Excerpt from The British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, or Quarterly Journal of Practical Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 25: July-October, 1860 There can be little doubt that the universal consent of those competent to judge in the matter, which led to its introduction almost simultaneously in so many branches Of the public service, is in the main a conclusive evidence Of soundness in the principles on which it is based. And in many cases the notorious failure of methods which it was suggested to replace, and the temptation Offered to persons high in rank and office by the agencies of patronage and nepotism, made the substitution more necessary and less difficult. Nor can it be denied that those departments Of the public service which most specially interest us as medical practitioners, and to which the system has been extended, are as yet gainers by the alteration. The class Of men admitted lately into the Indian Medical Service and the corresponding branches of the Queen's forces, naval and military, has, according to good testimony, been decidedly superior in the aggregate to that of some years back'. And though many causes were at work to bring about this desirable change quite independent of the qualification required on entering, still the latter, in the instance of our Indian forces, has undoubtedly exercised the principal and most beneficial influence. Contemporary and connected with this change has been an increase of attention given to examinations in general. Not only in the public service, civil and military, are various tests required and liberal encouragements offered to distinction, but professions formerly beyond this power have voluntarily adopted a similar scheme. The various legal societies in particular now set forth an elaborate programme of an educational and competitive character, infinitely in advance of the time-honoured processes of keeping terms which had prevailed among them. And in our profession the change is hardly less real and important, though circumstances have prevented its forming so visible an innovation. There is scarcely one Of the multitudinous corporations whose privilege it is to recruit the society of modern Asclepiadae, which has not within the last year altered, re-modelled, or improved its mode of examination, and put in its claim to general approbation by a more efficient test, and more complete protection afforded to the public against the ignorance and misdemeanours of uninstructed and discreditable licentiates. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.