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licentiates again to apply to the Court of King's Bench for redress, under the chief justiceship of lord Kenyon.
Lord Kenyon assented to lord Mansfield's opinion as to the eligibility of the licentiates in general, according to the original acts; but decided against the present licentiates on the ground that by the new by-laws, made in consequence of lord Mansfield's recommendation, they could have no difficulty in gaining admission to the fellowship by the recommendation either of the president or some of the fellows.
It is important to observe, that during the period between lord Mansfield's and lord Kenyon's decisions, the positive number of the licentiates had been much increased; and the proportional number much more increased; and among them were many individuals distinguished, not only by their eminence in medicine and its allied sciences, but also in classical and general literature (as indeed lord Mansfield had acknowledged to be the case in his own time); in proof of the truth of which assertion, it will be sufficient to mention the names of Wm. Hunter, Percival, Parry, Currie, Jenner, Woodville; to which many more might be added[1].
- ↑ It is worth noticing the relative proportions of the licentiates and fellows at two distant periods. In the year 1797 the number of the fellows was only 48, while that of the licentiates was 105. In the year 1677, i. e. about a century and a half after the foundation of the College, and also about a century and a half from the present time, the number of fellows was 65; of licentiates, only 10, who, doubtless, practised as Aurists, &c.
