College of Physicians of London

“ He was admitted a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1858, and at that date he was practising as a physician in Gower Street, holding the post of assistant physician to the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street. ”

“ Much as we owe to the College of Physicians, we owe even more to the early surgeons, and there is certainly no spot in this city which has a greater interest for us as students of medicine than the hall of the Barbers’ Company in Monkwell Street, a street not far from the General Post Office. ”

“ The orders are well executed, and the whole edifice both beautiful and commodious.
The College of Physicians is a building of great delicacy, and eminently deserves to be considered among the noblest ornaments of this city, is yet so unlucky in its situation, in a narrow and dirty part of the lane, that it can never be seen to advantage. ”

“ The English Universities grant medical degrees, with a license to practise throughout England, except in London, and within seven miles around; to practise within which limits even Cambridge and Oxford medical graduates must have the license of the London College of Physicians. The license, however, of Cambridge and Oxford graduates to practise elsewhere carries with it no protection, for any one, qualified or not, may do the same. ”

“ In this year certain Ordinances were made by the Mayor (Sir William Walderne) and Court of Aldermen which are entered in Letter-Book K. 6B. This record relates to what Mr. D’Arcy Power, in his “Memorials of the Craft of Surgery,” has termed a “Conjoint College” of the Physicians and Surgeons, and has little to do with our Company, beyond the fact that the scrutiny and oversight of persons practising Surgery is given to the Masters of the Surgeons’ Guild. The subject of these Ordinances and many very interesting remarks thereon and on the Conjoint College may be seen at p. ”

“ And yet, who is there that has any Knowledge of the World, that is acquainted with London particularly, that does not daily see a very different Practice? Who is there that does not know, that the Apothecary, the Nurse, the Quack, and many others, oftentimes baffle the Physician, or keep him out of Play.
Every Nation is distinguished for some Peculiarities of it’s own. In France the Physicians have but little Dignity, and their Fees are low; yet nobody in Sickness presumes to act without them; they are always call’d first: in England, the Reputation of Physicians is deservedly great ”

“ Each branch of knowledge which is necessary for a medical man is provided for and controlled by a separate professor; and it is a remarkable fact, and redounds greatly to the foresight and wisdom of our founders, that the number of professorial chairs remains the same, the only addition being the all-important one of Public Health and Hygiene, in the establishment of which we were again the pioneers among medical schools. If imitation be the sincerest form of flattery, we ought to feel proud, for every school in London is now formed more or less perfectly on the model established here in 1828. ”

“ The patients, being admitted without any expence, are required to be constant in their attendance on the Physicians, or Surgeons, at the hospital, before eleven o’clock; and, at nine o’clock, to return thanks at the chapel, and at the weekly committee next after their cure; and those only who attend their cure, and return thanks, will receive a certificate thereof, which will entitle them to future relief. The Account published by order of the Governors in 1759.
London Lying in Hospital, at Shaftesbury house, on the east side of Aldersgate street ”

“ This assertion is too ridiculous to require an answer, for it is notorious that the London medical graduates have had more than their fair share in all the practical advances made by medicine in the last half century; and in medicine, surgery, midwifery, and public health they have more than held their own. It is very possible that a scientific training makes it rather difficult for a conscientious man to be dogmatic, and until the public is more highly educated than at present, the dogmatic practitioner is sure to have a large clientèle and will pass for a practical man. ”

“ Medical education in London will never be what it ought to be, until the "Institutes of Medicine," as the Scotch call them, are taught in only two or three well-found institutions—while the hospital schools are confined to the teaching of practical medicine, surgery, obstetrics, and so on. ”

“ I willingly agree, in the opinion, that London is as good a school for Surgeons as Edinburgh. As to degrees conferred by the Physicians to the London Hospitals, being equally legal, with those granted at Edinburgh, I believe no man in his senses would venture to practise under the sanction of such a degree [10] . It may be amusing to the medical man, to see an account of some of the lectures in the department of Medicine, given at the English Universities, then he will be able to judge for himself, how far such a mode of instruction will go, in educating a Physician. ”