1 SEPTEMBER 1883, Page 3

One of the most important of the legislative failures of

the Session is the loss of the Medical Act Amendment Bill, which might probably have been carried at last, but for the miscarriage of the business arrangements of a single night. Its object was, in Mr. Gladstone's own words, "to make the Medical profession in the three countries [England, Scotland, and Ireland] one in. standard and one in authority," by establishing a common test through which every medical practitioner must pass. This has been the object of an agitation lasting fifty years, and it was confidently hoped that the end had been reached this Ses- sion. The medical men, we see, think that thin misfortune is due to the want of Medical representatives in the House of Commons, or at least of representatives pledged to accept medical opinion on subjects interesting to the medical profession. But we earnestly trust that the mischief will not be remedied in that way. The remedy would be worse than the disease.