It would be more interesting than profitable to trace the history of these terms, and of the professions of medicine and surgery from the early times, when the clergy administered healing to the body as well as to the soul, and when barbers were generally surgeons, and blood-letting by the knife-blade and the use of leeches caused the common application of the term “leech” to those who practised surgery. _Definition._—For the purposes of this treatise, however, it will be sufficient to define the term “physician,” as meaning any one who professes to have the qualifications required by law to practise the administration of drugs and medicines, and the term “surgeon,” as meaning any one who professes to have the like qualifications to perform surgical operations, for the cure of the sick or injured. For a list of the early statutes of England relating to the practice of medicine the reader may consult Ordronaux’ “Jurisprudence of Medicine,” p. 5, note 2. The present statutory regulations throughout the United States and in England and Canada will be more particularly referred to and synopsized hereafter in this volume. CHAPTER II. ACQUIREMENT OF LEGAL RIGHT TO PRACTISE MEDICINE AND SURGERY. _Now Generally Regulated by Statute._—In nearly all of the United States, as well as in England, France, Germany, and other civilized and intelligent communities, the legal right to practise the administration of drugs and medicines, or to perform operations in surgery for the purpose of curing diseases or injuries, has for many years been the object of statutory legislation. The necessity and propriety of regulating by law such practices is generally conceded. It is manifest to all that a person engaging in the practice of medicine or surgery as a profession is holding himself out to the world, and especially to his patients, as one qualified by education and experience to possess more than ordinary skill and ability to deal with the great problems of health and life. He professes to the world that he is competent and qualified to enter into the closest and most confidential relations with the sick and afflicted, and that he is a fit and proper person to be permitted freely, and at all hours and all seasons, to enter the homes, the family circle, and the private chamber of persons suffering from disease or injury. All this he professes and does upon his own account, and for his own profit.