The history of the steps taken to pro cure this act is very minutely detailed in the Essay prefixed to the ' Trans actions of the Associated Apothecaries and Surgeons,' already referred to. They did not seek for such extensive powers as the act of 1815 subsequently gave ; for in a report dated 5th December, 1812, the committee of management express them selves as of opinion " that the manage of the sick should be as much as possible under the superintendence of the phy sician." The examining body proposed by the associated apothecaries was to con sist of members of the three branches of the profession ; but the Colleges of Physi cians and Surgeons, and the Apothecaries' Company themselves, having joined in opposing the bill, it was withdrawn after its first reading. The next bill was pro moted by the Apothecaries' Company, on the College of Physicians intimating that they would not oppose a measure for the regulation of the practice of apothecaries, by which the Society of Apothecaries should be appointed the examining body. This bill received the royal assent. Du ring its progress, the opposition of the chemists and druggists rendered it ne cessary to introduce a clause which ex empted that class of dealers altogether from its operation.
From the circumstance that in country places, with very few exceptions, no per son can practise medicine without keep ing a supply of drugs for the use of his patients, or in other words, acting as an apothecary, this statute has given to the Society of Apothecaries control over the medical profession throughout England. Every general practitioner must not only have obtained his certificate, but must have served an apprenticeship of five years with a licentiate of the Company. The payment required by the Act of Par liament for a licence to practise in Lon don, or within ten miles of it, is ten guineas ; in any other part of the country, six guineas ; and the licence to practise as an assistant is two guineas. The penalty for practising without this licence is twenty pounds. It is declared in the act that the society may appropriate the moneys which they thus receive in any way they may deem expedient.
It appears that from the 1st August, 1815, when the new act came into ope ration, to the 31st January, 1844, 10,033 practitioners have been licensed by the Court of Examiners. Dividing the twenty seven years from August, 1816, to Au gust, 1843, into three periods of nine years each, the annual average number of persons examined, rejected, and passed, is as follows : Examined. Rejected. Passed.
1816-25 308'6 20'0 288'6 453•1 68'3 384'7 1834-43 485'8 70'2 408.8 That the examination is not a mere mat ter of form is shown by the number of pupils rejected, which in the first period of nine years was 1 in about 15; in the second, above I in 6.6; and in the nine
years ending August, 1843, one in 6.2. The rejected candidates no doubt fre quently obtain their diplomas at a subse quent examination, after preparing them selves better ; but the fact of so many being rejected is creditable to the Court of Examiners. No fees are paid by the rejected candidates.
From a return printed by order of the House of Commons in 1834, it appears that from the 29th March, 1825, to the 19th June, 1833, the money received by the company for certificates was 22,822/. 16s. Of this, in the course of the eight years, 10,2181. 12s. had been paid to the members of the Court of Examiners, besides 9801. to their se cretary.
Before the act of 1815 came into ope ration, a large proportion of the medical practitioners in country places in Eng land were graduates of the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin, or licentiates of the Royal Colleges of Sur geons of these cities, or of that of Lon don ; but the state of medical education generally was at that period very defect ive. The London College of Surgeons required no medical examination what ever, and twelve months only of surgical study. Persons thus qualified are ad mitted as surgeons in the army and nay, and into the service of the East India Company, after an additional examina tion by their respective boards ; but they are not allowed to act as apothecaries in England.
Except in regard to experience in the compounding of medicines, it is not de nied that, twelve or fourteen years ago, the course of education prescribed by the Company's Court of Examiners was very defective. In their regulations, dated August, 1832, referring to the improved system wh:.,h had been recently intro duced, they say, " The medical education of the apothecary was heretofore con ducted in the most desultory manner ; nn systematic course of study was en joined by authority or established by usage ; some subjects were attended to superficially, and others of great import ance were neglected altogether." In fact, all the attendance upon lectures and hospital practice that was demanded might have been and often was gone through in six or at most in eight months. The court at that time admitted that still "the attendance upon lectures, but more especially upon the hospital practice, is often grossly eluded or neg lected." The case is now greatly altered. The following abstract of the principal regulations issued by the Court of Ex aminers from 1815 to the present time, show that the strictness as to the attend ance on and number of lectures and hospital practice has been gradually in creased.