilities of one are not more known than those of the other? However, I would not wish, as a young man, to say many words upon the subject, as it may not be my place so to do, but there is one question that I would wish to ask the council of the College of Surgeons, viz.-How is it that after receiving from the examiners a diploma certifying that I am competent to practise the art of surgery, I am required, in order to place myself on a level with many who are now elected fellows, to undergo another examination, as if the former one was not sufficient? It must be quite clear to all that I am as fit to practise by an examination which has only just taken place as if I underwent another, and, therefore, equally fit for the fellow’s degree; and I think the student who has only just now undergone his examination is supposed to have acquired more than one who passed a few 3 ears back, inasmuch as we expect the practice of surgery is much improved within these few years, and that more would be required by the court of examiners. Hoping that the council will have some com. passion on those who have just finished their arduous studies, and not oblige them to recommence, I remain your obedient and humble servant, M.R.C.S.
Harlington,
June
17,1814.
proper to state the reason for asking it. I have in your valuable Journal letters from students complaining of the systematic way of overcharging for subjects in London. I wish, however, to point out an evil no less injurious to the student in Edinburgh. Before the cadavre quits the infirmary it is taken to the theatre appropriated to the post-mortems, and the contents of the thorax and abdomen examined, so that the relations being destroyed, these " parts" are worthless to the student ; in the majority of cases it is the same with the brain. I have been informed that this system has continued for upwards of two years.
thought it seen
If the subject comes from a dispensary the parts are likewise mutilated. Add to these grievances the great dearth of subjects in modern Athens (last winter-session, in a large school, there were two parts for each pupil during the whole six months), and no one, I think, will feel surprised at the decline of the Edinburgh school. The advice I would ask is, your opinion of the Dublin schools, of the lecturers, and of their dissecting-rooms. Really, Sir, the present system is most pernicious to the student’s interests. In order to lay a proper foundation for the science he must be continually dissecting, and how can he accomplish this with only a part every three months? And, again, he passes for surgeon without ever having attempted an operation on the dead body. For these evils the passed surgeon sees only two ways before him,-to go to Paris for six months to operate on the dead body, or, qualified, to practise upon the living unfortunates of his own country. Hoping that this letter and the advice I ask will not be too great a tax upon your patience, I remain, yours
obediently,
,
UN ETUDIANT
EN MEDECINE. We are not sufficiently acquainted with the practical working of the anatomical schools in Dublin to give the advice demanded. If matters really are as our correspondent states in Edinburgh, they, certainly, loudly call for reform. The claims of anatomists should not be entirely sacrificed to morbid anatomy. In France, during the winter session, the physicians have only a right to open one half of the subjects sent from their wards to the schools. The other half remain entire, for the purposes of dissection.
*.
JOSHUA BROOKES’S METHOD OF PRESERVING BODIES FOR DISSECTION. To the Editor of THE LANCET. 8 of the present volume of THE LANCET, " his communication, complains as follows, among other matters :-" The students really desirous of learning anatomy have to ponder, weeks and weeks, over a limb which has long since lost the colour, the consistence, and even the position of nerves, muscles, and arteries." In 1774, my late most excellent teacher, Joshua Brookes, communicated to the Royal Society his antiseptic process, by which dead bodies can be preserved in their pristine colour, and even the hue of the muscles heightened, for months ! This process was nothing more than injecting a hot saturated solution of the powdered nitrate of potass in water, prior to injecting the blood-vessels with the ceraceous
SIR,-In No. A. E. P.," in
injection. In the hot
summer
of 1822
we
had
a
fine male
subject in
the
dissecting-room for four months, on which Mr. Healy, of St. James’s-street, myself, and other gentlemen, were engaged in dissection. One advantage connected with Mr. Brookes’s process is that no serious, much less fatal wounds,
attended the dissections in the late Blenheim-street School of Anatomy. I therefore respectfully advise "A. E. P!’ and his preceptors to adopt the antiseptic process of one of England’s best anatomists. Yours obediently, H. W. DEWHURST, Ph. D., Surgeon. Richmond-street, June 19th. ever
MEDICAL PROTECTION ASSEMBLY. ANATOMY IN EDINBURGH. THE committee
To the Editor nf THE LANCET. I am unnecessarily taking up your time feel that SIR,—I with complaints of the bad system the operation of the Anatomy Act has fallen into, but, as I want your advice, I
met
June 24th at Exeter-Hall.
In
question from the chairman (Mr. Itugg) the Secretary stated that no reply to the last communication from the committee to the council of the College of Surgeons had as yet been received. It was, therefore, resolved that answer
to a