Answer.—I am of opinion, that the London College of Physicians have not any power whatever, either under their charter, confirmed by the statute 14th and 15th Henry VIII. c. 5., or by the third section of that act, to controul the practice of physic in England at a greater distance than seven miles from London. There are two clauses in the charter, relative to the subject of their power to controul the practice of physic. One is to prohibit any person, whether he be fit or not, to practise physic in London, or within seven miles round London, without the license of the college. If he does so for a month, he is liable to a penalty of 51. a month, one half to the king and the other to the colleges and this remedy by action, is the only way by which the college can prevent the practice of physic in London, or within seven miles round, without their license. The other clause in the charter gives the four censors the power of supervision and correction over physicians, and of punishing them "pro delictis suis in non bene exequendo, faciendo et utendo," but this power of supervi sion and punishing is confined to London, and seven miles round. Under this charter, the censors cannot either fine or imprison any person for practising in London, without a license from the college; they can only fine or imprison pro malá praxi.

Third." Are graduates in physic of the Scotch universities, entitled by the act of union to the like privileges in England, as those of Oxford and Cambridge are entitled to under the acts before mentioned ?"

Answer.-I am clearly of opinion, that they are not. Lord Mansfield comments on the fourth article of the Union in Jones v. Smart, 1. Term. Rep. 48. "It is true, (says he,) that by the fourth article of that act, the Scots have the same general privileges as the English; but then they must have the same qualifi cations, otherwise they come not within the same description: For the general article which declares there shall be a communications of all privileges, can only mean such as are of a general nature."-A Doctor of the English Universities may become a member of the College of Physicians, may plead in Doctors Commons; and has various other privileges, from all which a Scotch Doctor, as such, is excluded.

Fourth." May Doctors of Physic of the Scots Universities, who, according to the acts of Henry VIII. are groundedly learned, &c. claim to be examined for the fellowship of the College of Physicians in England, although they refuse to be made licentiates? And are they, by the act of Union, placed upon an equal footing, in point of eligibility for the fellowship, with the graduates of Oxford and Cambridge?"

Answer.

Answer. It is too fully settled to be now doubted, that Doctors of Physic of the Scots Universities have no claim to be examined for the fellowship of the College of Physicians in England, although they may refuse to be made licentiates. This point is in effect decided in Dr Stranger's case. For though he was a licentiate, and his claim to be admitted a member was grounded upon that circumstance, being a practiser of physic in London, and, therefore, within the clause in the charter," et omnes homines ejusdem facultatis de et in civitate predictá;" yet the Court did in substance decide, that the bye-laws of the College, by which it was enacted, that no person should be admitted who was not a Doctor of Physic of Oxford or Cambridge, or Dublin, incorporated into Oxford or Cambridge, or unless licentiates, in the manner there pointed out, was a good bye-law; and by that decision it follows, that a Doctor of Physic of the Scots Universities has as such no claim to be examined for the fellowship of the College.

Fifth.-"On a review of the whole subject, be pleased to mention, generally, any ideas which may suggest themselves to you, as calculated to promote the ultimate objects of those who are desirous of procuring the reform suggested?"

Answer. The result of the whole is this: The great object cannot be obtained. Any person with a degree, or without one, or with a license from the College, or without, may practise physic in England at a greater distance than seven miles from London, whether he be fit or not, without any person to controul him; otherwise than that by the common law of England, if a person is guilty of mala praxis, whether it be for curiosity or experiment, or by neglect, he is guilty of a great misdemeanour and offence, for which he may be indicted. But he is not under the controul, or supervision, or correction of the College of Physicians, or any other, or liable to any penalty for so doing, not withstanding the statute 14th and 15th Henry VIII.; and, therefore, this mischief can only be, and I conceive ought to be, remedied by the Legislature. As to the claims by the Doctors of Physic of the Scots Universities to be admitted fellows of the College of Physicians, it is hardly worth the contest. If they are fit, and wish to practise in London, they will have of course a license, and by that means be entitled to the same rewards of their talents as if they were members of the College; and by being licentiates, they may be proposed by the President, or any of the fellows, and by that means become members of the College, as much as if they had obtained their degrees at Oxford or Cambridge.

Sergeants Inn, Oct. 15th, 1807.

JOHN WILLIAMS.

Extract

Extract of a Letter on the Use of Arsenic, from Mr JENKINSON, Oxford.

DR HULL, of Manchester, had within a short space of time two patients affected with trismus tonicus, under circumstances as similar as possible. They were both young men, previously in robust health, and in both cases the diease was occasioned by a wound, I believe of the thumb. In the first, the usual remedies for tetanus (mercury, opium, &c.) were employed without success, and the patient died: In the latter, the same course was pursued exactly, without effect for some time, but the mineral solution in full doses, was superadded to the plant; the spasms then began to give way, and the patient eventually recovered. I am sorry it is not in my power to detail the circumstances more minutely, but Dr H. had time only for a verbal account of the fact, and that in the general way, (as I have repeated it to you,) when I had the pleasure of seeing him last. Nor is he likely, from want of leisure, to communicate the case except as I have given it, or I should not have used the privilege he allowed me of including it in any of my own publications.

Origin of Hospitals.

THE origin of public hospitals is remarkable, and not generally known. Ecclesiastical history informs us, that this, perhaps the grandest and most successful effort for alleviating human misery, arose from no common species of benevolence, but from the impulse of singular piety upon the sensibility of a female mind, softened by a series of domestic afflictions, and urged by the desire of atoning for imaginary guilt. In the fourth century, a Roman lady, of a noble family, by name Fabiola, by religion a Christian, left by the death of her husband in sole possession of an affluent fortune, was the first who built an infirmary for the reception of the sick and houseless, where they were supplied with every comfort. Jerom calls her the glory of the Christians, the wonder of the Gentiles! The account which he gives of her it this: Divorced from her first husband, who proved an abanddoned libertine, during the life of the first she married a second husband, who was sincerely attached to her, and whom she survived. Among other melancholy reflections consequent upon his death, being led to conceive her second marriage criminal, she voluntarily underwent a solemn penance, assumed the plainest

dress,

dress, defaced her beauty, submitted to the meanest drudgery, sold her estates, which were answerable to her noble birth, and converted them into money, for the relief of the poor, and was the first who built an infirmary, into which sick and distressed objects of every description were collected from the streets. Many who were afflicted with distempers the most loathsome and offensive she attended in person, carried them in her arms, bathed their sores, moistened the lips of the dying with her own hands, and so tenderly assuaged their miseries, that many who were well envied the sick. Rome was a scene too confined for her charity; she visited, either in person or by her deputies, all the country round, and even crossed the sea in quest of new objects of compassion. At length she took a sudden and unexpected resolution of visiting Jerusalem; on which occasion she was entertained a short time by Jerom in his retreat at Bethlehem. She returned to Rome, and devoted all her property and all her time to relieving the sick and the indigent till she died. Her funeral is said to have been attended by a more numerous concourse, and with a zeal infinitely more fervent, than the triumphs of Scipio or Pompey. In such a character the superstition is lost in the benevolence; and we might pardon superstition itself, if it had never taken a different turn.

Account of Professor WALTER's Museum.

THE Anatomical Museum, collected and arranged by Professor Walter at Berlin, has been purchased by the King of Prussia, and given to the public for the use of the Pepiniere, or Medical School for the Army. This is a large collection; the whole number of preparations amounts to more than three thousand. These are arranged in separate rooms, according to the structure of parts; the natural preparations are placed together, and the morbid are classed by themselves Each one is in a glass case, and placed upon high narrow tables, so as to admit being viewed on every side. There is a number affixed to every preparation, and a reference to the printed catalogue, which gives a description of all the different objects in the museum. Although upwards of five hundred quarto pages are filled with a printed account, in Latin, of this collection, yet we are told, in a dull and inflated preface, that the author's son will publish a more particular description of the most valuable preparations, and especially of the morbid and singular cases, which are by far the most interesting. Walter boasts of having spent more than fifty years of his life in making

this collection, and declares he has dissected, or assisted in the dissection of more than eight thousand bodies. Some dissections of the nerves are wonderful instances of German industry and perseverance, and the whole forms a valuable assemblage of useful and instructive knowledge. It is open to the public at large every Monday and Friday, and to the students every day. Making it so easy of access appears an unnecessary indulgence, because it only gratifies an idle curiosity; and women and children crowd there on every occasion, to gaze and giggle at those sights which excite improper feelings in minds not prepared to look at them. Several young men always attend to point out and to explain the most important objects of curiosity to strangers; and it was observed, that their attention was principally confined to those tables which held the preparations of the sexual organs. We shall take an opportunity of giving some further account of the principal contents of this celebrated collection, as soon as the publication above mentioned comes to hand.

Extract of a letter from GEORGE NESSE HILL, Esq. Surgeon, Chester, on the Puriform Ophthalmia of Infants.

THE Consequences of what may now properly be called the old mode of treatment of women during gestation and parturition, were often so injurious, and even so frequently fatal to human life, that the often speedy, and generally simple operation of child-birth was, by the mistaken conduct, and absurd notions of ignorance, rendered a most painful and mischievous event to the terrified subject. How great, how salutary a change has succeeded the investigation of the artificial causes which produced so extensive an evil, modern practice has the felicity of daily verifying. Much having been effected for the parent, the offspring has not been altogether neglected; the rash and offensive introduction of improper matters into the stomach, superabundant clothing in the mummy stile, offensive ligatures, and particularly most mischievous bandages round the head, are now it is hoped universally dismissed, for the natural food as soon as ready, and an easy and less complicated mode of supplying by art a continuance of those supports, which nature had so wisely and commodiously furnished during uterine residence. Still the great and sudden change from the womb to the world, from darkness to light, from the contact of water to that of the atmospheric air, must produce considerable effects upon the tender subject. One of these effects I have, for many years, found

to