THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



9 1 



musl be chosen. But ninny members 

 ,ii the association have regretted the 

 abandonment of the summer meetings, 

 which could be held in a university 

 town or summer resort, when out-of- 

 door life and excursions are pleasant, 

 and where old acquaintances and 

 friends may be met and new ones made. 

 The American Association has now 

 more than twice as many members as 

 in 1900, and it should be able to in- 

 crease its service by holding meetings 

 that will fill the needs of all. It is to 

 lie hoped that those who believe that 

 summer meetings are desirable or that 

 the experiment should be tried will go 

 to Ithaca. Whether the meeting is 

 large or small, it will surely he inter- 

 esting and enjoyable. 



THE BOSTOX UEETIXG OF THE 

 AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSO- 



CIATIOX. 

 The fifty-seventh annual meeting of 

 American Medical Association which 

 began at Boston on June 5 was the 

 largest and most notable in its history. 

 There were about five thousand members 

 in attendance; the scientific sessions 

 improve from year to year, and the or- 

 ganization becomes more efficient and 

 influential. Washington, New York and 

 Boston are the three chief scientific 

 centers of this country. Of the one 

 thousand leading scientific men 119 are 

 in Washington, 119 in New York and 

 85 in Boston-Cambridge. But historic 

 continuity has been longest maintained 

 at Boston, and it seems to lend itself 

 better than any other city to a large 

 scientific gathering. There the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, the National Educational 

 Association and now the American 

 Medical Association have held their 

 largest meetings. The governor of the 

 Mate and the mayor of the city main- 

 tain the tradition of being gentlemen, 

 while a welcome from President Eliot 

 gives distinction to any gathering. The 

 conditions in Boston are more nearly 

 those of an English city, and the formal 



functions, the receptions and the garden 

 parties pass off more smoothly and 

 with less artificiality and aimlessness 

 than in other American cities. 



After the greetings of the opening 

 Nession. Dr. Louis McMurtry, of Louis- 

 ville, Ivy., the retiring president, intro- 

 duced the president elect, Dr. William 

 J. Mayo, of Rochester, Minn., who 

 made the annual address. It was con- 

 cerned mainly with the organization of 

 the medical profession and its relations 

 to the public, emphasizing, though per- 

 haps unconsciously, the trades union 

 character of the association. Among 

 the topics reviewed were: the need of 

 union to promote not only the interests 

 of the profession, but also the welfare 

 of the public; the function of the med- 

 ical profession in enlightening the 

 public in regard to sanitation, the dan- 

 gers from poisonous nostrums and the 

 need of compulsory vaccination; the 

 improvement of the army and navy 

 medical departments; the supervision 

 of medical schools and reciprocity in 

 medical licenses ; the relations of physi- 

 cians to the insurance companies, con- 

 tract practise, and hospital abuse by 

 patients who are able to pay; the 

 financial position of the physician and 

 the evil of accepting commissions from 

 specialists; the strained relations be- 

 tween medicine and pharmacy. In con- 

 clusion Dr. Mayo said: " The vital need 

 of the medical profession is a harmon- 

 ious organization — an organization that 

 will encourage right thinking and good 

 usage among ourselves, help to secure 

 needed medical reforms, compel redress 

 of grievances and promote and encour- 

 age the highest interests of its individ- 

 ual members: and in this lies the fu- 

 ture usefulness of the profession as a 

 whole." 



The organization of the association 

 has resulted in the ' house of delegates,' 

 representing the medical profession 

 through the states. The county med- 

 ical societies unite in a state so- 

 ciety and the state societies in the 

 national association. The subjects dis- 



