PETITION AGAINST THE BILL, FROM RUTLAND-SHIRE.

98 sional character, respectability, and usefulness; and security to the interests and welfare of the community at large. " That your petitioners, after having given to the several clauses of the Bill of last session, introduced by the Honourable the Secretary of State for the Home Department, their most and dispassionate consideration, have, in common with mature the great body of practitioners in this country, experienced only the bitterest disappointment, and the most profound regret, that any measure so totally inefficient and inconsistent with the present necessities of the medical profession and society, should ever have been read before your honourable house. " That your petitioners regard, with surprise and indignation, the intention expressed in the said Bill to repeal the existing penal statutes, by which unqualified persons are prohibited from practising, and instead thereof, to throw open the practice of medicine to every unqualified pretender; thus to degrade " GENTLEMEN,—Will you add the following names to the list themselves and their honourable and useful profession to the lowest level of ignorance and quackery. of members of the Association of General Practitioners ?" That your petitioners respectfully submit to your honourable E. P. Davies, Esq., Christchurch; J. B. Goddard, Esq., Christchurch; J. Jenkins, Esq., Gosport; J. Blatherwick, Esq., house, that having incurred considerable expense, and having Fareham; James Ainge, Esq., Fareham; Robert Budd, Esq., undergone protracted courses of arduous study, to render themthe healing art, they have Fawley ; R. Elgie, Esq., Bournemouth; N. Adams, Esq., Ly- selves fit and competent to practise Waterworth, Esq., merited better than to have so odious an indignity cast upon mington ; W. M. R,oss, Esq., Botley; them, and have become invested with an inalienable right to Newport. "Mr. Waterworth will act as sub-secretary for Newport, in the claim from the legislature of their country that protection in the exercise of their profession which it has been deemed wise and Isle of Wight. I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, " J. BuLLAR. expedient to extend to other avocations-that is to say, to the " To the Hon. Sees." pilotage of the coasts, and the practice of the law, to neither of can J. HARDWICK, Esq. announced that a meeting of the Kensing- which in your petitioners perceive that their own profession is second practical utility to the general good. ton Society would take place on Thursday next, when it is in" That your petitioners readily concede to the justice of the -tended to bring forward a resolution, that the general practitioners of society has a right to choose of that district should immediately merge into the general Asso- principle, that every member whomsoever he will as a medical attendant, but as, in the two ciation. before-mentioned instances, the exercise of that right is limited T. WHEELER, Esq. also announced that a meeting of the city law to a choice of properly educated and qualified men, so your practitioners would take place at the London Coffee-house on by petitioners humbly submit to your honourable house that it should Tuesday next, Jan. 28th, with a similar object in view. be limited by law to the choice of properly educated and qualified The committee till the 26th inst. , adjourned Tuesday, medical and that the far from ,

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THE LEGALLY-QUALIFIED GENERAL PRACTITIONERS OF WHITEHAVEN met at the Infirmary, on the 13th inst.,-Mr. MITCHELL, the senior practitioner, in the chair-when it was unanimously agreed, in resolutions proposed by Messrs. CLARKE, WYLIE, FIDLER, J. TxomPSOrr, J. B. WILSON, and CHUcCHILL-1st. " That this meeting deprecates the Medical Bill introduced into Parliament last session by Sir James Graham, in consequence of its total inadequacy to protect the rights of the qualified practitioner, and secure proper medical and surgical attendance for the public."2nd. " That the members of Parliament for the Western Division of Cumberland, and the member for Whitehaven, be to offer their most strenuous opposition to the Bill being again introduced into Parliament."-3rd. " That the meeting, being fully convinced of the inadequacy of the Bill, both educational and i practical, views with satisfaction the efforts now being made by the general practitioners throughout the kingdom, for a Charter I, of Incorporation, whereby they would be enabled to manage their I own.affairs, and participate in the advantages of those collegiate to which, as members of a liberal and enlightened profesrights sion, they are entitled."-4th. " That the thanks of the meeting be given to the editors of The Tines and The Lancet, for their uniform opposition to the Bill since its introduction into Parlia- ’, ment, and their able advocacy of the interests of the profession." ’, The fifth proposition was made by Dr. WiLSON, and seconded by Dr. BURNUP-viz., "That the foregoing resolutions be printed, and a copy forwarded to THE LANCET."-The thanks of the meeting, on separation, were then voted to the chairman.

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practitioners; right, so suffering infringement by such a limitation, is greatly enhanced in value, by being directed into proper channels of security and safety, of which the public themselves are not competent to judge. " That your petitioners view, with much mistrust and dissatisfaction, the establishment of a Council of Health and Medical Education, as proposed by the said Bill, and regard it as calculated only to lower the standard of qualification, and to diminish the utility and respectability of the general practitioner. " That your petitioners will refrain from entering more minutely into the details of a Bill which, as a whole, is, to them, highly offensive and objectionable; and although they deprecate the passing of that or any other similar Bill into a law, as a

inimical to, and destructive of, their own best interests, consider that they would be deficient in the duty they owe to society and humanity, did they not, plainly and unequivocally, yet respectfully, express to your honourable house that they deprecate it still more strongly as a measure fraug’nt with the most calamitous evils to the health and lives of her Majesty’s subjects throughout the realm, discouraging to the progress of scientific research, and tending to render the British medical profession inferior, in professional and other scientific attainments, to the same profession in any part of continental Europe. " Your petitioners therefore most earnestly implore that the said Bill may not only never be passed into a law, but that it may never again be introduced into your honourable house. " And your petitioners will ever pray, &c." measure

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PETITION AGAINST THE BILL, FROM RUTLANDSHIRE. two the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom, &c. The petition of the undersigned practitioners in medicine and surgery, resident in Oakham and its neighbourhood, HUMBLY SHEWETH,That your petitioners are legally qualified practitioners in medicine and surgery. " That upon the proposal to introduce into your honourable .house aBill for the better regulation of the Practice of Medicine throughout the Kingdom,’ your petitioners had confidently hoped to see some measure of medical government brought forward which should have for its object to raise the standard of medical and surgical education; the consequent elevation of the profes-

PROSPECTUS or

THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF UNREGISTERED PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, OF LONDON. IT is intended by a number of spirited individuals, (who have looked with impatience on the monopolies of the three learned professions of the CHURCH, the LAW, and MEDICINE,) to extend to the great mass of the lower and middle classes of our population the benefits of medical skill, of a much cheaper and of nearly as good a practical nature as that hitherto bestowed upon them by a monopolizing profession. Sir James Graham has taken the first step in this liberal policy, and has laid a Bill on the table of the House of Commons which it is confidently expected will be passed during the next session, and by which we shall be permitted to exercise the art of medicine as we think fit. It is contemplated, therefore, to establish in London, with branches in all the great towns of the empire, a COLLEGE OF UNREGISTERED PHYSICIAN’ AND SURGEONS, for the purpose just

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