Note 104 — 1. OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

It is said that the College have determined not to interfere for the future with the licensing of Midwives; the policy of this resolution is very questionable, for the examination and licensing of persons in all branches of medicine is a public duty imposed upon them, which they are not at liberty to abandon or execute at their pleasure. It may be urged that this branch is rather Surgery than Physic; but as the College have once assumed the jurisdiction, it is doubtful whether they ought to relinquish it. The Surgeons might also disavow their obstetric brethren, and then the matter must revert, as of old, to the Bishops, who cannot be supposed to be the most competent judges of the necessary qualifications. Archbishop Abbot, a very conscientious divine, on a somewhat similar occasion, said “he knew not well how children were made,” and begged time to inform himself on the subject.