262 Literary and Scientific Associations. 



unassisted and alone. Soon after the confusion 

 and devastation of war had given way to the arts 

 of peace, attempts began to be made to remedy 

 this serious evil. Associations for the purpose of 

 improving medical science were soon formed, not 

 only in Philadelphia, which had been for some 

 years the seat of a medical school, but in almost 

 every State in the union. Few of these societies 

 have made very large or important publications; 

 but they have produced many lasting advantages 

 to the individuals composing them, and to the 

 interests of the healing art. They have brought 

 physicians to be acquainted with each other. They 

 have collected a large mass of facts, hints, obser- 

 vations and inquiries, which if not always given to 

 the world, constitute a source of improvement to 

 the associates themselves. They have instituted 

 annual orations, which, in various ways, tend to 

 promote their primary object. They have issued 

 prize questions, and bestowed premiums, which 

 awaken dormant powers, and excite a laudable 

 spirit of emulation. In a word, they have contri- 

 buted to raise the practice of medicine in our coun- 

 try from a selfish and sordid trade, to a liberal, dig- 

 nified, and enlightened profession. 



4. Agricultural Societies. Associations for the 

 promotion of agriculture, and the auxiliary arts 

 and sciences, while they have been multiplied 

 in every part of the scientific world, have also, 

 during the latter half of the last century, become 

 numerous in America. There is scarcely a State in 

 the Union in which an institution of this kind has not- 

 been established, and in some of the States there are 

 more than one. The most conspicuous and active 

 of these associations are those established in Mas- 

 sachusetts, New-York, and Pennsylvania. That 

 in New-York, denominated the Society for pro- 

 moting Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures, 



