Page:Whalley 1822 A vindication of the University of Edinburgh .djvu/39

39 acting as Surgeon in the navy or army, I do happen to know that there is an M. D. of an English University, now practising as Physician and Surgeon in England, and I believe the Gentleman will not find sixty Doctors of Medicine of Edinburgh similarly occupied.—This stickler for rank proceeds to say, (and it is all he can say in favor of Oxford and Cambridge, as medical Schools, even supposing it to be granted, that the English degree is higher in rank than the Scotch degree,) "a Physician, however, is not necessarily a Doctor. The English Universities may grant licenses to practise, to Masters of Arts. Gentlemen who practise on such licenses, are Physicians, and their rank is the same as that of Barristers and Clergymen, that is, they rank as Esquires. But in order to give dignity to so learned and useful a profession, the English Universities grant the rank of Doctor to those of mature age, not to beardless youths or striplings, and this rank