perhaps have been any even of his
original observations, since the mind of his generation was not ready
as yet to be influenced by discoveries made by contemporaries.

The best proof of Linacre's great practical interest in medicine is
his realization of the need for the Royal College of Physicians and
his arrangements for it.

The Roll of the College, which comprises biographical sketches of all
the eminent physicians whose names are recorded in the annals from the
foundation of the College in 1518, and is published under the
authority of the College itself, contains the best tribute to
Linacre's work that can possibly be paid. It says: "The most
magnificent of Linacre's labors was the design of the Royal College of
Physicians of London--a standing monument of the enlightened views
and generosity of its projectors. In the execution of it Linacre stood
alone, for the munificence of the Crown was limited to a grant of
letters patent; whilst the expenses and provision of the College was
left to be defrayed out of his own means, or of those who were
associated with him in its foundation." "In the year 1518," says Dr.
Johnson, [Footnote 8] "when Linacre's scheme was carried into effect,
the practice of medicine was scarcely elevated above that of the
mechanical arts, nor was the majority of its practitioners {99} among
the laity better instructed than the mechanics by whom these arts were
exercised. With the diffusion of learning to the republics and states
of Italy, establishments solely for the advancement of science had
been formed with success; but no society devoted to the interests of
learning yet existed in England, unfettered by a union with the
hierarchy, or exempted from the rigors and seclusions which were
imposed upon its members as the necessary obligation of a monastic and
religious life. In reflecting on the advantages which had been derived
from these institutions, Linacre did not forget the impossibility of
adapting rules and regulations which accorded with the state of
society in the Middle Ages to the improved state of learning in his
own, and his plans were avowedly modelled on some similar community of
which many cities of Italy afforded rather striking examples."

[Footnote 8: _Life of Linacre_, London, 1835.]

Some idea of the state into which the practice of medicine had fallen
in England before Linacre's foundation of the Royal College of
Physicians may be gathered from the words of the charte