Am'jJu°ner;i907?rm'}       American  Medical  Association.  253 
This  brings  us  to  the  third  period — the  birth  of  the  American 
Medical  Association. 
In  I  847,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation was  born.  At  its  organization  there  were  thirteen  State 
societies  in  existence,  and  shortly  after  five  more  were  born.  At  its 
start  it  was  a  representative  body  ;  its  legislative  and  business  affairs 
were  controlled  by  delegates  from  affiliated  societies,  each  society 
sending  one  delegate  for  every  ten  members.  In  the  early  history 
of  the  Association  the  more  important  colleges  and  hospitals  were 
allowed  to  send  delegates,  but  when  the  medical  societies  became 
more  numerous  and  representative,  the  colleges  and  hospitals  lost 
their  representation.  This  brings  us  down  to  the  close  of  our  late 
civil  war. 
At  this  period  there  was  no  such  thing  as  cohesive  organization  of 
our  profession.  A  number  of  public-spirited  members  of  our  guild, 
and  a  few  editors  of  some  of  the  higher-class  medical  journals, 
attempted  to  arouse  an  apathetic  profession  to  the  necessity  of  closely 
binding  together  that  they  might  improve  their  educational  and 
legal  standing,  but  their  efforts  were  in  vain. 
In  New  England  and  a  few  other  States  there  existed  a  form  ©f 
organization,  but  none  was  so  effective  as  that  evolved  by  Jerome 
Cochran  of  Alabama.  His  plan  of  organization,  with  some  altera- 
tion of  details,  is  the  one  which  has  been  adapted  by  nearly  all  the 
State  societies  in  the  scheme  of  general  organization. 
In  the  course  of  time  the  example  of  the  State  of  Alabama  had 
its  effects  on  the  general  profession.  Medical  laws  began  to  make 
their  appearance  on  the  statute  books  of  the  several  States,  medical 
examining  boards  came  into  operation  and  with  them  came  a  better 
class  of  physicians.  Medical  societies  increased,  and  nearly  all  of 
them  had  representation  in  the  American  Medical  Association,  so 
that  its  legislative  machinery  became  unwieldy  and  cumbersome.  A 
local  society  would  send  more  delegates  than  the  State  society. 
This  brings  us  to  the  year  1900,  which  is  the  fourth  period,  or  the 
period  of  reorganization  of  the  American  Medical  Association. 
The  whole  profession  of  the  United  States  is  heavily  indebted  to 
Dr.  J.  N.  McCormack,  of  Bowling  Green,  Ky.,  who  introduced  the 
resolution  calling  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  consider  a 
plan  to  reorganize  the  American  Association.  This  resolution  was 
offered  at  the  Atlantic  City  meeting,  June,    1900.     There  was  a 
