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Read at the Fourth Stated Meeting of the Medical Jurisprudence Society, October 13, 1884.
It is my intention this evening to briefly review the advantages that would accrue to the public and the medical profession by the enactment of a law placing the control of medical practice in the hands of a state board of examiners. As is known to many of you, a person who desires to practice medicine in Germany must pass a governmental examination. The students study in universities, and take degrees, but such degrees do not confer the right to enter upon practice. The health and lives of the citizens of the empire are believed too valuable to be imperiled by the acts of ignorant physicians. Hence, although the universities themselves are under the supervision of the state, the candidate for practice must, in addition to his university examination for a degree, pass a governmental examination