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CIRCULAR  LETTER
PRACTITIONERS

PHYSIC  AND SURGERY
State of Neto=¥o?ft,
PRACTITIONERS OF PHYSIC AND SURGERY
COUNTY AND CITY OF NE1V-Y0RK;
WITH A
MEMORIAL
INTENDED TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE
        OF NEW-YORK AT THE NEXT SESSION.
NEW-YORK:
riUNTED BY JAMES SMITH,
    217 Watcr-slrect.
1S29. 
 
AT A MEETING of Practitioners of Physic and Surgery,
  held on Thursday Evening, 22d October, at the Masonic
  Hall, Valentine Mott, M. D., was called to the chair,
  and Alexander F. Vache, M. D., appointed Secretary.
  The Chairman stated the objects of the Meeting to be,
the protection of the reputation  of a number of Physicians
and Surgeons who have been denounced by a late publica-
tion of the Medical Society; to consider the existing Law of
the state, and to use all proper endeavours for the abroga-
tion of such parts of it as are repugnant to the honour and
dignity of the profession;  and to  adopt such means as may
be deemed most advisable to establish a more efficient system
of Medical Education throughout  the state of New-York.
   A committee of three was then appointed to prepare reso-
lutions,  expressing  the sense and feeling of the  Meeting.
After  retiring, the Committee presented the following pream-
ble and resolutions,  which were unanimously adopted :
  Whereas, a publication has lately appeared in the news-
papers of this city, inserted by the Medical Society of the
County of New-York, denouncing those gentlemen whose
names are thereto affixed,  for not  complying with the exist-
ing regulations  imposed upon  Physicians  and Surgeons,
under the name and character of the law of the state;  and,
whereas, such publication tends also to injure the professional
character of  many whose names have been altogether omit-
ted ;  therefore, 
4
   Resolved,  That we deem it an act  of justice to declare,
that such publication, in regard to many of the gentlemen
proscribed, is an unwarrantable outrage upon their rights;
and, to express our confidence in the  professional qualifica-
tions of many of them, who possess credentials equal to any,
and superior  to many, of those who have complied with the
regulations of said Society.
   Resolved,  That  we  consider  that all associations for the
diffusion of science should be composed of men voluntarily
convened; that the establishment of medical societies by legal
coercion, accompanied with pains and  penalties, is incompat-
ble with the  acknowledged freedom  of American citizens,
and dishonourable to the liberal profession of Medicine.
   Resolved,  That we deem it expedient, that a State Asso-
ciation should be instituted  for the improvement of Medical
Science.
   Resolved,  That the present system  of Medical Education
in this  state, is fraught with every evil calculated to retard
the progress  of science;  check  the  aspiring talent  of the
country; create jealousies, by establishing  misjudged mo-
nopolies ; contract professional exertion; and be eminently
destructive to the best interest of the public; therefore, calling
loudly for Reform.
   Resolved,  That a Committee be appointed by the Chair-
man, to take  into consideration the best means of advancing
the objects of this meeting.  Whereupon, the following gen-
tlemen  were appointed:
                    SAMUEL L. MITCHILL, M. D.
                    FEI.TX PASCALTS, M. D.
                    JOHN NEILSON,  Sen'r. M. D.
                    SAMUEL OSBORNE, M. D.
                    HUGH M'LEAN, M. D.
                    JAMES PENDLETON, M. D.
                    WILLIAM ANDERSON, M. D.
                    D. M.  REESE, M.  D.
                    J. H. BAILEY, M. M.
                    L. PROUDFOOT, M. D.
                   WM.  J. MACNEVEN, M. D.
                    ALEX'R F.  VACHE, M. D.
 ^On motion— 
5
  Resolved, That the Chairman be added to the Committee.
  Resolved, That the proceedings of this Meeting be signed
by the Chairman and Secretary, and published, with the
names of all concurring with the above resolutions.
  Resolved, That this Meeting adjourn,  subject  to the call
of the standing Committee.
                  VALENTINE MOTT, Chairman.

  Alex'r F. Vache, Sec'ry.
AT A MEETING of Practitioners of Physic and Surgery
  of the County of New-York, convened on Wednesday
  Evening, November 11th, at the Masonic Hall, pursuant to
  the call of the standing Committee—Valentine Mott,
  M. D., in the chair, and Alex'r F. Vache, M. D., Sec'ry.
  The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
  The Chairman of the standing Committee then presented
the report on the several  duties assigned by the former gene-
ral meeting, which upon being read, it was unanimously
  Resolved, That  the Report of the standing Committee,
viz. a Memorial to the  Legislature, and a Circular Address
to the Practitioners of Physic and Surgery  in the State of
New-York, be accepted by this meeting.
  Resolved, That  the documents accepted, with the pro-
ceedings of the former  meeting, be published.
  On motion— 
6
  Resolved,  That a  Committee, consisting  of three, be
appointed by the  Chairman, to  direct all publication  of
proceedings;  manage  addresses  to  the Legislature and
others; regulate disbursements; and appoint a suitable de-
legation  to  the  Legislature.—Whereupon,  the following
gentlemen were appointed:
                    SAM'L L. MITCH ILL, M. D.
                    SAM'L OSBORNE, M. D.
                    JOHN NEILSON, Sen'r.,M. D.
  On motion—
  Resolved,  That said Committee are empowered to obtain,
by subscription, the necessary funds to further  its objects.
  Resolved,  That this Meeting adjourn sine die.

                  VALENTINE  MOTT,  Chairman.

  Alex'r F. Vache, Sec'ry. 
CIRCULAR
To the Practitioners of Physic and Surgery in the StaU
                     of New- York.

  The foregoing Resolutions having been passed unanimous
ly, signed, and ordered to be printed, the undersigned were
appointed a Committee to further the objects of the Meeting.
And as the subjects embraced in these Resolutions are of pa-
ramount importance to the Members of the  Medical Profes-
sion throughout the state, it becomes our duty, in conformity
with our appointment,  to  communicate with our brethren
generally, which,  for greater convenience, we do  by  this
Circular  Letter.  We shall,  therefore,  present our views,
and those of the meeting, on the  several topics committed to
us, as briefly as is consistent with perspicuity, and respectfully
solicit  an expression of sentiment, by affixing your signature
to the  accompanying Memorial.
   It is doubtless known  to you, that the late law of this state,
"regulating the Practice of Physic and Surgery," has totally
changed the character of Medical Societies in the estimation
of the profession and the public.   Instead of being institutions
purely literary, and extending the privilege of membership to
all, who,  actuated  by a love of Science, and a laudable zeal
for the cultivation of our liberal profession, voluntarily tender
the credentials which entitle them to the claims  of brother-
hood;  Medical Societies are now held up pro terrore;  their
members convened by legal coercion; their funds collected by
direct  taxation upon noviciates;  their officers employed as
spies and informers upon the members,  and these upon each
other; their meetings called to issue writs upon their brethern
in the  profession, educated,  respectable, useful, and  aged as
many of them are; while these writs  are accompanied  with 
8
 threats of the "District Attorney," "fines," "imprisonment,"
 and the whole apparatus of courts of law, to all those who
 neglect or refuse to " apply for and receive" a " certificate of
 membership" while at the same time the by-laws of said So-
 ciety, in this County, require the payment often Dollars as an
 initiating fee.
   It may also be known to you, that the funds of the County
 Societies  are provided for by the previous law, not only as
 regards the manner of raising them, but also their appropria-
 tion.   Whatever may be the case with your County Society,
 that of the City and County of New-York have never com-
 plied with the statute.  They  have never levied the annual
 contribution, authorized by the State Society,  nor have  the
 funds collected ever been appropriated  to the promotion of
 Science, as required by the statute.  Their Meetings have
 been the scenes of riot, tumultuous discord, and personal, as
 well as party altercation, and they  who have  entered these
 meetings personal and professional  friends, have often sepa-
 rated implacable enemies.   These obvious perversions of the
 design and utility of the Society, have long since driven from
 its meetings most of the elder and distinguished members, and
 caused them to separate from it for ever.  This has placed the
 concerns of the Society in other and different hands, and the
 late law has fallen upon evil times in its history.  The cha-
racter of the Society, for many years, having been of a most
 unattractive kind, very many highly respectable practitioners
 have always stood aloof from it, and others equally respecta-
ble iaiheir profession, coming; from other states and countries,
have taken the advice of their Medical friends, and declined
becoming members.
  An attempt is now made, in conformity with the late law, to
compel all these to join, and the  President has issued his Cir-
cular throughout the city.   This attempt has been resolutely
 resisted by the gentlemen concerned.  Some have submitted
their credentials and been elected members; but resist the by-
 law requiring the payment of ten dollars, and are refused the 
9
certificate of membership;  while others having  been legal
practitioners under the previous law, refuse altogether to be-
come members by compulsion, deeming the law to be ex post
facto as regards them, and abstractly unconstitutional.
   This refusal has been followed by a publication of the Me-
dical Society, in which they give a catalogue of their old and
present members, who, they say, have complied with the law;
and append a list of those who have not complied with the law,
in which their names are severally announced as illegal prac-
titioners.   While those gentlemen,  who have  been  recently
elected members, but have refused to buy the  certificate, by
the payment of ten dollars, are not honoured with being men-
tioned in either list, and the public are left to the conclusion,
that all these are likewise illegal practitioners.
   This publication has resulted in the meeting of the profes-
sion, by whose appointment we now address you, and believ-
ing that the dignity of our hitherto honoured profession, is
endangered by this odious law, and the rights of American
citizenship invaded by any attempt  to enforce  its provisions;
we invite your participation in a respectful memorial to the
legislature of the  state, praying the repeal of the  act,  not
doubting, but the intelligence and liberality of that honoura-
ble body, will  listen to the voice of the profession when calmly
and fully expressed.
   The objections  which we make to the law, are  referred to
in a summary way in the  memorial; but it may  be proper
to mention in this communication,  the following:
   1st. The clause authorizing every County Society to com-
pel all the  "practitioners" to become members,  on pain of
" forfeiting their licence.'*   Its absurdity consists  in its com-
pelling the Society to  receive every empiric who applies, if a
"practitioner," while, at  the same  time, it imposes a "for-
feiture of licence"  in case of refusal, however exalted the indi-
vidual, in point of character or education, or however sus-
tained by the chartered honours of European or American
Universities.   Besides, he could not "forfeit" that which he 
10
never possessed, and if possessed, it is among those vested
rights, which cannot be violated by any act of the legisla-
ture, either of the state or general government.  He who was
a legal practitioner, before the passage of this Act, is hereby
not only disfranchised, but is deemed " guilty of a misdemea-
nor," " punishable by fine and imprisonment," unless he ap-
ply for, and receive  the certificate of membership, and he is
moreover prohibited from receiving, by law, any debt arising
from his practice.
   2d.  On  charges of "gross ignorance,  misconduct in his
profession, &c." being brought against a member before the
County Society, instead of said Society being the sole judges
of the extent of the misdemeanor or mal-practice, the pre-
scribed process, by a public notice in the newspapers,  and
next through the District Attorney and County Judges,  by
whom he is to be  expelled, or suspended;  we  deem  alike
dishonourable to the profession, and disgraceful to the state.
   3d.  A student having studied three years,  and attended
three courses of lectures, cannot be licenced by the County
Society, unless  those lectures were delivered in an incorpo-
rated college; while a bare licence from any county of any
other state of the Union,  will authorize to  practice in this
state, whether the party has ever heard a lecture,  or seen a
college.   And while many such are  enjoying  the  rights of
the professions, by such authority, who cannot  write, or even
read a prescription; no member of the profession, in the cities
or counties, can teach in any department, with any hope of
emolument, while the incorporated colleges have this mono-
poly.  Every member  of the profession is, therefore, in
effect, prohibited from becoming a teacher, however capable,
or however emulous of rising in  his profession,  lest his ho-
nours or emoluments should lessen those of the incorporated
professors.
   While we disclaim any connexion with either of the par-
ties, which the two Medical Colleges in this city have rallied
around them, and whose quarrels have kept  the County So- 
11
ciety in  a tumult,  and resulted  in  the odious  law against
which we now remonstrate, yet as individual members of the
Medical profession, we deem it our duty to act respectfully,
yet firmly, in resisting the law, and praying its repeal.
   We are not willing that the licence  of  County Societies,
in other states, should confer superior privileges, to the same
authority from the  County Societies of our own state.
   We object to  the compulsory character  of the law, requi-
ring physicians  to become members  of the  County Society
where they reside,  and then to pay an initiating fee, not re-
cognized by the statute, and the amount of which may be
arbitrarily  increased  by the  by-laws, without  limitation,
according to the wants or necessities of its members.
   We protest against  the threat held out  in the law,  of  a
criminal prosecution in case of its being  resisted,  and con-
ceive such provision alike uncalled for, and disreputable to
to the character of our liberal profession.
   We conceive the protection afforded by the  courts of law,
is unnecessary among' the members of literary and scientific
societies; and that  for the correction of abuses of any kind,
(mal-practice not excepted,) the grave decision of a delibera-
tive convention  of  their members, is fully adequate to apply
a prompt and efficient remedy.  And the  suspension  of  a
practitioner, or the expulsion of an empiric, by his fellow
members of the Medical Society, is not only more profession-
al, but would be submitted to by the delinquent, and sustain-
ed by the public,  more cheerfully than when effected by  a
process  at law.   The latter course would excite public sym-
pathy in favour  of the sufferer, though  an  impostor, to an ex-
tent which would defeat the ends of law and justice, while his
fellow practitioners could otherwise, soon  frown him into ob-
scurity by neglect.
  We object to  every attempt to protect the literary institu-
tions  of the state, by suppressing competition and prohibiting
rivalship.
  If there be literary institutions endowed by the  state, which 
12
after all, cannot be sustained but by vesting them with exclu-
sive rights, and protecting them by discriminating duties, we
are unwilling tamely to succumb to such monopoly, nor to
uphold  such an aristocracy, at the expense of our individual
rights as citizens and as physicians.
   We include among our unalienable rights,  the liberty to
teach as well as practise, all the branches of that profession,
which we  have made the choice of our youth,  and to which
many of us have devoted the greater portion of our lives.
And we cannot consent that we, or our professional brethren,
shall be proscribed from entering the  field of competition for
literary distinction and professional honours,  whenever our
inclination shall so direct us.  Nor can we believe that the
legislature of the state, or the free people of New-York, will
withhold their assent from such rights  as we claim, or sustain
any chartered institution, which by reason of imbecility can-
not endure, or by becoming superannuated, cannot survive
such fair and equitable extension of equal privileges.
   The ruling spirit of our age, and among its most honoura-
ble characteristic/, is to emancipate talent, enterprise and in-
dustry,  from corporate restrictions;  to  leave mind free to
exercise its energies, and the public  unrestrained from en-
couraging what it approves.  There is no country to which
such entire freedom would be more  profitable than to our
own, for there is none that possesses a  greater fund of talent,
and of this our Physicians  have  their  fair proportion.  And
throughout our state,  there  exist the powers  of mind,  and
much of the preliminary knowledge, which would make ac-
complished professors, as they  make able practitioners,  if
free scope and encouragement  were  allowed to their  full
exercise.
   We contend, therefore, for freedom  in teaching and learn-
ing, and maintain that the student should suffer no  penalty
for placing himself under the  most  able teachers, though
they Kcuft- in this state, and  not incorporated.  We do not
deem it of so much importance, where  he paid his fees, as 
1.5
where  he was best  instructed,  and of  this,  an impartial
examination  is the  only conclusive criterion.  We  know
that law is studied in this state, in a way  calculated to make
eminent oo.miotllaK, and yet there is no incorporated college
of law, where, willing or not, the student must have paid for
lectures.   They freely choose their instructers, and for ad-
mission to the bar they apply to the Judges, as to an exalted
and impartial tribunal, before which, all who apply, stand on
equal footing.  4md we are free to avow, that it is our object
to have admission to the Medical profession, placed upon a
similar basis of impartiality.
   In other countries, the votary of Physic may study where
he pleases, and receive his diploma where he likes, without
civil detriment or civil advantage, and of course, the most re-
nowned seat of science is  generally preferred; his diploma,
with his title of M. D., being a literary honour and no more.
When he  proposes to practise, he undergoes an examination
to entitle  him to the civil privilege of a licence.  We know
this is the case in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, through-
out Germany,  nay,  in every  country in the civilized  world,
and almost in every state in this union, except that of New-
York ; and  such  was the case in our own state a few years
since, and until it was found necessary, by an act of favouri-
tism, to prop the state schools by an incorporated monopoly.
It is now so  in New-Jersey,  and it is so in  Maryland, even
with regard  to the graduates of its own University.
   " The  admirable  free constitution of the German Univer-
sities, (we quote from the third No. of the N. Amer. Review,)
renders it the more  easy'to appear there in the  capacity of
public instructer.   The care of the several branches  of
science is not there exclusively entrusted to any one.   The
regular professor  is  liable to find competitors  in his business
of instruction, in any whose predilections or whose wants mav
lead them to engage in the same department.  The few
establishments where the  system of restraint prevails, have
had little or no  share  in the prosperity, vigorous industry, 
u
and  sound and  impartial learning, for which  the  German
High Schools are distinguished.
   The emoluments of the professor depend on  his  industry
and success, and are as limited as his talehts and reputation.
Besides this, any man who feels competent to give instruc-
tion, and can give evidence of his competency by an exami-
nation, a public disputation, and a printed dissertation, that
may serve as a specimen of his erudition, is allowed to give
public or private instruction under the sdntttoh of the Univer-
sity, with every facility to be derived from the fixtures, and
with all the advantage that arises from being fairly in the list
of equal competition."
   Now mark' the  difference between our institutions and
theirs.  With us, all instruction in the universities is mono-
polized, whether the professorship derives its income  from
fees paid by the students, or endowments, the whole care of
each  branch of knowledge is entirely in the hands of the
person  appointed;  he has no  competitor.   The German
mode has the effect of making the public teachers industrious
and faithful, for otherwise they would be soon out of employ-
ment.  Now and then, it is true, a man who remains behind
the age, or has little talent as a teacher, is doomed to see his
lecture-room vacant, and offers instruction  which no one
cares  to receive; and so it ought to be.
   It is about twenty years since the University of Berlin was
founded, and last summer its number  of students was the
largest on the continent.   A year is not completed since the
foundation of a University was laid at Munich, and already its
success is assured.  But how were these foundations laid ?  By
collecting together learned men, and opening to them a career
of utility, and honour, and emolument.   Honos et prcemia.
Where these are dispensed freely, learning will thrive; free
competition will meet public favour.  Industry unchecked
in its exertion, and unlimited in its rewards, will in this, as in
every thing else, lead to brilliant results.
   The ostensible justification of a thing  so strange, as  the 
l.rJ
monopoly of which we complain, ^SMpMiag* in the state  of
New-York; is that the state must protect its own institutions.
We say, let it protect them justly, and by honourable means.
But against what is it going to protect them in the present
case, and by the method adopted, unless it be against rival-
ship!  against learning! against talent!  against literary and
scientific competition!   The state is made to say, that no re-
pect shall be paid to any diploma but theirs, unless forsooth
it be from some other state or country, in order that persons
wanting diplomas may  be constrained to purchase them of
those who have the monopoly of the article.
   The state g-ave the proper protection to its own colleges
when it endowed them.  Is not this enough, without encroach-
ing on our rights for their further emolument?   We do not
complain of their endowments, but humbly ask that the hand
of authority may not shut our mouths, lest their voice should
 not be heard.
   With this frank exposition of our views, we  submit a few
principles of Medical Educution, and admission to the practice
of Physic and Surgery in this state, which, we believe, would
serve the interests of the public, and sustain the character of
our heretofore honoured and honourable profession.
   We  propose, therefore, for the basis of a system, to be ma-
tured by the wisdom of the legislature, the following plan, viz:
   1st.  That any authorized practitioner of Physic and Sur-
gery may become a  teacher of those  Sciences,  by opening a
school and giving public lectures, with the aid of such materials
apparatus as are usual for the course of instruction he delivers;
and that his certificate shall be received from candidates  for
 Medical licence.
   2d.  That candidates for the degree of M. D., which shall
be  a  licence  to  teach and practise Medicine and Surgery,
must produce proper certificates of being twenty-one years of
age; of good moral character;  of having studied the Science
for four years,  after  the age of seventeen years,  under the
direction of an authorized practitioner;  and also within, the
said four years of having attended— 
16
       Two full courses of Anatomy and Physiology, of daily lec-
         tures, of at least four months duration.
       Two full courses of the principles and practice  of  Sur-
         gery, of daily lectures, of at least four months duration.
       Two full  courses of Therapeutics and Materia Medica, of
         daily lectures, and four months duration.
       Two full courses of the Institutes and Practice of Physic,
         of daily lectures, and four months duration.
       Two full courses of Obstetries and the Diseases of Women
         and Children, of four lectures weekly, and at least four
         months duration.
       Two full courses of Chemistry and Pharmacy, of daily lec-
         tures, of four months duration.
       And also of having attended one season on the practice of
         an Hospital.
       3d. That a Board of Examiners be  constituted of ten
    Members, eminent as Practitioners of Medicine and Surgery,
    six of whom  to be a quorum; who are to examine all candi-
    dates, and from whom alone  is to be derived a valid licence
    for practising Medicine and Surgery  in  this state.  This
    board to be appointed on the nomination  of the  Governor,
    and the approval of the Senate,  to hold their office during
    good behaviour, and not to be  teachers of Medical science
    while in office.
       They may confer the degree of Bachelor  of Medicine on
    such candidates as have  attended  one full course  of lectures
. n  on all the  branches named, and of the duration required, in-
    stead of two full courses,  which  shall be  necessary for the
    degree  of Doctor of Medicine.   Either  of these  degrees
    shall be a licence to practise.
       They shall assemble twice in  each year, in May and Sep-
    tember,  for the purpose of examining candidates for the Me-
    dical profession;  and shall receive a fee of   ■      dollars
    from every person examined, whether approved or not; which
    is to be in full compensation for their services as examiners.
       In conclusion, believing the interests of the community, 
Pages 17-22 missing