II. THE SCOTTISH LICENSING BODIES.

University of Edinburgh.

The Committee need only observe that the Clinical Medical and Surgical tests, introduced of late years into the Examination of the University of Edinburgh, have been carried out without difficulty and with great advantage.

University of Aberdeen.

The Reports of this University are satisfactory. The Examinations are well carried out, and are highly practical. In certain cases candidates have been exempted from oral Examination on account of the excellence of their written answers; but the Committee are of opinion that the recommendation of the General Council in this matter should be adhered to, and that no candidate should, in any case, be exempted from oral Examination.

University of Glasgow.

The Professional Examinations are satisfactory. The Preliminary Examination in Arts appears to be defective; the papers are too elementary in some respects, and the candidates appear to have been allowed to pass too easily in some instances. Professor THOMSON assured the Committee that the University would take the matter into immediate consideration, with a view to the improvement of this Examination.

The Committee observe that the custom of exempting candidates from parts of the Degree Examination, on the ground of high merit in Class Examination, which was commented on by the Visitors of last year, has been now discontinued. The Reports of the Visitors on this University are defective in not including any notice of the Examinations in Botany and Chemistry. The Clinical Surgical and Medical Examinations, lately instituted, are highly efficient.

University of St. Andrew's.

No Report has been made on this University.

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

The Committee regret that no Visitation of the Examinations for the single Licence has yet been made; but they hope the Scottish Branch Council will arrange that this omission shall not again occur. It is understood that there is no practical Clinical Examination at present. The Committee trust that the College will take into consideration the propriety of following the example set them in this respect by so many other Licensing Bodies.

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

The Examination for the single Licence was only reported on last year, and even then not completely. Judging from that single Report, the number of written questions seems to have been too small; but Dr. ANDREW WOOD stated to the Committee, that since last year the number of questions had been increased. The College have not hitherto instituted Practical and Clinical Surgical Examinations; but the Committee are informed that arrangements have been made for commencing them at the Autumn Examinations, on a plan similar to that pursued at the University of Edinburgh.

Double Qualification of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Edinburgh.

The Preliminary Examination and the second Professional Examination have been reported on, and are satisfactory so far as they go; but the Professional Examination, to be complete, requires that practical Examinations in Medicine and Surgery shall be introduced. The first Professional Examination has not been reported on.

Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

No Report has been given of the Preliminary Examination in Arts. The Reports on the Professional Examination show them to be satisfactory so far as they go; but here also there is a want of Practical and Clinical Medical and Surgical Examinations.

III. THE IRISH LICENSING BODIES.

In some respects the Reports of the Irish Examinations are defective, so that it is difficult for the Committee to make a sufficient Report on all of them. They trust the attention of the Irish Branch Council will be seriously directed to this matter.

University of Dublin.

The Committee observe that by Act of Parliament a Student may commence his Professional Study without a previous Examination in Arts: the occurrence is rare, but the Committee think attention should be called to it. The mode of carrying on the oral Examination is peculiar to this University. It is conducted in class, and the Committee believe cannot be so efficient as the ordinary method of examining each candidate apart. This Examination is conducted in public.

The Practical and Clinical Examinations in Surgery are excellent, and the Committee observe that operations on the dead body are required. There are no Clinical Examinations in Medicine. A Chemical Laboratory has recently been erected by the Provost and Board of Trinity College, for the instruction of the Students in Practical Chemistry; and Dr. APJOHN has informed the Committee that the Examinations in Chemistry will henceforward be so conducted as to test the acquirements of the Students in the practice as well as the theory of the science.

Queen's University in Ireland.

The Committee are informed that a Student may follow his Professional Studies for two years before passing his Preliminary Examination in Arts. The attention of the University should be directed to the evil of this, as permitting insufficiently educated persons to enter on Professional Studies.

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The oral Examinations are reported by the Visitors to be too short. There are operations on the dead body, but there are no Clinical Medical or Surgical Examinations.

King and Queen's College of Physicians.

The Preliminary Examination in Arts is left to other Bodies. It would appear that there is no written Professional Examination, but from the unavoidable incompleteness of the Report, the Committee are unable to form any correct opinion of the Examinations of this Licensing Body. The Examinations are open to all the Fellows and Licentiates of the College.

Royal College of Surgeons.

There is no Report on the Preliminary Examinations. The number of written questions in the first Professional Examination is small; there are only two questions in Anatomy, one in Physiology, and one in Materia Medica, and one hour only is allowed for the answers. At the oral Examination it appears that there is only one Examiner at each table, and the decisions are given, without conference, by simple "yes" or "no." The Committee have learned from Mr. HARGRAVE that, since the Visitation, the decisions are made by marks, and that a Member of the Council sits at each table with the Examiner. The second Professional Examination in Surgery, Medicine, and Materia Medica, is conducted exactly in the same time and manner as the first. There is no mention of Practical and Clinical Medical or Surgical Examinations. Teacher is allowed to be an Examiner.

Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland.

No Report has been made on the Examinations of this Body.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.

Combination of Licensing Bodies.

No

Referring to the number of Licences, the Committee are of opinion that the Council should strongly encourage every effort now being made, or about to be made, under Clause XIX. of the Medical Act, to combine the Examinations of the Licensing Boards,