General Assembly enacts legislation establishing a licensing board. Seven physicians are elected by the Medical Society to constitute the first Board of Medical Examiners.

Characteristics of the first Medical Practice Act:

• A medical degree was not required for a license.
• A license cost $10.
• Those who were practicing medicine before passage of the act in 1859 were exempt from its provisions.
• The Board could rescind a license upon proof that a physician had committed gross immoral conduct.
• Board members were paid $4 a day for Board service, plus travel costs to and from Raleigh.