Page:Introductory Address on the General Medical Council, its Powers and its Work.djvu/34

 on medical study. &hellip; As the purpose of this examination is only to test the possession by the candidate of a reasonable amount of general culture, its subjects should not 'be of a technical or professional nature. &hellip; The general scope of the examination should be subject to the approval of the Medical Council, but the conduct of the examination should be left to the Universities or such other bodies as may be approved by the Medical Council. &hellip; We consider that the full period of medical study should be passed after the date of registration. The registration of medical students ought, we think, to be placed under the charge of the Divisional Boards [of the three Kingdoms], and an officer of each Board should keep a list of the names. &hellip;"

But somehow the necessary provisions for giving statutory effect to these recommendations were not formally embodied in the new Medical Act which followed the Commission. The recommendations practically described a system that had already grown up. As you have heard, the plan was universally approved by the witnesses examined, and they were many and representative of all shades of medical opinion. How had it grown up, and by what authority then—and now? We searched the Acts before for the potential germs of the Council's judicial development, and we found them in three words— "inquiry," "judged," and "guilty." The germs of the quasi-legislation of the Council on students' registration and preliminary education and professional curriculum lie in the words "courses of study" and "ages." As to the sufficiency of these, the Council is to form, and if necessary to report to the Privy Council, its opinion. Let us suppose that the Council's opinion is that no course of study should be less than five years long, and that no one should be licensed till he is twenty-one years of age. That means, first, that the beginning of the course should somehow be marked in a definite way, and, secondly, that it should not be begun before the age of sixteen. To ensure that these conditions are fulfilled in the case of