practice, has convinced me of the all but universality of the sentiments I dared to promulgate in the theatre of the College of Surgeons; and I have reason to believe that an improved form of remuneration, and one more consonant with professional usage, if sanctioned by Parliament, would be generally acceptable to this large department of the profession of medicine. I quarrel not with the general practitioner, but I quarrel with the system, nor can I understand how any high- minded man, can fail to repudiate it. My object is to elevate the entire body in the professional scale, to a level commensurate with the value of its services.
The term “degenerate,” as applied to the profession of medicine, has been objected to. In justification of its employment, I would urge on the recollection of the reader, the condition of the profession at the latter end of the seventeenth century. At that time the physician monopolised the entire rank and name of the practitioner of medicine,—the surgeon was a mere operative, identified with a menial trade, and the apothecary, a drug
