xxii Annual Report. [February, 1910. 



Hospital, and it is satisfactory to note that his good work has 

 recently received recognition from the Government. Surgical 

 practice was represented by a paper on Prostatectomy by 

 Lt.-Col. Brown. At the last meeting of the year, a discus- 

 sion on the prevalance of diseases of the circulatory system 

 was opened by Lt.-Col. Drury, and will be continued at a 

 later meeting. It already promises to make important addi- 

 tions to our knowledge of the subject. In addition to the 

 above-mentioned papers, others of less importance were read, 

 numerous rare and interesting cases and specimens were 

 shown, while a demonstration on the precipitant test for the 

 differentiation of human from other mammalian blood was given 

 by Lt.-Col. Sutherland. Altogether the work of the Medical 

 Section has been maintained at a high level. 



Further additions have been made to the numbers of 

 medical men belonging to the Society, a notable feature being 

 the joining of recruits from nearly every province of India, 

 largely on account of the efforts which have been made to 

 found a Reference Medical Library by contributions of sets of 

 Journals by the members themselves. In addition to about 50 

 Medical Journals, which are being received without cost to the 

 Society, by an arrangement made by the Medical Secretary with 

 the Editor of the Indian Medical Gazette, many valuable sets 

 of back numbers of Medical Journals and other books have been 

 presented by Surge on- General Bomford, Lt. -Colonel Harris, 

 Lt.-Colonel Crawford, Dr. Bentley, and the Medical Secretary. 

 Unfortunately owing to financial and other difficulties during 

 the three-and-a-half years that the Medical Section has been 

 in existence, only a very small sum has been spent by the 

 Society on the purchase of the medical books, although 

 through the efforts of the medical members several thousand 

 rupees worth have been added to the library. In future any 

 additions of the medical members must depend on recruit- 

 ing from beyond Calcutta, and such can only be obtained by 

 the foundation of a Medical Reference Library, which is the 

 crying need of the profession in India. In the annual address 

 delivered in February 1909, the President said: "For this 

 substantial addition to our strength (over 100 in the last five 

 years, that is, more nearly one- fourth of the total numbers) 

 we have to be grateful mainly to the medical profession from 

 whom our recent members have been in a large measure re- 

 cruited, and I trust that this will prove to be a source of 

 constant supply of strength, if we find ourselves in a posi- 

 tion, as we hope we may, to provide an adequate medical 

 library for reference and research." It is a matter for con- 

 gratulation that the Council has now arranged to make a start 

 in this direction by providing a substantial sum in the next two 

 years for the purchase of some standard works of reference on 

 the different branches of medicine. 



