Surgeons, COLLEGE OF. The present 'Royal College of Surgeons of England' dates its origin from 1460-61, when Edward IV. 'did, at the supplication of the freemen of the mystery of barbers of the city of London using the mystery or faculty of Surgery, grant to them that the said mystery, and all the men of the same mystery of the said city, should be one body and perpetual community.' An act of 1511 prohibits any one from practising as physician or surgeon unless duly examined and admitted. Hence arose a company called the Surgeons of London. In 1540 the Company of Barbers of London and the Company of Surgeons of London were united; it was not till 1745 till the surgeons of London were by act of parliament separated from the barbers of London, and made a distinct corporation under the name of 'the Master, Governors, and Commonalty of the Art and Science of Surgery of London.' This company was dissolved, and in 1800 replaced by 'the Royal College of Surgeons of London.' A new charter granted in 1843 to the Royal College of Surgeons of England gave power to the council to elect not less than 250, nor more than 300, members of the college to be Fellows. By an addition to the charter, obtained in 1852, power was given to the council, subject to certain regulations, to appoint members of fifteen years' standing to the fellowship without examination. The college was likewise empowered to test the fitness of persons to practise midwifery and to grant certificates; in 1859 it was similarly authorised to grant certificates to dentists; finally, in 1888 certain additional powers were conferred, but the duty of examining in midwifery was withdrawn.
The government of the college is vested in a Council of twenty-four persons, including one president and two vice-presidents; and none but Fellows are eligible. There is a Board and a Court of Examiners for the fellowship, and examining boards for the membership. There are pro- fessorships of comparative anatomy and physiology, of surgery and pathology, and of dermatology, besides lectureships. A Hunterian Orator is appointed every second year. The museum of the College of Surgeons is incomparably the finest museum of its kind in the United Kingdom. The Hunterian Collection (see HUNTER, JOHN), which forms its basis, was purchased by a parliamentary vote of £15,000, and presented to the college in 1799. The original edifice in Lincoln's Inn Fields (the germ of the present pile of buildings) was completed in 1813. See the Calendar of the college.
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH obtained their first charter in 1505, and had it confirmed by James IV. next year. For a century and a half the members of the craft were sole teachers and almost sole professors of the surgical art in Edinburgh. In 1694 they obtained from the town-council a grant of the bodies of convicts and foundling infants; in 1705 the professorship of anatomy was founded; about the same date botany, chemistry, and physic were taught; in 1726 the teachers of theory of physic, practice of physic, and chemistry in the college were constituted professors of medicine, and from this time the constitution of the medical school in the university dates; and in 1778 this college became a royal college. The present building, dating from 1832, possesses a fine museum. The college grants the diplomas of Fellow, Licentiate, Licentiate in Dental Surgery, and a diploma in public health; about 300 diplomas are granted annually.—The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland was incorporated in 1786; see history by Cameron (1886).