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"CVII.

"Before the sun to drive them to the lea,
Or up the mountain, tracking in the dew;
To see that they in good contentment be,
And eat their balmy breakfast as is due,
At noon from out the hills to set them free,
And to the valleys their soft steps pursue,
Wherein amid the streams, and silver shade,
They wanton till the light of day doth fade,

"CVIII.

"Sufficeth him: then, browzing on the way,
By Hesper bright he driveth to the fold;
Before his door his little children play,

His tender wife him in her arms doth hold:
O happy state! far different, they say,
From theirs, whom guilty purple doth enfold;
O happy state! (and sweetly she did sing,)
The herdsman of himself is truly king!

P. 64.

It is unnecessary to add, that the Fairy Queen is constantly present to the poet's imagination, and that knights, damsels, giants, and aërial beings are the themes of song. The reader will everywhere be impressed with the rich powers of fancy, the ingenuity of contrivance, and beauty of language, which mark this production, and will unquestionably unite with us in the eager wish to see more from such a pen. The noble author, we have been informed, some time since claimed the attention of the public by the republication of the Defence of Poetry, by Sir Philip Sidney, with a small collection of original poems. These it was not our good fortune to see, and having inquired for them, we learn, with regret, that the author has recalled the impression. It should have been added, that the volume immediately before us concludes with a Sonnet to a very illustrious Nobleman, and a Copy of Verses, in all humility dedicated to the Prince Regent. These last are peculiarly elegant, but enough has been said to induce all lovers of poetry to procure the whole.

On Edinburgh Medical Education.

[From the Scotish Review.]

IF medicine is an instrument, as few will doubt, of im mense power, it becomes a question of no small importance, in whose hands this weapon is placed; whether it is wielded for the advantage or disadvantage of the human race.

It is needless to cant to our readers concerning the value of health compared with other blessings. We need hardly even point out to them, that if medicine be not employed beneficially, it must be injuriously, perhaps destructively. It is not one of those things which, if it does no good, will do no harm. When a sick person commits himself to the care of a physician, he gets into a situation where ignorance, rashness, or neglect, may soon terminate all his earthly prospects; where science, sound judgment, and attention, may long ward off the stroke of fate, and restore his relish for every enjoyment. Such considerations may show how valuable an acquisition a good physician is, how great a curse a bad one, and how useful it were to be able to appreciate the merits of medical pretenders.

By the universities of St. Andrews and Aberdeen, we believe, degrees are conferred in two ways either the candidate is examined on his proficiency by the different professors, or a certificate is sent, signed by two physicians, of his moral character and medical qualifications, and his having. attended a certain course of study, along with 247. 8s. 11d. 1-2, and the degree is returned in due course. To the former, if conducted by men at once qualified and determined to inquire into the attainments of the candidate, we can have no objection, but it is seldom if ever had recourse to; and in the latter truly commercial way, the power" medicinam faciendi, legendi, et docendi, hic et ubique terrarum," is conferred with equal discredit to the givers and receivers. Hence it is that quacks and impostors of every description have it in their power to prostitute the highest honours in medicine; and we have the title M. D. attached to the vendors of vegetable syrups, balms of gilead, lotions, tinctures, powders, pills, and innumerable nostrums, by which the public are at once cheated of their money, and, what is infinitely worse, undermined in their constitutions. These universities ought, as speedily as possible, to be deprived of the power of

We think the moral and religious character of the candidate ought to be certi fied by the minister of the parish, and the churchwarden or elder.

sanctioning impositions so abominable; and government ought to forego any advantage, however great, that may accrue from imposing duties, and thus literally giving the แ stamp of royal authority" to, and participating in, a traffic neither better in principle nor practice than that lately abolished on the coast of Africa.

The English universities confer the degree of bachelor of medicine on those who, having previously acquired the degree of master of arts, have studied physic for two years. Here there is something preposterous. There are seven years of study required to obtain the degrees successively of bachelor of arts and master of arts, which can only be considered as preparatory, and only two are devoted to the acquirement of that for which so much preliminary study is judged neces

sary.

We coincide with the view of these universities, that it is proper the physician should have a good previous education. Invaluable works in medicine are among the precious relics of Greece and Rome; and he who cannot consult the originals, must often be deceived in their interpretation. The study of mathematics and natural philosophy is important in two points of view; first, because many of the phenomena of organic life are dependent upon mechanical as well as vital principles; secondly, because, in common with the study of languages, they accustom the mind to habits of observation and reflection, which will adapt it to the important investigations on which it is about to enter. The man who has been accustomed to search for truth in the complicated relations of lines and figures, will be equally delighted with the percep-tion of it in the admirable laws which regulate the health of living beings; and he who has been accustomed to trace the apparently far different expressions of ideas which owe their origin to one root, both in the same and different languages, can with facility employ this discriminating faculty in tracing the connexion between the varied and apparently opposite symptoms which may indicate the same or a similar state of disease.

The study of the intellectual faculties and of morals appears as necessary to the physician as anatomy or physiology; for, independently of the propriety of a medical practitioner having a polite education, of which such studies must always be considered an elementary part, how is he, if ignorant of them, to treat diseases of mind? Yet physicians are on no ceremony in treating such diseases, without having once contemplated the structure, if we may use such a phrase, of the system which they attempt to restore.

As we have already stated, a course of two years appears

to us to be perfectly inadequate to the acquirement of such a knowledge of medicine as should entitle a man either to possess a degree, or to give him a chance of practising with advantage to those who may be committed to his care, or with satisfaction to himself. A man of powerful mind, who has attended to his preparatory studies, might do honour to the medical profession with even so short a period; but it is better to fix such a time as is suitable to common, than to be regulated by what is adapted to superior intellects alone. short, we have here as a general rule what is applicable merely as an exception.

A certain apathy, however, attends these universities and every thing connected with them, which deprives us of all hope and faith in any of their children. Indeed, the shorter time that a student of medicine, or of any thing else, spends in these abodes of luxury and indolence, we believe it is the better.

In the university of Edinburgh, every arrangement seems admirably contrived for giving due respectability to the medical degree, with three exceptions; 1st. There are only three years study enjoined, two of which may be at another university; 2dly. There is no age fixed under which degrees are not conferred, or, if it be fixed, such a salutary law is overlooked; 3dly. There is not a sufficient degree of solicitude displayed concerning the preliminary education of candidates.

The course of the studies themselves is excellent, with the exception of moral philosophy and midwifery, both of which are omitted, for what reason we know not. Of the time we have already said enough when speaking of the English universities; and when the various and numerous studies necessary to complete a medical education are taken into account, we must be convinced that the period here is also insufficient. To the neglect of the candidate having arrived at a proper age, and to some other causes about to be mentioned, we owe the circumstance of so many striplings, just escaped from the nursery, attaining the degree of doctor in medicine, and stalking about with all the foolish and pert solemnity of grave fathers and full grown doctors. This is the severest stab of all; for it is rapidly hurrying a title, which we should wish to see respectable, into contempt and ridicule. The stage has produced few young Rosciuses; but the university of Edinburgh can boast of many examples of a Hippocrates who never had a razor on his face; some of whom assume a peculiarity of dress and manners only excusable in magistrates or borough deacons, or in those arrived at second childhood, that period when a physician is esteemed infallible. We do not mean to insinuate that all under age are, to a man, or, to

speak properly, to a boy, incapable of practising medicine; many have been wonderfully acute at a very early period of life, while others get only more foolish and obstinate as they grow old, and the annals of physic have been more disgraced by grown up children than by promising youths. All we would hint is, that it would be safe to give degrees to men only.

There is no retrospective view taken of the early edu cation of candidates, but all their essays, examinations, and disputations, are held in the Latin language, with which they are of course supposed to be well acquainted. We have already mentioned some preliminary studies, which, if not absolutely indispensable, would at least be useful, and, as necessary in a polite education, would tend to make the degree respectable; but even the knowledge of the Latin language is, as we shall find, in a great measure evaded.

The university confers degrees upon two days only in the year, in the following manner: the candidate delivers a dissertation upon some subject, medical or philosophical, to one of the six medical professors, who, having given it his perlegi, it is transmitted, if approved of, to the dean of the medical faculty, who issues notices to the respective candidates of the time and place of their first examination. This one is private and impartial, generally occupying from an hour to an hour and a half. The candidate is unaware of what his examination may turn upon, the questions being indifferently taken from nosology, anatomy, the practice and theory of medicine, pharmacy, chymistry, materia medica, &c.; at one time general, at another close and minute. All those who have been approved of at a first examination meet upon a certain day in the college library, where they are again examined in rotation by two of the professors, and receive from two others an aphorism of Hippocrates, and a question, medical or physiological, each of which they are to treat in writing. Their exercises being delivered to the respective professors, they, upon a day appointed, appear and defend them; after this, the two remaining professors give them two cases of disease, upon which they are to comment in writing, explaining the name and nature of the particular disease, the symptoms, the means of cure, the medicines to be employed, and the formula for their exhibition. These essays must be defended upon a day appointed, and, if the candidate is then approved of, he is afterwards admitted publicly to defend his thesis, and receive his degree. That no one may be rejected from embarrassment, or any other cause but ignorance, he can, if the professors do not approve of him at the first examination, demand a second private one, and he has VOL. I. New Series. 3 D

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