In this issue appears the annual report on the examination and licensure of physicians in the United States and its territories and outlying possessions for the year 1948. The tables and the summaries show conditions at present and indicate trends over many years. During the last year, 13,551 applicants were licensed to practice, 5,967 by examination and 7,584 by endorsement of credentials.
The increment of the medical profession consisting of physicians licensed for the first time was 6,597. During the year 3,230 physicians died. The net gain to the physician population was 3,367. The registration of physicians revealed that 94.8 per cent were graduates of approved medical schools.
The percentage of failures from existing United States schools was 3.3; of graduates of unapproved schools 42.7 per cent failed; graduates of schools of osteopathy admitted to the medical licensure examinations represented 37.8 per cent failures, and 51.5 per cent of foreign-trained