§ LORD DUDLEY STUARTsaid, he wished to ask the noble Lord the Home Secretary, whether it was the intention of the Government to introduce a Bill during this Session of Parliament for the better regulation of the laws relating to the profession of physic and surgery; whether it 1092 was the intention of Her Majesty's Government to introduce a Bill empowering Her Majesty to grant a new charter of incorporation to the Royal College of Physicians of London; whether, in conformity with the Pharmacy Act, there had been submitted for approval to the Home Secretary by-laws for the regulation of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and whether those by-laws had been approved of; whether there had been forwarded to the Home Secretary the opinion of counsel declaring those by-laws to be illegal and unjust, and contrary to the spirit and intention of the Pharmacy Act of the last Parliament?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid, in answer to the first question of his noble Friend, he had to observe that the present condition of the medical profession in this country was one that required considerable regulation and amendment. It was, in fact, a labyrinth and a chaos, owing to the many different sources whence degrees and licences to practise in the different branches of the profession arose. The question was very complicated, and he certainly had no hopes of being able to bring forward a measure which would embrace the whole subject this year. With regard to granting a new charter to the College of Physicians, he hoped to be able to bring in a Bill in the course of the present Session which should either enable that body to work efficiently, or which should incorporate the charter which was required to be granted. With respect to the Pharmaceutical Society, he had had a code of by-laws submitted to him, which was now under consideration. There were persons who objected to that code, and those persons had sent to him a legal opinion on the subject—in fact, the opinion mentioned by his noble Friend. But it should be remembered that that opinion was founded upon a case stated by those who objected to the by-laws, and the House must, of course, make some allowance in consideration of that circumstance. He would, however, endeavour to ascertain from an impartial authority whether there was any good foundation for these by-laws or not.