The members of the College are ad mitted by diploma after examination before the court of examiners, and their diploma confers upon them the right of practising surgery in any part of the British dominions.
The council of the College have at various times required certain qualifi cations of age, education, &c., from can didates for examination. The regulations last issued are dated October, 1841.
The examinations of members are con ducted vied twee, or, if the candidate desire it, in writing. The questions are almost exclusively anatomical and surgical : and the examination of each candidate occu pies about an hour and a half, during which time he is usually questioned by four of the examiners in succession.
According to the financial statement (June, 1843), the receipts of the College for the previous year were as follows: Court of examiners; fees for diplomas, at 20 gui neas each, exclusive of a. d.
stamps . . . 14,093 11 0 Rent . . . . 12 10 0 Incidental, sale of lists, catalogues, &c. . . 160 6 6 Dividends on invest ments in government securities, &c. . . 1,499 0 4 £15,765 7 10 And the disbursements were as follows : College department, in cluding council, court of examiners, auditors, diploma-stamps, sala ries, &c. . 7,402 19 1 Museum department, in cluding catalogues, spe cimens, spirit, salaries, studentships, &e. . 3,653 0 10 Library department, in cluding the purchase and binding of books, salaries, &c. . . 1,120 12 7 Miscellaneous expenses, taxes, rent, &c. . 698 18 1 Repairs and alterations 253 10 6 Hunterian oration, lec tures, Jacksonian prize, &c. . . . . 264 4 0
£13,393 5 1 The museum of the College consists of the collection made by John Hunter, which was given in trust by government, who purchased it for 15,0001.. and of nu merous additions made to it by donations of members and others, and by purchase. The parts of it which illustrate physiology, palaeontology, and morbid anatomy are probably the most valuable collections of the kind in Europe.
Lectures on anatomy, for which 5101. were left to the company of barber sur geons by Edward Arris, and 161. per annum by John Gale, are delivered an nually by one of the members of the council or some other member selected by them. Twenty-four museum lectures are also in compliance with the deed of trust, annually delivered by the Hnnterian pro fessor, the subjects of which must be illus trated by preparations from the Hunterian collection, and from the other contents of the museum. An oration in commemo ration of John Hunter, or of others who have been distinguished in medical sci ence, is delivered annually on the 14th of February, the anniversary of Hunter's birth.
Abstracts of the several acts and char ters relating to the College of Surgeons may be found in Willcock 'On the Laws relating to the Medical Profession,' Lon don, 1830, 8vo., and in Paris and Fon. blanquea ' Medical Jurisprudence,' vol. iii. The bye-laws, the list of members, the catalogues of the museum and library, &c., are published by the college. The dissection of human bodies is now regu lated by 2 & 3 Wm. IV. [ANATOMY Aar].