The Editors have received the following Letters, which will have a place in their future numbers, as the limits of their work will permit. 1. A Letter to the Right Hon. Lord Ellenborough, on the Charter of the College of Physicians, as founded on principles inconsistent with those of the Revolution of 1688, and the Coronation Oath of his Majesty to maintain them. 2. A Letter to Dr. E. Harrison, on his Principles of Medical Reform. 3. A Letter to the Chancellors of the Scots Universities, on their Rights and Privileges. 4. A Letter to the East and West Members of Parliament, on the Charter of the College, as against their particular interest. 5. A Letter to the President and Censors of the College, on that part of their Charter which respects the Examination of Apothecaries Shops, the necessity of the measure, and the duty they owe the public for its conscientious, complete, and regular performance. 6. A Letter on the State of the Madhouses of the Metropolis, the duties of the College in regularly inspecting them, and the necessity for a Public Report on the subject. 7. An Address to the Apothecaries of the Metropolis, and seven miles round, on the propriety and interference of the College of Physicians, in respect to the late conviction of some individuals of their body in penalties, by the Commissioners of Stamps, for the sale of forms of Medicine, directed by the College Pharmacopeia, and prepared and ordered to be sold under their authority, enforced by the Royal Prerogative. The writer of this article having, in the last number of the Observer, stated the hardship of his case, under the title of ChiroMedicus, wishes, by this address, to call a meeting of his brethren, in order to apply to the College, as under their jurisdiction, for sup port and indemnification, in having only acted in conformity to the prescriptions of the Pharmacopoeia, by which it will be ascertained whether these prescriptions are the property of the College, or of the Quacks who obtain patents for them, according to the opinion of the Commissioners of Stamps. If they belong to the Quacks, then the Apothecaries have a right to bring an action against the College for indemnification; and if not, they have an equal claim for support from the College, by acting in conformity to their orders. 8. A Letter to Sir James Earle, on the Right of Surgeons to write Prescriptions, without being subject to the jurisdiction of the College, and of the example set by him in opposition to the College. In order to make room for the insertion of Dr. Maclean's letter on the Monopoly of the College, &c. the Editors were under the necessity of omitting their observations on Godbold's medicine; copies of Spilsbury's specification, and many valuable communications announced in letters. They shall certainly appear in the next number, which will be published on the 1st of January. The spirited letter of Honestus, on the singular opinion of the Solici tor of the Stamp Office, respecting medicines subject to duty, with observations on the stratagems of the commissioned Informers, shall appear in our next. The favour of ARETEUS CAPPADOx, on the injurious consequences, to the army, to the faculty, and to the public, of the mal-organisation of the Army Medical Board, and of the extraordinary conduct of the persons who compose it, is received, and shall be duly attended to. The pressure of matter obliges us reluctantly to defer its insertion till our next number. William Savage, Printer, TO THE FOURTH NUMBER. THE Editors of the Medical Observer avail themselves of this opportunity to acknowledge, with gratitude, the distinguished reception with which their preceding numbers have been honoured by the Public. They have exceedingly to regret that, under such flattering encouragement, it has not hitherto been in their power to keep pace with their inclinations by bringing out the successive numbers of their work at regular monthly periods. A change, however, having taken place in the proprietorship, and new arrangements having been formed, they are now enabled confidently to promise, that in future the numbers of The Medical Observer and Popular Physical Journal will appear monthly, and on the first of every month. It is also proposed to make some small alteration in the plan of the work, which will tend to render it more miscellaneous and amusing, as well as more useful and instructive. Instead of being, as at first intended, almost exclusively devoted to the exposition of the frauds of common empirics, a considerable portion of it will henceforth be allotted to the detection of the still more delusive and injurious impositions of regular quackery-i, e. the fallacious and misleading doctrines of men regularly educated, and avowing pretensions to science. This opens a large field for of all the books on medical subjects, which have, in modern days, appeared in this country, very few can be said to have had a fair trial before the tribunal of criticism, being usually praised or censured en masse, as ignorance, prejudice or partiality, the necessities of an author, or the venality of a bookseller, may have chanced to direct. In the discharge of this part of their duty, therefore, besides the current publications of the day, it will fall to the lot of the Editors to review many books which have unfortunately already made their way, with some degree of success, into the world. This duty it shall be their endeavour to perform with the most scrupulous impartiality: and while erroneous doctrines, supported by professorial or corporate influence, will, for that very reason, meet with the utmost severity of animadversion, they will feel a particular pleasure in treating with lenity, forbearance, and even encouragement, the efforts of aspiring, but unsupported genius, when, from zeal or precipitation, it has unwarily fallen into error. On the fidelity with which they shall perform this promise, they rest, in this department, their claim to public favour. A certain portion of each number will also be devoted to medical intelligence, discoveries, and in general every incident or occurrence deemed worthy of notice, which relate to the profession or its cultivators, as well in this as in other nations: the whole forming an independent and popular compendium of medical transactions, such as has not been hitherto attempted in this country. ON THE MONOPOLY OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, CONSIDERED IN ITS EFFÈCTS, AS ÍT REPRESSES GENIUS, RETARDS MEDICAL IMPROVEMENT, FOSTERS QUACKERY, AND IS INJURIOUS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH. Eheu! Quid refert, morbo, an furtis, percamve rapinis? Gentlemen, HOR. Monopolies of every kind, however in their origin they may be occasionally useful, invariably become in the result of their progress injurious to society. If they have not, in their outset, they speedily acquire, an interest distinct |