Page:Introductory Address on the General Medical Council, its Powers and its Work.djvu/13

. The vested right even of the unqualified was thus carefully respected. A similar thing happened twenty years later, when dentists were enrolled, and to-day the Dentists' Register is made up, to the extent of nearly one-half, of men with no other qualification than "in practice before July 22nd, 1878." Four years ago, as the outcome of a bitter cry for the better regulation of midwives, whose want of skill and cleanliness brought suffering and death to countless mothers and infants, the Midwives Act was passed. Again all women went on the roll who applied, and had been in practice for a year—trained and untrained together. Those who did not choose to go on the roll were allowed two or three years more during which they could use the title of midwife, though unenrolled or uncontrolled. And not until 1910 will it be illegal for a woman, who is not enrolled and has no certificate of training, to practise for gain that perilous office, perilous, I mean, to those who place their lives in her hands.

All this care for the unqualified can, I have no doubt, be excused on political and legal grounds. That I am not concerned to deny. I mention it to illustrate the general temper of our lawgivers, and of their constituents also. We all of us in our hearts incline to distrust the rule of the expert, and we rather admire the amateur. Most of us flatter ourselves that in one way or another we are something of amateurs ourselves. It is more than a half-truth to say that England would rather be free, free even to let itself be injured or befooled, than under compulsion to be sober, or healthy, or secure. And so long as this mood prevails, I do not see much chance for the Bill that is to "put down quackery" with a strong hand. Parliament may go so far as to "distinguish" the trained from the untrained practitioner; it will then leave you free to make your choice—at your own risk.

The instrument which Parliament set up for the purpose of marking the distinction is called the Medical Register. And the making and keeping of this Register is entrusted to the Medical Council. On the Register are placed the