medical practice or investigation, but does forbid fraud or deception. A board of registration gives license to all properly educated physicians, and the following section shows the whole spirit of the bill: "SEC. 10. Whoever, not being registered as aforesaid, shall advertise or hold himself out to the public as a physician or surgeon in this Commonwealth by appending to his name the letters 'M.D.,' or using the title of doctor, meaning thereby a doctor of medicine, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars for each offence, or by imprisonment in jail for three months, or both."

In another section it is expressly stated that the act "does not prohibit gratuitous services nor apply to clairvoyants, persons practicing hypnotism, magnetic healing, mind cure, massage methods, Christian science, cosmopathic, or any other method of healing," provided they do not represent themselves as physicians or surgeons or use the title of doctor or M.D. There is nothing of illiberality or exclusiveness in this law-it does not interfere with the rights of any citizen to secure when sick the services of any person he may choose, nor prevent any one from using whatever means he thinks best for the relief of sickness and suffering. Time may and perhaps will show weak spots in this law, but it would seem as though the principle were the right one, and must extend to those States which now have laws of the most rigid character.

But this law seemingly points to a much broader principle and to more essential legislation-to the proper regulation of colleges themselves. The laxity with which medical colleges have been chartered in the various States of this country, the entire lack of responsibility to see that they perform their duties properly, the granting of diplomas to those utterly unfit to have the care of human life, and the shameless selling of diplomas in the open market-all this is an opprobrium to the profession--an insult and injury to the whole country. If a man exhibits a diploma with the seal of an incorporated institution and signed by its officers, testifying to the whole world that he is learned in the art of medicine and entitled to due consideration everywhere, from the profession and the community, as a learned man, the public and strangers have a right to feel confidence in such a man; and yet the greater part of the fession and of the community, after a time come to know that the holder of this diploma may be an ignoramus and a cheat. Hence has come on the part of many States the seeming necessity of stamping the whole profession as guilty of ignorance and compelling them individually to go through the most rigid examination before they can be allowed to administer a dose of medicine in the direst exigency.

pro

How shall this condition of the medical profession be remedied? Can it be better done in any way than by the exercise of State con

trol upon the colleges themselves? Let the standard of education be set by the profession itself as high as may be, and then let the State see that its requirements are strictly complied with by every college in its borders, and make every college that grants a diploma either ignorantly or fraudulently liable to the forfeiture of its charter. The details of this plan, of course, require careful thought, but they are certainly such as could be arranged, and perhaps there is no subject which should so fully engross the attention of this Institute as the proper qualification of physicians. The system of a single cursory examination upon any subject is of little value in determining a man's fitness. The quick, ready, superficial man might pass a tolerable examination on many subjects, while a profound man, like Humboldt, might easily fail on many of the trifling details. The day of final examinations in the colleges themselves is fast passing away, but the daily and satisfactory work through a sufficient course of study is the only means of testing a man's ability and knowledge. Let it be decided then what length of time a student shall work in the medical school, the number of branches he shall pursue, the quality of work to be done in each of those subjects, and with a daily or frequent test through the whole course of his study before his diploma is granted to him, that diploma should afterwards remain undisputed as testifying to his qualifications as a doctor of medicine.

An Act to provide for the Registration of Physicians and Surgeons (in Massachusetts.)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint seven persons, residents in this Commonwealth, who shall be graduates of a legally chartered medical college or university having the power to confer degrees in medicine, and who shall have been actively employed in the practice of their profession for a period of ten years, who shall constitute a board of registration in medicine. Such persons shall be appointed and hold office for terms of one, two, three, four, five, six and seven years, respectively, beginning with the first day of July in the present year, and until their respective successors are appointed, and thereafter the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint before the first day of July in each year one person qualified as aforesaid to hold office for seven years from the first day of July next ensuing. No member of said board shall belong to the faculty of any medical college or university. Vacancies in said board shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of this act for the establishment of the original board, and the person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold office during the unexpired term of the member

whose place he fills. Any member of said board may be removed from office for cause by the governor with the advice and consent of the executive council, and not more than three members of said board shall at one time be members of any one chartered State medical society.

SEC. 2. The members of said board shall meet on the second Tuesday of July next, at such time and place as they may determine, and shall immediately proceed to organize by electing a chairman and secretary, who shall hold their respective offices for the term of one year. The secretary shall give to the treasurer and receiver-general of the Commonwealth a bond in the penal sum of five thousand dollars, with sufficient sureties to be approved by the governor and council for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. The said board shall hold three regular meetings in each year, one on the second Tuesday of March, one on the second Tuesday of July, and one on the second Tuesday of November, and such additional meetings at such times and places as it may deter

mine.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of said board, immediately upon its organization, to notify all persons practicing medicine in this Commonwealth of the provisions of this act by publication in one or more newspapers in each county, and every such person who is a graduate of a legally chartered medical college or university, having power to confer degrees in medicine, and every person who has been a practitioner in medicine in this Commonwealth continuously for a period of three years next prior to the passage hereof, shall, upon the payment of a fee of one dollar, be entitled to registration, and said board shall issue to him a certificate thereof signed by the chairman and secretary.

SEC. 4. Any person not entitled to registration as aforesaid shall, upon payment of a fee of ten dollars, be entitled to examination, and, if found qualified by four or more members of said board, shall be registered as a qualified physician, and shall receive a certificate thereof as provided in section three. Any person refused registration may be re examined at any regular meeting of said board within two years of the time of such refusal, without additional fee, and thereafter he may be examined as often as he may desire upon the payment of the fee of ten dollars for each examination. Said board, after a conviction before a proper court for crime in the course of professional business has been shown, and after hearing, nay, by unanimous vote, revoke any certificate issued by them, and cancel the registration of the person to whom the same was issued. All fees received by the board under this act shall be paid by the secretary thereof into the treasury of the Commonwealth once in

each month.

SEC. 5. The compensation, incidental and travelling expenses of

the board shall be paid from the treasury of the Commonwealth. The compensation of members of the board shall be ten dollars each for every day actually spent in the discharge of their duties, and three cents per mile each way for necessary travelling expenses in attending the meetings of the board, but in no case shall any more be paid than was actually expended. Such compensation, and the incidental and travelling expenses, shall be approved by the board and sent to the auditor of the Commonwealth, who shall certify to the governor and council the amounts due, as in case of other bills and accounts approved by him under the provisions of law: provided, that the amounts so paid shall not exceed the amount received by the treasurer and receiver-general of the Commonwealth from the board in fees as herein specified, and so much of said receipts as may be necessary is hereby appropriated for the compensation and expenses of the board as aforesaid.

SEC. 6. The board shall keep a record of the names of all persons registered hereunder, and a record of all moneys received and disbursed by said board, and said records or duplicates thereof shall always be open to inspection in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth. Said board shall annually report to the governor, on or before the first day of January in each year, the condition of medicine and surgery in this Commonwealth, which report shall contain a full and complete record of all its official acts during the year, and shall also contain a statement of the receipts and disbursements of the board.

SEC. 7. It shall be the duty of the board to investigate all complaints of disregard, non-compliance or violation of the provisions of this act, and to bring all such cases to the notice of the proper prosecuting officers.

SEC. 8. On and after the first day of January, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, the board shall examine all applicants for registration as licensed physicians or surgeons in this Commonwealth. Applicants must give satisfactory proof of being twentyone years of age and of good moral character; and every applicant who is a graduate of and has received a degree of doctor of medicine from a legally chartered medical college or university having power to confer degrees in medicine, shall be entitled prima facie to be registered under this act upon payment of the fees herein provided. SEC. 9. Examinations shall be, in whole or in part, in writing, and shall be of an elementary and practical character. They shall embrace the general subjects of surgery, physiology, pathology, obstetrics and practice of medicine, and shall be sufficiently strict to test the qualifications of the candidate as a practitioner of medicine.

SEC. 10. Whoever not being registered as aforesaid shall advertise or hold himself out to the public as a physician or surgeon in this Commonwealth by appending to his name the letters "M.D.," or

using the title of doctor, meaning thereby a doctor of medicine, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for each offence, or by imprisonment in jail for three months, or both.

SEC. 11. This act shall not apply to commissioned officers of the United States army, navy or marine hospital service, or to a physician or surgeon who is called from another State to treat a particular case, and who does not otherwise practice in this State, or to prohibit gratuitous services; nor to clairvoyants, or to persons practicing hypnotism, magnetic healing, mind cure, massage methods, Christian science, cosmopathic or any other method of healing: provided, such persons do not violate any of the provisions of section ten of this

act.

SEC. 12. For the purposes of the appointment of said board, and of registration of persons by it hereunder, this act shall take effect upon its passage, and shall take full effect on the first day of January in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five.

Dr. Horace M. Paine, of Albany, N. Y., also read two papers on the subject of medical legislation, which were accepted and referred to the Committee of Publication. These papers are as follows:

MEDICAL EXAMINING BOARDS vs. THE DIPLOMA. BY H. M. PAINE, M.D., ALBANY, N. Y.

An argument in support of the diploma, as a recognized and satisfactorily reliable standard of proper medical qualifications, is still strenuously maintained, notwithstanding the fact, that this standard has been discarded for good and cogent reasons by a very large proportion of the members of the medical profession in this country. Leaders of opinion agree, that the object which all are seeking to promote is that of securing more nearly uniform standards of medical learning, in order that the recognized standing of the profession may be improved and elevated; that the medical profession, as a body, may more truly merit and receive from the public a greater degree of confidence and respect; that its influence and usefulness may be increased; and that it may, in fact, as in name, rank among the learned professions.

These motives for permanently elevating professional standing do not spring from ignoble or sinister purposes; but, instead, the object sought is that of the purification of the profession, by preventing the advent into its ranks of illiterate and improperly qualified practitioners, rather than protection from justifiable and honorable compe

tition.

The Regulation of the Diploma.-The two methods for promoting these purposes and objects are--first, the elevation of the medical