Page:Anon 1830 Remarks on some proposed alterations in the course of medical education.djvu/25

 Contrast the medical practitioners and press of Great Britain with those of any other country, and in what will they shrink from the comparison? Where is the evidence of a lack of medical industry and talent,—of gentlemanlike accomplishment,—of elegant and useful knowledge? What, then, is the use of all this hue and cry about and ,— and ,— and ? Austria, too, that patroness of all that is liberal and enlightened,—all that facilitates the march of mind,—all that can disentangle it from the slavish trammels of ignorant authority,—exhibits, as might be expected, an "exquisite" form of this restrictive system; and to know that this Minerva of nations practises and patronizes any thing, is, of course, an amply sufficient reason for us enthusiastically to adopt it. She has taken her Medical Faculty, as she has all other Faculties in her empire, under the wings of her tender motherly protection; and, in the plenitude of her power, the sublimity of her wisdom, and the exuberance of her beneficence, has determined that none but Greek scholars, profound geometers, and accomplished gentlemen, shall prescribe even a cathartic for a Bohemian serf, or an Italian cook, tortured with the pains and penalties of repletion. No doubt all this may do very well for those countries where the medical profession is under the especial patronage and protection of the state, and we wish them joy of their