378 SURGERY 



sent condition of development does not cure. There are but few 

 operations in point of number that remain for succeeding genera- 

 tions to discover. There is still little to gain in the technic of asepsis 

 and anesthesia, and beyond the improvement of existing operat- 

 ive methods there is but little to expect. The science of surgery 

 has accomplished a great work one of the greatest in the his- 

 tory of mankind. And when we consider the vast number of sur- 

 gical diseases which are now amenable to cure, and the very limited 

 number remaining for which the surgery of the future is to discover 

 ways and means of treatment better than those to which we have 

 already attained, we can realize that we stand on the heights of a 

 great profession a profession which but a century ago was crude, 

 undeveloped, and uncertain. If there are higher heights to be reached 

 in the science of surgery, and doubtless there are, we may rest 

 assured that the vast and ever-increasing wealth of this great coun- 

 try will be utilized toward their attainment. Humanity demands 

 this, and this country will never be behind any nation of the world 

 in earnest efforts for the promotion and development of a science 

 whose special aim is the relief of physical suffering, and the pre- 

 servation of human life. 



It is fitting on an occasion like this, when a national celebration 

 is in progress, that the attention of this Congress should be directed 

 to the part which our own country has played in the evolution of 

 this great science. This part is best set forth and realized by a 

 study of the facts recorded in this address. The question, however, 

 as to what has been the inspiring motive, and what has been the 

 controlling influence, must be sought in the life-history and habits 

 of the people. 



The impartiality and promptitude of the American mind have 

 enabled it to seize with alacrity upon the best in every department 

 of science and art, wherever found, regardless of the source from 

 which it emanates. Accordingly, American surgeons all through 

 the past century have busied themselves in reaping a generous 

 harvest from every nation that had any good surgical idea, method, 

 or appliance to offer, and have gathered in abundant sheaves with 

 rejoicing, serenely indifferent as to the particular field which pro- 

 duced them. What mattered it to them whose hand sowed the 

 seed, or under what influences it was brought to maturity, so long 

 as the grain itself was desirable and could be secured for the Ameri- 

 can garner. A precisely opposite spirit has prevailed in some other 

 lands ; thus, during our colonial days, when Great Britain and 

 France were easily foremost in surgical attainment, so bitter was 

 their rivalry, so intense their national jealousy, that neither would 

 adopt anything, no matter how good or valuable, which had origin- 

 ated with the other. Of late years this same prejudice, this un- 



