Juke 2, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



849 



nmnber of attendants became greater than 

 when admission was easier. 



This is indeed a serious question. I 

 doubt if the charge for medical services in 

 the country can be much larger than $1.00 

 per head, and it is thus seen that the 

 115,000 physicians of this country must 

 be content to divide among them a paltry 

 income of less than $90,000,000 at the 

 present time. 



Finally, the physician of the future will 

 find his greatest service in prolonging hu- 

 man life. I am not here to claim that 

 human life is so valuable that it needs 

 always to be prolonged. This may not be 

 so from the general economic condition of 

 affairs, but, personally, I think we are all 

 more or less interested in longevity. It 

 can not be denied that there is a distinct 

 economical gain in putting a man out of 

 the world after he has passed his prime 

 and before be becomes a burden upon his 

 friends or the community. The asylum 

 and the poorhouse are not to be regarded 

 as shining lights of advanced political econ- 

 omy, but there is something in life besides 

 mere political economy, and the prolonga- 

 tion of existence is regarded as one of the 

 chief functions both of the medical pro- 

 fession and of public charities. 



On the other hand, it must be considered 

 that thei-e is a distinct economical loss in 

 cutting off from existence a man before he 

 has run the full course of his career. To 

 train a man for usefulness requires now 

 fully a quarter of a century, and it seems 

 only fair that he should have at least twice 

 that time for the manifestation of his ac- 

 tivities. If, therefore, he be cut off at 

 thirty-five, forty or forty-five, the com- 

 munity is robbed of service to which it is 

 entitled. 



If old age could be secured without much 

 of the burden now attending it, there would 

 be the gradual ripening and mellowing of 



all the functions of the body and mind. 

 If, in short, the human organism could be 

 so constructed and cared for that it would 

 continue its functional activity like the 

 wonderful 'one hoss shay' until the time 

 of its final dissolution, such a consumma- 

 tion is devoutly to be wished. 



The medical profession of the future 

 will find its best exponent in the service of 

 senectitude. An old age without illness 

 or dementation, a ripening Avithout decay, 

 a completion of the functional activity 

 without the breaking down of any organ 

 are steps toward which the medical pro- 

 fession of the future may well direct its 

 energies. 



Death should not be regarded as a mis- 

 fortune, but as an end, as a termination 

 of a journey which has been filled with 

 delight, as a rest for weariness which comes 

 with the natural order of labor, as an 

 euthanasia and not a dreadful disaster. 



H. W. Wiley. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CENTRAL BRANCH 

 OP THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 

 OF ZOOLOGISTS. 



The third annual meeting of the Central 

 Branch of the American Society of Zool- 

 ogists, and the sixth annual meeting of the 

 society since its original establishment was 

 held at the University of Chicago, March 

 31 and April 1, 1905. 



The following having received the votes 

 of the executive committees of both 

 branches were elected to membership in the 

 central branch: James Francis Abbott, 

 Bennet M. Allen, Lawrence Edmunds 

 Griffin, Lynds Jones, C. E. McClung, 

 George Wagner, L. M. Walton, Samuel L. 

 Williston, Charles Zeleny. 



The bill on vivisection before the Illinois 

 State Legislature was discussed and it was 



Voted, That this society concur in the 

 following resolution and instruct the secre- 



