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in the world where so many accidents are constantly occurring )
and, although these accidents may not, if improperly treated,
terminate ·fatally, yet what compensation can the .ignorant srgeon
render a poor patient, prisoner though he be - for the crippling
of his body for life . ·
He appealed rgently to the egislative Council to take the matter in hand
and establish some kind of tribunal by which medical qualifications could
be jdged.
The situation respecti.ng Government srgeons was bad enoụgh but
that pertaining to private practitioners was appalli.ng :
When we look at the extraordinary set of beings, who come out here
either as "experienced surgeons" in charge o·f merchant ships or
as private passengers , we shall see at ·once the necessity of such
a regulation. As the law now stands , any druggist 's errand boy
may bring out his paraphernalia of gallipots ·and pillboxes , and ,
fixing ·half a dozen coloured bottl es in his window, write himself
down a "surgeon" and ki ll or cure - as luck will have it - as many
patients as may be foolish enough to trust him.
The Public could hardly be expected to discern the true from the false.
Not all those professi.ng to be doctors were incompetent , some were of great
benefit to the community.
Hence it was necessary to set up a Board of
Examiners immediately to determine the qualifications of all, and , in so
dong, to set the minds of the Public at rest.
Also Richards drew attention to the opposition existi.ng between
members of the Medical Profession, particularly between the Government
srgeon and the private practitioner.
This he deplored as not only
unworthy of the Profession but as positively harmful to the Public.
Eṇgland the Medical Profession was held in the highest esteem;
In
in Hobart
Town it merited little respect for its concern with ''petty jealousies":
Because there is too much cavilling about qualification - too much
stickling at fusty formality, whfch would be all very well
•at home* where . the physician is to his kind, and the surgeon
to his order , an d the apothecary to no order at all - but here
it is out of piece, in every instance , where a man has proved
himself of adequate ab ilities .
Therefore, a Board of Examiners was imperative to ensure a body of properly
qualified men to care for the people's health and to put an end to the
animosity and schism at present existing in the Profession itself.
Richards rged that native students should be admitted to the Profession
after a proper and adequate course of training .
The article elicited an immediate response from Scott and
Assistant Srgeons E.S.P. Bedford and W. Seacombe. On Apri l 15, 1834 ,
they wrote a joint letter to the Colonial-Secretary requesti.ng that the
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