country where the population is sparse, a single physician is all that can ordinarily be supported, in a widely-extended district.

It results, especially in cases of sudden and dangerous emergency, that the greatest delay and difficulty are experienced in securing timely medical aid and attendance. In the city, on the contrary, physicians and surgeons of all grades, are ever at hand, because, in cities alone, can they, in such numbers, be supported and encouraged. None can fail at once to see the singular superiority, in this respect, of the city over the country.

But, sir, I will pursue the subject no farther. I will not even claim the privilege, so freely accorded to others, that of calling to my aid the sweet voice of song. Rather let my arguments, whether worthy or worthless, stand all alone; unaffected by the magic influence of metre, the felicities of rhyme, or the airy forms of imagination.

I will only remind you, in conclusion, that the question should be decided on general grounds; that the respective claims of town and country are to be made upon those who are in a condition to choose, without the bias or necessity resulting from particular aims or personal and peculiar habits or infirmities.

And, judging in this, the only fair and philosophical manner, I claim for the city-that splendid result of human progress-that glorious achievement of associated labor and enterprise-that spacious field for the exercise of Christian virtues-that noble encourager of the arts and sciences-that matchless medium of trade and commerce-that wondrous combination of

comfort and convenience-that incomparable nursery of the suavities and amenities of life, a true and triumphant decision in our favor.

SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT.*

Gentlemen, The debate, on the present occasion, though, in several respects, quite meritorious, exhibits, as it seems to me, several deficiencies deserving of notice. Some considerations, decidedly subordinate, have been injudiciously compelled to wear the aspect of weighty reasons; while arguments of real power, through some want of skill or care in directing their force, have either been kept in the back ground, or made altogether to miss their aim. Besides the end of all wise discussion,-the elicitation of truth, has not been, in my judgment, sufficiently kept in view. The spirit of the debate seems rather to have been the spirit of conquest.

I, therefore, propose, with your permission, to defer the duty of summing up and deciding, which devolves upon me, according to our rules, until the question has been more largely and liberally discussed; proposing,

* It is customary in some societies, after the debate, to leave the decision of the question to the judgment of the presiding officer. When such is the case, it is usual for him "to sum up," that is, to pass in review the principal arguments employed by the several speakers, compare them one with another, and so exhibit the grounds of his decision.

In the present instance, the President is made to defer his decision, and to take occasion, in its stead, to offer some suggestions respecting the mode of conducting a discussion. Such incidental hints or instructions a discreet presiding officer may often impart with great advantage.

for this purpose, that the debate be resumed at our next regular meeting. Meantime, allow me to occupy a few moments in venturing upon several suggestions and observations, designed, however feebly, to impart to the debates in this place a character more in harmony with the professed object of our Association, which is, you know, the moral and intellectual improvement of our own members.

I set out with this, as a prime rule of conduct in all debates,—that truth, and truth only, must be sought after, cherished and advocated; while error, whether in ourselves or in others, whatever sacrifice it may cost us, must be avoided, discarded, and condemned. This is a hard rule to work by; for such is the tenacity with which we cling to opinions and prejudices once entertained, that it is difficult to let them go, and more difficult still to confess, even by implication, that we have been wrong.

There is moreover, a certain love of victory, natural to the human heart, which finds nourishment in contests of all kinds, and which often tempts the unwary disputant "to make the worse appear the better reason,” and so secure a triumph at the expense of truth. You can not, therefore, my friends, be too cautious, too resolute, or too self-denying, in the application of this rule.

This leads me to a second precept, closely allied to the first, namely, to enter into the discussion of a question, with a mind prepared to accept truth, because it is truth; no matter who presents it, or on what side it appears. Such a preparation, however, is not to be acquired without effort. It implies a relinquishment of all disposition to take unfair advantages.

It carefully excludes the spirit of perversion; tolerates none of those countless shifts and subtleties that officiously offer their services in the defense of error and prejudice; admits what is true as readily as it denies what is false; guards the speaker against the indulgence of petty personalities; teaches him to exercise every forbearance and every courtesy, but at all hazards, through whatever clouds of words, flashes of wit, assaults of satire, or thunder of oratory, to make his way steadily into the presence of all-enchanting all-satisfying truth.

A third rule of discussion is,-to study the subject of debate well beforehand, and, in so doing, take the widest and most liberal views; determining your position only after pondering deeply both sides of the question, and carefully measuring and comparing the forces of each respectively. And when once you have chosen your position, seek to fortify it in your own minds by an orderly and apt arrangement of all your arguments; so that when you come to be put upon the defense, you may have perfectly at command the whole of your re

sources.

This being done, have in readiness for detail and specification, those weak and untenable grounds which, by previous study, you have ascertained to be among the defenses of those who take the opposite side. This will command for you the respect that ever falls to him who is found to be acquainted with his theme, besides saving you the mortification of confessing ignorance and talking at a venture.

The fourth and last rule which time here allows me to offer, is,-ever to observe the rules of order and the

courtesies of debate. "Order," it has been well said, "is Heaven's first law;" and nowhere, in the universe, is that law more indispensable than in a deliberative assembly.

Every speaker should feel himself under the strictest obligation to maintain in practice, as in precept, the rules and regulations adopted for the government and conduct of our meetings. Nor is this all. Above and beyond all the written requirements of the case, there is a certain educated refinement of manners,-a suavity of look, of word, and of act, without which all discussion savors of insolent contradiction, all debate sinks down into noisy wrangling.

He, then, who indulges much in the use of repartee, or satire, or ridicule, or whose deportment is so shaped as to wound the feelings of his opponent, thereby proves himself a practical enemy to the investigation of truth; since his conduct shuts up all the reliable avenues to conviction, turns the discussion into a contest of abusive utterances, and, instead of friendship, generates a brood of antipathies and resentments, that not only outlast the excitement of the occasion, but often go with us through all subsequent life. It is, therefore, impossible to be too strict in the observance of this last rule; for, in debating societies, as in all others, the precept of the Apostle is equally imperative, "Let all things be done DECENTLY and IN ORDER.”

I forbear, Gentlemen, further to test your patience. I have no apology to offer for thus assuming to myself the office of an adviser; unless it can be found in the well-meant, if not well-considered, endeavor to advance the common interests of our Association.