of delegates to represent this Association in the American Medical Association."

On motion the hour of ten o'clock to-morrow morning was set apart for the reading of a paper on Anatomical and Physiological Reflections of the Eye, by Dr. R. F. Michel, of Montgomery.

On motion it was ordered that the session of the Association tomorrow shall be from 10 o'clock A. M. to 3 o'clock P. M.

On motion the Association adjourned to meet again at 71⁄2 o'clock P. M., to attend the delivery of the annual oration, by Dr. Wm. H. Anderson.

EVENING SESSION.

The Association met pursuant to adjournment at 7 o'clock, and marched in a body into the hall where front seats were reserved for them. The hall was crowded with ladies and gentlemen, and a band of music added to the attractions of the occasion. At 8 o'clock the Orator, Dr. Wm. H. Anderson, of Mobile, was introduced to the audience by President Ross, and proceeded to deliver the annual oration, which will be found in its proper place.

SECOND DAY-March 22d.

The Association convened in Franklin Hall, and was called to order by Vice-President E. D. McDaniel, at half-pást 10 o'clock. The minutes of yesterday's meeting were read and approved.

A communication was received from Drs. A. P. Hall, and J. L. Collins, physicians to the City Hospital, inviting the Association to visit that institution. The invitation was accepted and 9 o'clock A. M. to-morrow fixed as the time.

A communication was received from Dr. Wm. H. Anderson, Dean of the Medical College of Alabama, inviting the Association to visit the College during their stay in the city. The invitation was accepted, and the time fixed for to-morrow morning as the members return from the City Hospital.

A communication was received from Col. Thomas H. Herndon, President of the Franklin Society, offering the members of the Association the use of the Franklin library and reading room during their stay in the city. The invitation was accepted and the thanks of the Association returned for the courtesy offered.

A communication was received from Col. Price Williams, Presi

dent of the Board of Trade, offering the members of the Association the use of the reading room of that institution during their stay in the city. The invitation was accepted and the thanks of the Association returned for the courtesy offered.

The special order for the hour was then called up, and Dr. R. F. Michel read his paper entitled Anatomical and Physiological Reflections on some parts of the Eye. It was referred to the publishing committee.

The hour of 12 o'clock having arrived the special order for that time was called up: namely, the report of the Committee on Medical Education, when Dr. J. S. Weatherly, the chairman of the committee, presented a paper on that subject.

Dr. Geo. A. Ketchum, of Mobile, inquired if he understood the gentleman to offer the paper as the report of the committee on medical education appointed at the last annual session of the Association; stating at the same time that he had been appointed a member of that committee, but had not been consulted in the preparation of the report, and was therefore not to be held responsible for any thing which it contained. Drs. J. F. Johnston, of Montgomery, and Jerome Cochran, of Mobile, also made similar statements and disclaimers. Dr. Weatherly explained that he had prepared the report without consultation with the other members of the committee; that it expressed only his own views, and the other members of the committee were in no way responsible for it; that it was not properly the report of the committee at all, but a paper prepared by him as an individual member of the Association. After these explanations the reading of the paper was allowed to proceed.

ADDRESS OF DR. WEATHERLY ON MEDICAL EDUCATION.

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Association :

In appearing before you, to-day, with the desire of making a few remarks upon the great subject of medical education, and the elevation of our profession, I feel most profoundly my utter incapacity to handle the subject in the manner demanded by its importance. I tremble upon the threshold when I think of the great minds that have been, and are still at work trying to solve the vexed problem of what is best to be done for the purpose of placing our noble science upon a proper basis in this country.

But shall we stand still because others have failed, or given up in

despair? All great movements are necessarily slow at first, and what we inaugurate to-day may not receive its finishing touch for years to come.

The world is progressing, and each successive day throws new light upon some subject that has heretofore been enveloped in doubt and uncertainty, and what may seem complicated and improbable to us of the present time will be clear and simple to those coming after us. It is therefore necessary for us to act now (for our deeds live after us,) so that our experiences and trials will not have to be gone over again, but be made to serve as beacon lights, to assist our successors over the rough places which have already been overcome by us.

For years past, the great complaint of American physicians has been, that although the science of medicine was evidently advancing, yet it was being so crowded with illiterate and incompetent men as to greatly retard its onward march toward that perfection which all good men wish to see it attain, and that if something was not done, and that quickly too, it would soon be lost in the ample folds of quackery and empiricism, whose ranks are being constantly replenished from the innumerable medical colleges, whose cheap tuition and low requirements for graduation induce men to become students of medicine who are not fitted either mentally or morally for becoming acquainted with a science second to none in importance, and more difficult than any other of being mastered in all of its various branches-a science deep-rooted and wide-spread, and affecting every one, rich and poor, more deeply interesting to humanity than any other calling, dealing both with the physical and moral man. Strange, indeed, is it that the people do not recognize the fact of its intimate relations with their welfare and happiness, and demand in tones not to be mistaken that none but men of high culture, mentally and morally, should be admitted into this priesthood, whose business it is to watch over them in the journey of life, seeing that this life which cannot be restored once that it is gone, be prolonged to its fullest extent, that the lives of themselves and their loved ones be not terminated too soon by unfortunate diagnosis or a failure to apply the right remedies at the proper time.

That the people of the United States submit more quietly to imposition from the profession than in any other country is not to be wondered at. In Europe the governments protect both the people and the profession, but here there is no help save what can be accomplished by the profession itself. In fact it has been thought by some that our grand old science, hoary with age and venerable from its antiquity, would soon be stifled by the fearful number of parasites that have been engrafted upon it-some of them almost as old as the science itself. The question comes up then, shall we abandon it to these foul exhausters of its growth and life without an effort for its rescue? For one, I say not; and I am willing to lend

my feeble support to any reasonable step looking to improvement, come from whatever source it may.

But let us be sure before we move that we are on the right road; for it is far better for us to stand still and reserve our strength than to have to retrace the steps once taken.

With the view of making an organized movement in opposition to the downward tendency of the profession in this country, some twenty-three years since, the American Medical Association was formed. It has been faithfully at work from that time to the present; and very much has been done by that body in elevating the tone of the profession all over the country, and in directing the minds of medical men to the great necessity of reform. If its many recommendations could have been carried out, I should not be occupying your time to-day. But its influence being exerted morally alone, and from the fact that the colleges have always had such large representatives in its councils, and from the almost impossibility of getting uniform action between them, (without which it is evident nothing can be done) few permanent and practical changes have been made. Every report which has been read before that Association upon the subject of medical education, teems with earnest appeals and recommendations for reform, and if nothing else has been accomplished, it has done some good in creating an unu sual desire that some action may soon be taken for placing the profession in America upon an equality with that of other countries. That it will take time no one can donbt. Society is organized upon a different basis in this country from most others. In fact, we might say that everything here is an experiment; liable to constant change, and it is to be hoped also to great improvement as we grow older and get more settled.

That the American Medical Association, composed, as it is, of members from every part of our country, moved by no other desire than the love they have for the profession of their choice, will at some future time perfect a plan which will be acceptable and approved, I have little doubt. Whether it will come through the plan so ably advocated by its late distinguished President, Dr. Baldwin, one of Alabama's much and deservedly honored sons, is yet to be seen. But come it will, I am confident, and from the efforts of that body, and in spite of the jeers and scoffs of some who delight to hurl their puny shafts at this noble American institution: noble from its grand aims and its true catholic spirit. That it will never recommend cheap medical education as a means of progress and reform I am fully convinced, and for reasons, it seems to me, that must be patent to all thinking men.

The evident effect of cheap medical education would undoubtedly be to induce a great many to enter the profession, who, as Dr. Cochran says, "study medicine as a mere trade, not as a liberal profession, and they are chiefly anxious to get a diploma, which gives

them a quasi respectable position in the world with the least possible expenditure of time and money." Men who will not have the necessary ground work, naturally or by education, without which it is utterly impossible to become scientific physicians. All cheap things are valued accordingly, and when it takes no more time, money or preparation to enter what should be a learned profession than it does one which does not absolutely require much learning, men will reason that as it will probably sound better to be called doctor than tradesman, and as it will take no more outlay (or not so much) of time and money, to acquire a profession than it will to get a trade, they will become doctors, and if they cannot succeed at legitimate medicine, they can swell the ranks of the quacks, and eke out a livelihood by imposing upon the credulity of the public, which unfortunately they soon learn is easily done. Do not understand me as undervaluing the importance of the trades. They have their legitimate position in the great fabric of society, and are just as important as the learned professions. All men, however, cannot become tradespeople or mechanics; neither would it be well for them all to become doctors.

Admitting that sufficient preparation will be demanded, and that no man who is not fully qualified will be allowed to graduate, it will not do away with the arguments of overcrowding an already overcrowded profession, thereby lowering its dignity and diminishing the emoluments which should attend it, and driving away from its folds men of intellect and energy to other callings, which do not require so many sacrifices of personal comfort, and are more remunerative. Already business men laugh at the idea of making a doctor of a boy who is considered capable of making a living at any other kind of business; and parents always, in selecting professions for their sons, take law for their boys who have the brightest intellects, reasoning that it would be foolish to send a boy of promise into a profession where small honors and smaller fees await his efforts. Consequently many of us have felt our cheeks mantle with shame at hearing a profession, at whose shrine we have sacrificed our best years, made a by-word by the people, as they pointed to men who had graduated even at our best schools, but whose ignorance was palpable to all. Under the present system of medical education, as generally adopted in the United States, we find that the ranks of legitimate medicine (not counting quacks) are more than full, and that according to the best statistics, we have about one doctor to every two hundred and fifty inhabitants who are able to pay for the services of a physician.

Now will any system, which is certain to increase the number very rapidly, be of any benefit to either the people or the profession? Will men of enlarged views and extensive preparation, be persuaded to enter a profession whose emoluments and honors are to be divided so infinitesimally? Will not many of the best men