Reports of Delegates to Other Societies.

REPORT OF DELEGATION TO AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

The undersigned, two of your delegates to the American Medical Association, respectfully report, that they attended the meeting of that body, held in the city of Washington, D. C., on the 5th of May, instant, and the three following days.

Your delegates were joined during the sessions by Drs. Cattell and Elmer, Jr., of Cumberland; Dr. Sickler, of Gloucester; Drs. Cramer and Studdiford, of Hunterdon; Dr. Vail, of Sussex; Dr. G. Grant, of the Newark Medical Association; Dr. E. M. Hunt, permanent member, and Dr. J. H. Clark, of Newark, corresponding member.

We were cordially and kindly received by the Committee of Arrangements, and treated with the utmost courtesy by the members generally.

The meeting was opened (after prayer) by the President Dr. Gross, of Pennsylvania, taking the chair-and an eloquent address of welcome by Dr. Grafton Tyler, Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements.

About three hundred and fifty delegates and permanent members reported their names as members of the Association.

The address of the President was an able production, touching on many subjects of interest to the profession, and on some not directly connected with it. Amongst those touched was the subject of trained nurses for hospitals, and in large cities and towns.

The appointment of a Commissioner to each judicial district in the country, to assist the courts and witnesses in cases involving

medical and scientific subjects, was ably and fully discussed in the address, and a committee appointed to take measures to carry into effect the suggestions made.

The rank, etc., of the Surgeons in the Navy-the subject of prize essays an eloquent and impressive tribute to the departed members of the Association-the good already accomplished by the Association, and the expression of the high hope and sanguine expectations for its future, and that of this great, Republic, were prominent subjects of this address. The establishment of veterinary colleges was urged upon the Association.

Your delegates, while they fully approve of the proposed object, do not think it a proper subject to engage the attention of the medical profession, believing that the health of the human race, the prevention and cure of the diseases to which they are liable, with the multifarious subjects relating to them, are sufficient to engage the close and unwearied attention of the profession, leaving the diseases of lower animals to a class of men especially trained for that purpose, and having no direct connection with us professionally.

The usual reports were received from the Standing and Special Committees and properly referred, but the limits of this report forbid more than a passing notice. That of the Committee on Ethics called forth a spirited and interesting debate. It was on the subject of consultations with female physicians. This matter has agitated the profession in several localities with various results. An effort was made to commit the Association to a recognition of the Female Medical Colleges and their graduates, but signally failed-the whole matter being laid on the table, and the subject left to the discretion of the profession individually under the code of ethics, making it disreputable to hold converse with any irregular practitioner.

The meetings of the several sections, before which the scientific and other papers were read and discussed, formed a most interesting feature of the business of the Association. It is impossible to

go into detail relative to these meetings or the subjects brought before them; this is the less to be regretted as the entire proceedings will soon be laid before the profession, and placed within the reach of all who may be sufficiently interested in them to peruse them.

Your Society received its full share of the honors of the Assocition. Dr. Lilly was placed on the Committee on Nominations. This Committee reported New Orleans as the place for the next meeting. Dr. W. O. Baldwin, of Alabama, was nominated and elected President for the next year. Dr. R. M. Cooper was placed on the Committee on Publication; Dr. S. H. Pennington on that of Medical Education; Dr. E. M. Hunt on Climatology, and Dr. John Blane on that of Necrology. All the above are Fellows and honored members of this Society.

The Association was entertained by invitation by the President of the United States; Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Hon. E. B. Morgan, Senator from New York; Hon. S. P. Chase, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Hon. R. Wallach, Mayor of the city of Washington. They also visited, by special invitation of the Surgeon General of the United States Army, the Army Medical Museum.

The pathological and historical specimens there deposited, and rapidly accumulating, are amongst the finest and most interesting in the world, and would richly repay any one for the trouble of a visit. The microscopical exhibition in the lower hall of the Museum, conducted by Dr. J. J. Woodward, of the United States Army, was one of the finest ever witnessed in the United States. The normal and morbid specimens, which had been photographed microscopically, were thrown on canvas by means of the Camera Lucida, and were most brilliant, and elicited the enthusiastic applause of the assembled delegates.

The incoming President, Dr. Wm. O. Baldwin, of Montgomery, Alabama, was introduced to the Association, and made an eloquent and touching address. As a synopsis of its contents would be im

practicable, we will, with your consent, read some portions in your hearing, to show to this Society the feelings entertained by our professional brethren of the South toward us of the North and West.

After the business of the Association was finished, a suitable finale was given in a short address by Prof. Gross, the outgoing President, from which we cannot resist making the following extracts, as fully descriptive of the sentiments and actions of the members present:

"I congratulate you upon the manner in which you have conducted your proceedings. It is questionable whether there ever was a deliberative body of such magnitude in which there was so little discord, or so little said and done of an objectionable character. Harmony, cordial and complete, prevailed from the beginning to the end. There was, indeed, not one word uttered that any one, even the most fastidious, might wish to recall; a circumstance the more surprising when it is recollected that men in the heat of debate often give way to heedless and unguarded expressions calculated to ruffle the feelings, and to engender unpleasant reminis

cences.

"We have accomplished not a little work, and, above all, we have had an opportunity of reviving friendly feeling, of extending our acquaintance with each other, and of interchanging sentiments in regard to matters of vital importance to our beloved profession. I am sure that every one will say, as he leaves this hall, that it was good for him to have been here, and that he will return to his home with new resolves, and determined to devote himself more earnestly than ever to the advancement of the glory of this noble calling; that he will strive more than ever to elucidate its great principles, and that, abandoning all other pursuits, he will worship medicine as the only goddess of his idolatry."

After the proceedings of the Association were concluded, an excursion was made to Mount Vernon by the members, but as your delegates were unable to participate, we can only speak of it

from the report in the public papers, which represent it as one of the most agreeable incidents of the occasion.

In making this report, we have availed ourselves freely of the published materials at our command-especially are we indebted to the very full account contained in the Medical and Surgical Reporter, of Philadelphia.

Respectfully submitted,

5

SAMUEL LILLY,

T. J. THOMASON.