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Texas Day by Day

December 14, 1837


Republic licenses doctors

On this day in 1837, the Congress of the Republic of Texas established the Board of Medical Censors, a forerunner of the Board of Medical Examiners, for the purpose of granting licenses to practice medicine and surgery in the republic. The law required that the board be composed of one physician from each senatorial district and that the members be graduates of medicine and surgery from authorized colleges and universities. A twenty-dollar fee was collected from those who passed an examination. Without a license, physicians could not collect unpaid fees in court. The first board included among its members Ashbel Smith, A. C. Hoxey, George W. Hill, J. B. P. January, R. A. Irion, Thomas Anderson, and A. M. Levy. The board was scheduled to meet once each year, but difficulty of transportation over long distances and Indian attacks frequently prevented annual meetings. The board was discontinued by a state legislative act in 1848.

Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
BOARD OF MEDICAL CENSORS
SMITH, ASHBEL
HOXEY, ASA
HILL, GEORGE WASHINGTON
JANUARY, JAMES BELVARDE POPE
HEALTH AND MEDICINE

Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
League formed to help Mexican-American children (1934)
Leonard Brothers opens in Fort Worth (1918)
Founder of Negro Fine Arts School dies (1978)


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