The solemn academical process, by which a degree of doctor of medicine is obtained; a process eluded by some venal universities, and perhaps not always conducted with sufficient strictness. It is eluded also by individuals, who call themselves doctors; and the public give them implicit credit for the title and their pretensions to it. In the university of Edinburgh the following regulations are observed: 1. No person shall be promoted to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, except on one or two stated days in every year, viz. on the 24th of June, or 12th of September, or the days immediately thereafter.

2. No person shall be received as a candidate, until he has applied during three complete years to the study of medicine, in this or some other university, and has attended to all the branches of the science of medicine; viz. anatomy and surgery, chemistry, botany, materia medica, and pharmacy, theory and practice of medicine, and clinical lectures delivered by professors of medicine, on hospital patients.

3. Whoever is desirous of obtaining a degree, must deliver, before the 24th of March, or 12th of Juner a medical dissertation, composed by himself, to some one of the medical professors, that he may peruse it. if necessary correct it, and affix to it a written testimony that he has perused it, with the date when he received it.

4. Then, whoever is desirous of a degree in medicine must communicate his intention to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, on or before the 20th of April or June, and at the same time deliver to him his inaugural dissertation, with the testimony of the professor who perused it, to be subjected to the consideration of the Faculty of Medicine.

5. After this he is to undergo a medical examination by the faculty, either viva voce or in writing, that no person may be received as a candidate who is not well acquainted with polite literature and the science of medicine. As the professors think themselves bound in honour not to divulge the unfavourable result of an examination, a candidate may be remitted to his studies in this stage of his trials, without injury to his reputation or interest.

6. On the 18th of May, or 6th of August, the candidate shall, in an examination by two professors, in the presence of the Faculty of Medicine, give a farther proof of his advancement in the various branches of medical knowledge enumerated above.

7. To the candidate, after having passed these trials, shall be proposed, by one of the professors, an aphorism of Hippocratee, and, at the same time, by another professor, a medical question; the former of which, explained by himself, and illustrated by a commentary, and the latter, along with an answer to it, supported by-proper arguments, he shall return to the professors, by whom they were proposed on the 28th of May, or 11th of August, and shall defend his commentary, and answer, before the Faculty of Medicine, on the 30th of May, or 18th of August.

8. If, by having duly fulfilled these conditions, the candidate shall deserve to be promoted, he shall receive from two of the professors, two histories of diseases, with questions annexed to them, for the purpose of writing an illustration of the one, and answers to the others. These histories, with the illustrations and answers, he shall deliver on the 12th of June, or 1st of September, to the professor who proposed them, and defend them before the Faculty of Medicine on the 15th of June, or 3d of September.

9. After the candidate has been approved of at his first examination, on the 18th of May, or 6th of August, he shall be permitted to send his dissertation to the press, and shall deliver eight copies, accurately printed, to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, on the 15th of June, or 3d of September.

10. If the candidate, after having printed his dissertation, shall be approved of by the Medical Faculty at his third examination, all these proceedings shall be reported to the Senatus Academicus, by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, with whose approbation and authority he shall be ordered to publish his dissertation, and defend it in a meeting of the university, on the 24th of June, or 12th of September; when, if the Senatus shall think fit, the highest medical honours, that is, the degree of Doctor in Medicine, shall be conferred on him, with the usual solemnities, as the reward of his diligence and study.

11. To give greater solemnity to all these proceedings, the Faculty of Medicine shall always meet within the university on each of the above mentioned days, at nine in the morning. And if any candidate shall absent himself at the hour appointed, without sufficient reason, he shall not be permitted, on this occasion, to proceed with his trials, or obtain the degree of Doctor in Medicine.

It is required that all the abovementioned exercises shall be performed in the Latin tongue.

The regulations enacted by the Senate of the University of Glasgow, respecting degrees in medicine, are the following:

1. That before any person can be allowed to be a candidate for a degree in medicine, in this university, he shall appear personally before the senate,.and lay before them evidence that, during the space of three years, or sessions of six months each, he has regularly attended in some university or universities, or in some medical school or schools of reputation, the following medical classes, viz. anatomy and surgery, chemistry and pharmacy, the theory and the practice of physic, materia medica, and botany.

2. That he shall bring forward evidence that, during one year at least, he has attended medical classes in this university.

3. That the candidate shall undergo three separate examinations in private, by the medical professors of the university, and write a commentary on an aphorism of Hippocrates, and another on a case of disease propounded to him by the said examiners. The first examination shall be on anatomy and physiology; the second on the theory and practice of physic; and the third on chemistry, materia medica, pharmacy, and botany.

4. That the examiners shall report to the senate their opinion respecting the medical knowledge of the candidate; and if their report be favourable, his name, as a candidate for a degree, shall be entered in the minutes of the senate, and a day fixed, when the candidate shall read his commentaries on the aphorism and case, and answer such questions on the several branches of medical science, as shall be put to him by the examiners, in presence of the senate. If the senate be of opinion that the candidate has shown himself worthy of a degree, it shall be conferred, in presence of the senate, by the vice-chancellor, provided the candidate has not published a thesis, which he may, or may not do, according to his own option; but if he has published a thesis, he must defend it, and the degree must be conferred in the comitia.

5. The whole of the examinations shall be carried on. and the commentaries on the aphorism and case must be written in the Latin language.