On motion, the Association adjourned, to meet at the Presbyterian Church, at half-past seven, to hear the Annual Oration, by Dr. J. S. Weatherly. Also, to meet at ten o'clock to-morrow, for business.

EVENING SESSION.

The Association met, pursuant to adjournment, at the Presbyterian Church, at seven and a half o'clock. Front seats were reserved for the members, and the body of the church was filled with ladies and gentlemen.

At eight o'clock, the Orator, Dr. J. S. Weatherly, was introduced to the audience by President Osborn, and proceeded to deliver the Annual Oration, which will be found in its proper place.

SECOND DAY - WEDNESDAY, March 27.

The Association met at fifteen minutes past ten o'clock, and was called to order by the President, Dr. T. C. Osborn.

The minutes of the first day's meeting were read and approved. A communication from Dr. G. M. McDowell, President of the Georgia Medical Association, was read, accrediting Dr. Wm. Abram Love, of Atlanta, as a visiting delegate to the Alabama State Medical Association. On motion, a committee, consisting of Drs. E. P. Gaines, H. W. Bassett, and John Little, Jr., was appointed to receive Dr. Love and introduce him to the Association. On his presentation he was welcomed by the President in a cordial manner, and invited to a seat on the floor.

Before taking his seat, Dr. Love expressed his obligations for the courtesy which had been extended to him, and hoped that truly fraternal relations might be established and maintained between the Associations of the two States.

The following resolutions from the Association of Superintendents of Insane Asylums were read and approved:

Resolved, That in view of the frequency of mental disorders among all classes and descriptions of people, and in recognition of the fact that the first care of nearly all these cases necessarily devolves upon physicians

engaged in general practice, and this at a period when sound views of the disease and judicious modes of treatment are specially important-it is the unanimous opinion of this Association that in every school conferring medical degrees there should be delivered, by competent professors, a complete course of lectures on insanity and on medical jurisprudence, as connected with disorders of the mind.

Resolved, That these courses of lectures should be delivered before all the students attending these schools, and that no one should be allowed to graduate without as thorough an examination on these subjects as on the other branches taught in the schools.

Resolved, That in connection with these lectures, whenever practicable, there should be clinical instruction, so arranged that, while giving the student practical illustrations of the different forms of insanity and the effects of treatment, should in no way be detrimental to the patient.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent by the Secretary to the American Medical Association, the Dominion Association and Ontario Association of Canada, to each State Medical Society, and each Medical College in the United States and British Provinces.

Extract from the minutes.

JOHN CURWEN, Secretary of Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane.

The Secretary presented several accounts, which were ordered to be paid.

Dr. G. E. Kumpé, Chairman of the Committee on Dr. Cochran's plan of constitution, submitted his report, as follows:

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PROPOSED NEW CONSTITUTION.

Mr. President-As Chairman of the committee appointed at the last session of this Association, to take into consideration and report upon a plan of organization of this Association," proposed by Jerome Cochran, M. D., of Mobile, I addressed, about the beginning of January last, notes to the gentlemen composing said committee, requesting them to examine the subject and forward to me their opinions, that I might be prepared to embody them into a report, provided we did not meet in person to confer upon the matter.

In due time I received replies from all the members of the committee, Drs. Johnson, Mason and Webb expressing themselves adverse to the adoption of the new constitution, upon the ground of its being too complicated, and for the further reason that the present constitution, under which this Association had obtained to its present prosperity, was suffiient for the future.

Dr. G. A. Moses signified his entire willingness to adopt the new constitution as a whole.

As neither of the above gentlemen are here at this meeting of the Association, and I have thus been denied the pleasure of a personal conference in reference to the new constitution, it remains for me to state that after carefully and repeatedly examining into its provisions, I cannot agree with Drs. Johnson, Mason and Webb, that it is too complicated; nor can I believe, with them, that this organization, under the present constitution, will ever remedy the evils which all complain of, and which so materially prevent the medical profession of this State from attaining that degree of prosperity and respectability to which it is justly entitled, namely, the admitting of incompetent persons into the ranks of

the profession. There is nothing in the present constitution which has any reference to that evil, and while I would recommend that the consideration of the new constitution as a whole be deferred to some future time, I deem it highly probable that the consideration and discussion of section five, on "Counsellors," and of section seven, article twenty-five, and section twelve, on "Censors," might make the importance and value of those articles much better understood.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

G. E. KUMPÉ, Chairman.

A protracted discussion followed the reading of this report, and several ineffectual motions were made in reference to it. It was finally ordered, on motion of Dr. Ketchum, to defer the further consideration of the whole subject to the morning of the second day of the next annual meeting.

On motion of Dr. Means, Dr. Love was granted the floor to preIsent to the Association the claims of the Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal to the support of the Southern medical profession, and the Secretary was directed to furnish Dr. Love the minutes of the Association for publication in said journal.

Dr. Berger called the attention of the Association to the system prevalent in many portions of the country, of making contracts for doing the practice of plantations by the year, and asked the views of members as to the ethical propriety of the practice. This gave rise to a long discussion.

Dr. Osborn stated that, under circumstances formerly existing he had always been opposed to contracts, was, indeed, still opposed to them, and for himself had persistently refused to make such contracts. But at the present time there was, in his opinion, many circumstances which would tend, to some extent, to excuse the practice; and he was disposed to regard it with more leniency than formerly. It was, no doubt, an evil, but it had been tolerated to avoid an evil still greater. In the counties where large numbers of negroes were employed to work the farms, it was necessary to adopt some method to secure compensation for medical services rendered to this class of persons, and it was under this pressure that the contract system had come into use.

Dr. Sadler contended that the profession should stand firmly by their Code; that it was not only their duty, but their interest to do so; that the landlord or planter has as much right to claim that the physician should feed his stock, or keep his wagons and plows in repair, and take the chances of getting his pay after the landlord's liens were settled, as to expect that the medical attendant should

keep his employés in a condition of physical and physiological repair, and take the same chances for remuneration. The landlords are protected by liens, which have been refused to the profession, and the only hope that remains for the profession is to unite for the protection of themselves. If they will do this, and act in concert, the planters will find it to their interest to keep their laborers in repair as well as their implements; and though they may kick against it at first, they will in the end consult their own interest, and become responsible to the physician for his fees. Such a course of policy had been pursued by the North Alabama Medical Society, and although there was some trouble at first, the firmness of the profession had forced the landlords to respect their rights, and to guarantee the payment of their bills for services rendered to their employés.

Dr. Weatherly presented the Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association, and contended strenuously for its enforcement. Dr. Jackson agreed with Dr. Weatherly, and thought the contract system a very great abuse. He offered the following resolution:

That it is not in accordance with the Ethics of the American Medical Association, which have been adopted also by this Association, to contract either with negroes or whites for professional services.

Dr. Jerome Cochran thought the question one of very great importance, and begged the Association not to act upon it in any hasty and unadvised manner. The practice, whether right or wrong, was deeply rooted and widely diffused in the rich cotton. growing counties. He doubted if it was the best solution possible of securing compensation for medical services, even under the peculiar circumstances of the case, and he hoped that some other and more satisfactory solution of the difficulty would be reached. While he did not think the practice beyond all ethical criticism, he thought that it admitted of some excuse on substantially the same principles that had been applied to the case of salaries for professional attendance in hospitals. But place it in any light you please, he was willing to trust to the good faith and wise judgment of those members of the profession who were most directly interested—those, namely, practicing in the localities where the contract system prevailed. They were more familiar with the facts, the difficulties and the possibilities of the case, and their professional welfare was more

directly at stake than that of the profession at large. He therefore moved as a substitute for the motion of Dr. Jackson:

That this Association acknowledges the Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association as the fundamental law of the profession in this country, and obligatory upon all its members. That, with reference to the contract system now under consideration, this Association deems any special legislation at this time to be inexpedient, and would refer the whole matter to the subordinate County Medical Societies for such action as, in their judgment, in view of all the circumstances, may be deemed most expedient.

Dr. Jackson's motion was withdrawn, and Dr. Cochran's substitute adopted.

The following invitation was read by the Secretary:

The members of the Association of the State of Alabama, and all physicians visiting the city, are cordially invited to attend a reception, to be given in honor of the Association by the physicians of Madison County, at the Huntsville Hotel, this (Wednesday) evening, at 71⁄2 o'clock.

BY ORDER OF THE COMMITTEE.

On motion, the invitation was accepted, with the thanks of the Association.

The Secretary read a request from Dr. Culberson, of Dayton, Ohio, requesting statistics of resections of the joints.

The roll of Reporters on the Diseases, Surgery and Gynæcology of the different counties was next called in the alphabetical order of the counties. From the counties not mentioned below no report was received:

Colbert County.-Report on Diseases, by Dr. R. T. Abernethy. Presented by Dr. Wm. Desprez. Read and referred to Publishing Committee.

Green County.-Report on Diseases, by Dr. H. B. Robinson. Read and referred.

Jackson County.-No report from the regular reporter, Dr. W. B. Martin, of Scottsboro'. Dr. J. S. Bankson volunteered to prepare a report by to-morrow.

Jefferson County.-Report on Surgery, by Dr. F. M. Prince. Presented by Dr. M. H. Jordan. Read and referred.

Lauderdale County.-Report on Diseases, by Dr. James Kyle. Read and referred.

Lawrence County.-No report from regular reporter. Dr. L. H. Sadler presented a report of four special cases. Read and referred.