102 



SCIENCE. 



[N, S. Vol. XXII. No. 552. 



tion, and the diffusion of medical knowl- 

 edge are not the only objects of organiza- 

 tion. Our profession has a most essential 

 and important duty in relation to the public 

 health. Through no other agency can 

 municipal, state and national health author- 

 ities formulate and secure recognition of 

 laws to prevent and control disease. An- 

 other duty no less essential is so to regulate 

 and to control medical education that the 

 ignorant and unworthy shall not be ad- 

 mitted to the privileges of the profession, 

 thereby preserving the time-honored stand- 

 ard of professional honor and scientific 

 capability. In this age of organization, 

 without it the profession is powerless to 

 secure the enactment of humane sanitary 

 laws, by which alone the people can be pro- 

 tected from preventable diseases. The wel- 

 fare of the profession collectively and in- 

 dividually can only be subserved by organ- 

 ization. Without such organization, our 

 profession, as a body politic, will be with- 

 out unanimity of sentiment or action in re- 

 lation to the important scientific, ethical 

 and social questions which confront us ; and 

 consequently without influence politically, 

 socially or otherwise. 



In the declaration of the constitution 

 adopted at St. Paul, which I have just 

 quoted, the American Medical Association 

 has undertaken to place within reach of 

 every reputable medical practitioner in the 

 United States these incalculable advan- 

 tages of medical organization. 



The committee on reorganization ap- 

 pointed in 1900 has treated this subject in 

 a masterly manner. After a careful study 

 of the condition of the profession through- 

 out the states with relation to organization, 

 reports have been made to the association 

 showing the needs of the profession and the 

 extent of the work required. A uniform 

 plan of organization for state and county 

 societies, making the county society the 



unit of organization, and federating all 

 .state societies in the national association in 

 harmonious cooperation, has been prepared 

 by the committee. The able chairman of 

 this committee has with remarkable tact, 

 patience, and good judgment given his per- 

 sonal supervision to this great work in al- 

 most every state and territory. In his 

 latest report it is announced that all the 

 states and territories, except three, and in- 

 cluding Hawaii and Porto Rico, are now 

 organized on a practically uniform plan, 

 with universal local societies, and coin- 

 cident membership in them and the state 

 associations as the cardinal feature. To 

 illustrate the magnitude of this work, I 

 mention that, under the stimulus of reor- 

 ganization after the plan of the committee, 

 the Michigan State Medical Association in- 

 creased in membership in one year from 

 452 to about 2,100. Texas increased the 

 membership in the same time from 382 to 

 2,510, while several states quadrupled their 

 membership. While these results are phe- 

 nomenal, and elicit our admiration, it will 

 be realized how much remains to be done 

 when it is considered that few of the states 

 have over 50 per cent, of the eligible mem- 

 bers of the profession enrolled as members 

 of the society. Indeed, the work is yet almost 

 in its infancy. What has been accomplished 

 isi an assurance for the future ; and consid- 

 ering the brief time since reorganization 

 began, is a high tribute to the enterprise of 

 the national association and the work of its 

 able and efficient committee. The possi- 

 bilities of this work are stupendous, and 

 as it proceeds the association can con- 

 fidently undertake the great reforms of 

 such incalculable moment to the profession 

 and the public. In his official report to the 

 house of delegates one year ago, the chair- 

 man of the committee on organization, 

 after reporting the splendid results of his 

 labors during the year, said : 



