14 MARCH 1931, Page 16

RECOGNITION OF OSTEOPATHS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Stn,—I

have read your note on this subject as also the letter from a General Practitioner of Medicine and your footnote thereto. Surely the answer to the " G. P." is that a duly qualified osteopath has to go through as long training as has the " G. P." Was not this question thoroughly thrashed out in the Spectator three or four years ago ?

Do you seriously advise the public that if it chooses a regularly qualified doctor it has a guarantee of competence and respectability ? Experience of about half a century has taught me that a degree whether in Medicine, in Law, or in Theology carries no such guarantee. If one wishes that he must not limit enquiry to the possession of a degree. By this time all the world should surely know that possession of a degree does not necessarily mean more than that the holder has worried through a certain number of examinations, a feat that anyone should be able to perform.—I am, Sir, &c.,

DAVID W. MARWICH, Lavender Cottage, Rowledge, Farnham, Surrey.