DOCTOR I hat.. from doe, re, to teach). A title formerly used, in accordance will] its deri cation, to signify a teacher in general; in more tteent times it is a title of honor conferred by universities. The word had long been used as a general term for leacher. before it eaille to desig nate degree or rank in the learned hierarchy, to which only the united body could advance the candidate. In this sense it seems to have been first used at I3ologna about the middle of the IWI-Ifth earlier, as it is never found applied to the learned Irnerins, the regenerator t f the Roman law at that period. who called himself judos, and was called by others aotaister, tlotttinit.V. or The to hear it were the so-called 'four dtietors'-13111garus, Jacobus. and lingo. 11•1)en it began to be formal ly be-towed, it ellilfelTell the unrestricted right to teach, and a voice in the granting of degrees to oilers. l/riginally eontined to teachers of civil law-. by the end of the century it was also applied to at ileeretal of Innocent 111. !rote- the existence 114 lb/eh/08 cli err, fn'tful as well as of doeforts Irouta. 'Phis distinction he lm the two of the law has left a trace even to the present day in the degree granted by uu I.erman universities of juris utri u.‘tiat tioett,r, 'doctor Qf loth laws,' and in the more familiar 1.1..11., whore the double I, stands 111r the plural frylf//1. In the thirteenth century of medicine, grammar, logic, and phi losophy are found: the jurists. however, seem to Kaye att•mpled to limit the te-e of the title to 11 em-elves. leaving that id mar/i,i.r to the theo h•gialls and other-. The Cniversity of Paris al most ilium d iat ply fDIIOaeJ in the the lirst bestowtoont doctors having taken place in the year II IS. in favor of Peter Lombard and 1:illbert de la rte e. the greatest theologian- of the day. The emperor, mere ale custom•d to grant the universities the right of ap pointing doctor, of lam by their authority and in their name; in the same way the con ferred the right in regard to canon law. Through out the .Nlithlle .kge., however, there was a ten dency to confuse the titles of master. doctor, and professor. In the of Paris, and others which closely imitated it, the term 'master' was commonly used In the faculties of medicine. the ology. and arts: but the title of professor is fre• quent ly, and that of doctor occasionally, employed, .At first the same at oxford. but during the fifteenth century the custom gradu ally prevailed in the English universities of lim iting the use of the title doctor to the faculties of law. theology, and medicine. In t:ernian• the title was known as early as the thirteenth c•n tury, and for a long lime very highly regarded; doctor- were recognized, even by the Imperial law, as entitled to the 14 nobility. Hut
when the degree began to be ca•ele-sly conferred they sank in the public estimation, until it 'was possible for a proclamation in 17133. to put them in the tenth class, with valets and the like. In Franee. also, \011ie up t11 the 1110011 the highest eonsideration attached to the title of Doctor of the Sorbonne (9.v.), that fa mous theological faculty milk)) was called "the perpetual council of the thillican Church." such was by no means the ease with the degrees of the other schools of learning. Furetiisre, in his di• tionary, defines at scholar as at man who learns, and a doctor as a man who forgets. In England the doetor's degree was not introduced into the universities till the reign of dolin or Henry For a time it was a very rare and highly prized honor. and the ceremony of conferring it was attended with of feasting and revelry. 14 which curious tlecoants will he foam] in .tmofa• fl Wood, Ilisio•y and Infiquili..c of the ntirt r situ of Oxford (London, In modern times the title of doctor ha- been applied almost everywhere to the three faculties of theology, law, and medicine. in Aineriea and it ex tends to that of philosophy. and in the latter country the degree of "doctor of philosophy and master of is conferred, as if the two were equivalent. Oxford and Cambridge. and in md ern times some of the I iermati and uni versities. also create doctors of music. The doe tor's degree is, in general. conferred at the in stance of the dean 14 the faculty to which it alp P•rtains. it is granted on examination. or after at least the ancient form of publicly defending a learned thesis in Latin has been observed: oro•Ise it i- an honorary degree, conferred in eonsidera t ion of the general reputation lif the recipient for eminence in some partienlar branch of learning, or occasionally on account of other distinc tion. The musical degree in the English universi ties is given only after approval 14 a cantata etoupo-ed by the candidate and performed at his expen-e. Consult : I nirr r.cI1o.c of rope is the ll irldle Ages (Oxford• l6951; Deride, Die rairt rNiiiiIrn (its hi.e 1'100 (Ber lin. P“51 : and the authorities referred to trader For professional of the de gree of 1).C.1.., see Decrees' ComNtoNs. DOCTOR, .1 romance by Robert Southey, first issued ationyinowly is31). It is a long exposition of learning. saved from lasing insufferably and pedantic only by the genial nature of its principal character. I/r. Dove, to whom the gratitude of unnumbered young people is due for the story of The. Thne !Aar...