A Qualification to practise in Medicine or Surgery may be conferred by the licence or diploma of a College of Physicians or Surgeons; but a degree can be obtained only at a University. A degree in Medicine or the degree of Master in Surgery is a legal qualification to practise; and the degrees in Medicine and Surgery at Cambridge give the right to practise in every branch of the profession in any part of the United Kingdom.

Degrees in Medicine–Bachelor and Doctor– have long been given in the University. The degree of Bachelor of Medicine confers the right to practise medicine; and it confers in the University many of the privileges of the M.A. degree, but not a vote in the Senate. This last and certain other privileges are acquired with the Doctor's degree. The title of “Doctor” is often, by courtesy, accorded to the Bachelor of Medicine, but, by right, belongs only to one who has taken the Doctor's degree.

The degree of Master in SurgeryY has been instituted by the recent statutes of the University. It is also now given in the Universities of London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Glasgow. A licence to practise in surgery was in former times granted by this University, and a statute for the purpose existed till lately; but it had become quite obsolete.