6 



in 1 909. The largest of the seventy-five annual gatherings which the Associa- 

 tion has held, was that of the year 1861, in Manchester, when 753 life and. 

 annual members, reached, with local associate and lady members, the large 

 total of 2,385. 



On the visit of the Association to Montreal in 1 884 there were in attend- 

 ance 5 72 British members, 2 1 9 new annual members, and the associate and 

 lady members numbered 900, giving a total of 1 69 1 . 



In Toronto in 1897 there were 414 British members, 125 new members, 

 782 associate and lady members, and 41 foreign scientists, chiefly guests, mak- 

 ing a total of 1 362. 



The great event of the annual meeting is the opening address by the Presi- 

 dent, recounting the discoveries and scientific advances of the year. The writer 

 was present at the meeting of 1 896 in Liverpool, when Lord Lister was Presi- 

 dent. On that occasion the largest hall in the city, containing several thousands, 

 was filled to overflowing, and many were unable to gain admission. It was an 

 ovation to the great physician and man of science, and his address was worthy 

 of the occasion. His recital of the discoveries of the few preceding years al- 

 most raised his hearers into the realm of fairyland or romance. He said, " By 

 the aid of the Rontgen rays (then newly discovered) a photograph had been 

 taken in which the bone of the upper arm of a patient was clearly seen displaced 

 forward over that of the forearm, and the physician given a clue for his suc- 

 cessful operation. The common metals, such as lead, iron and copper, being 

 still denser than the osseous structure, these rays show the bullet embedded in 

 a bone and a needle lodged about a joint. A half-penny was also revealed low 

 down in a boy's gullet." The lecturer referred to the great service rendered to 

 humanity by the discovery and use of chloroform and ether. The distinguished 

 physician's account of his adaptation of science to surgery in carrying out the 

 antiseptic principle was most interesting. He stated that in 1 890 he had fully 

 proved " the harmlessness of atmospheric dust in surgical operations." An 

 account was given of Koch's great discovery " that each poisonous microbe 

 appears to form its own peculiar toxine." Out of this discovery grew the cure 

 of very bad purulent ulcers, and the hope was raised of science bein7 able to 

 banish tuberculosis — "the whiteman's scourge. " There was hushed and breath- 

 less attention when Lord Lister gave an account of the researches of Metch- 

 nikoff, the great Russian pathologist, of how the white corpuscles of the blood 

 in their weird, greedy seizure of hurtful microbes and decaying substances en- 

 velope them with snaky readiness and render these hurtful enemies harmless by 

 devouring and destroying them. Said the great lecturer in closing: " If ever 

 there was a romantic chapter in pathology it has surely been that of the story of 

 phagocytosis. 



