50 



But, when occasionally they find matter of commanding importance, 

 and which has not yet been fully, and in an accessible form, brought 

 before the mass of the profession, it will not, they apprehend, be 

 beyond their attributes to notice it here. Again, the special duty 

 of the committee is to notice improvements in medical sciences in 

 America; but this they think will not confine them to what has origi- 

 nated here. The condition and progress of these sciences on this 

 side of the ocean, cannot be separated from their advancement in 

 other countries. What has originated in one place, has been culti- 

 vated and improved in another, and the same subject occupying 

 the attention of industrious and intelligent observers, at the same 

 time, in far separated regions, receives impetus in a direction different, 

 perhaps, from that which it would have had from the single impulse 

 of one observer. So that the position actually occupied, at any given 

 time, by a scientific subject, is seldom that in which it would be placed 

 by the labours of one person, uninfluenced by comparison with those 

 of others. Such is the freedom of intercourse between different 

 countries, that improvements in scientific matters early become com- 

 mon property. 



The condition of science in any one country, cannot possibly be 

 estimated by a review of the contributions of that country alone. 

 The progress of the different branches included in that general phrase 

 is effected by slow and gradual aggregation. The farther they ad- 

 vance towards perfection, the more difficult it becomes to separate 

 from the whole, the contribution of any one of the infinite number 

 of collaborators whose individual labour is lost sight of in the entire 

 collection. They stand in America, in the position in which they 

 have been placed, by the slow aggregation of materials from every 

 source. The contribution, whether it comes from American or 

 other writers, becomes an integral part of the mass, regardless 

 of the source from whence it originates. It will not then be 

 possible, nor would it be desirable, for the committee to attempt 

 any selection from the materials placed at their disposal, founded 

 on any local or national ground of distinction. It will fully, they 

 apprehend, meet the requirements of the rule under which they 

 act, if they strictly and accurately note the source from which they 

 derive what is selected, and fairly state the claims of all. So much 

 they promise in advance, and trust they Avill receive the kind indul- 

 gence of the Association, for the imperfect manner in which the task 

 may be performed; in consideration of the insufficiency of the space 

 to which they must restrict themselves, and the extent of the subject 



