liberty secured. By union and co-operation alone can the science of medicine be advanced. Isolated, individual men who, in the pride of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, reject the aid and sympathy of their contemporaries, are failures. They may have great ability, they may be faithful and enthusiastic workers in the departments to which they have devoted themselves, but in the end they are disappointed, because they have over-estimated their individual strength, and have not sought the companionship and concurrence of others. No class of men appreciate the value of co-operation more than the medical men throughout the world. Germany, Austria, France, and England have for years shown how co-operation can bring about medical progress, through the deliberations of the respective assemblies that are annually held in these countries. The people of this country, also, in their State and general societies, have added much to the development of medical learning. So highly is co-operative work appreciated by the medical world, that the necessity for an international congress a few years since became imperative. I need not tell this audience what it has already accomplished. At its last meeting, held in Washington, the nature and extent of its labors can only be understood by the examination of the five volumes that contain the contributions of its members ; the work is a medical library in itself. America, ever alert, energetic and industrious, always anxious to obtain and practically apply that which is best, has been no laggard in her endeavors to promote the advancement of medical science. Through the American Medical Association how much has been accomplished? In its grand meetings are brought together some of the ablest men of the land. Historic figures many of them have become, and the fruit of their labors will hand them down through ages as among the foremost of their day and generation. Her sister society, the American Surgical Association, although younger, has just cause to be proud of her work. Her field is necessarily restricted to one of the great divisions of medicine — a division of the highest importance. That the field has been well worked, that the harvest has been rich and abundant, and that it has been gathered into our store-houses, I take it for granted none will deny. So I might refer to other associations, and to the congress of these associations, did time permit.
It may be said with truth that, until of late, the South has not kept pace with the North in medical progress and development. This has arisen from a variety of causes. Prior to the late war slavery was antagonistic to the development of dense populations; fertile ,
