Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/463



ever did so, to be well acquainted with the original works of Aristotle and Galen. He translated and published several tracts of the latter
 * larly he made it his business, and was the first Englishman who

In his own Faculty he distinguished himself so much that, soon after his return, he was pitched upon by that wise king, Henry the Seventh, as the fittest person to be placed about Prince Arthur, and to take care both of his health and his education. He was afterward made successively Physician to that king, to his successor Henry the Eighth, and to the Princess Mary And indeed, as he was perfectly skilled himself in his own art, so he always shewed a remarkable kindness for all those who bent their studies that way; and wherever he found, in young students, any ingenuity, learning, modesty, good manners, and a desire to excel, he assisted them with his advice, his interest, and his purse. And to give a still stronger proof, how much he had the good of his own Profession and that of the Publick at heart, he founded two Lectures of Physick in Oxford, and one at Cambridge

But he had still further views for the advantage of our Profession: he saw in how low a condition the practice of Physick then was, that it was mostly engrossed by illiterate monks and empiricks, who in an infamous manner imposed on the Publick; the Bishop of London or the Dean of St. Paul's for the time being, having the chief power in approving and admitting the practitioners in London, and the rest of the bishops in their several dioceses. And he found that there was no way left of redressing this grievance, but by giving encouragement to men of reputation and learning, and placing this power of licensing in more proper hands. Upon these motives he projected the foundations of our College [of Physicians]; and using his interest at Court, particularly with that great patriot and munificent promoter of all learning, Cardinal Woolsey, he procured Letters Patent from the King, which were confirmed by Parliament, to establish a corporate Society of Physicians in this city, by virtue of which authority the College, as a corporation, now enjoys the sole privilege of admitting all persons whatever to the practice of physick, as well as that of supervising all prescriptions. And it is expressly declared that no one shall be admitted to exercise physick in any of the dioceses in England, out of London, till such time that he be examined by the President and three of the Elects, and have letters testimonial from them, unless he be a graduate in either University, who, as such, by his very Degree, has a right to practice all over England,