Board of Health, for this Board regards itself as a "part and parcel" of your august body-it the child, you the parent. A short time ago it was my pleasant duty to address that distinguished body, the Medical Society of the State of New York. Mention was made in the address that quackery and charlatanry had been driven from the shores of Kentucky. The remark not only caused the greatest applause, but the speaker was besieged by questions as to how it had been accomplished, and with the declaration that they intended to pattern after us. It can be claimed without fear of contradiction that Kentucky is the only State in the Union that has accomplished so much. Some may question whether the Board has indeed accomplished so much. The Secretary is constantly in receipt of letters saying that a certain fellow in a certain county is plainly violating the law, and asking why the Board does not do its duty. If such writers would for a moment stop to think, they would realize that they are plainly "not doing their duty." The Board has succeeded in placing in the hands of the profession a law fully adequate to stop all forms of quackery within the borders of the State. The enforcement of the law now rests with the courts and not with the Board. If a person violates this Medical Practice Act law, it is clearly the duty of any physician, cognizant of the fact, to swear out a warrant, have him arrested, tried, and convicted. The Board stands at all times ready to assist at any such prosecution.

During the session of the last legislature a very important amendment to the Medical Practice Act was passed. However, it must not be imagined that it was plain sailing and a thing of ease, for it was not by any means. The amendment in substance was that "any one. attempting to practice the healing art by any method, in the State of Kentucky, should have a certificate from the State Board of Health." When it was explained to the members of the legislature that 3,500 physicians in the State had to submit to this law, they did not hesitate to say that any new-comer with any new "pathy" had to do the same. The Governor of this Commonwealth, all honor to him, saw the justice in the measure and promptly signed the bill. For all this arduous duty and ultimate success of the measure the profession is indebted to the very worthy and accomplished Secretary, Dr. J. N. McCormack, who has been ever faithful and active in this and all duties pertaining to the Board and the profession. It must be distinctly understood that had it not been for the united effort of the "rank and file" of the profession, the medical act would never have been the success that it has,

and the recent amendment would never have passed the legislature. Again, it must not be presumed that the fight is over, but rather that it has just begun. Therefore do not relax in your efforts.

The Relation of the People to the Profession. If the people would investigate, at least stop to think of the vast strides that the medical profession has made in the last few decades, there would be no cause for their mistaking a fraud from the real scientific practitioner of medicine. What with our splendidly equipped medical colleges, a term extended into a four-years' course, with clinical material abundant, laboratories perfect, and after all examining boards to insure competency, there could be no mistake. Let them exercise the same judgment that they do in selecting a thoroughbred horse, for instance, and they will not miss the mark. Let them learn to discriminate between the pretender, who scatters his printed pamphlets at his door teeming with testimonials, and the thoroughly honest, hard-worked, and competent physician who has gained his knowledge from the books and the bedside of the sick. Let them learn to know the difference between jealousy and contempt, and not ascribe to the family physician an envy when he is in truth trying to protect them from the fraud. Let the good minister of the gospel withhold his pen from indorsing that which would ruin the health and destroy the life of his trusting parishioner. Then would the people and the profession better understand one another. God speed the day!

The Relation of the Profession to the People. I believe that it was Davy Crockett who said that "Heaven helps the man who helps himself." The medical profession tries to help the man who will not help himself. Much of this duty of late, in Kentucky, has devolved upon the State Board of Health. And a most difficult duty it has been too. It was well illustrated during the late epidemie of smallpox in this State when men had to be vaccinated at the point of a pistol. But so it has ever been. Time was when any discovery of real value was made by medical men it had to be kept hidden, lest the discoverer be persecuted if not prosecuted. The day has not yet arrived when the people earnestly try to sift the chaff from the wheat, the real from the unreal, the scientific from the fraudulent. They are willing to agree to the proposition that medicine to-day is far in advance of what it was a century ago, but they can not quite understand why an illiterate, uneducated, unrefined mountebank can not make just as good a doctor as the level-headed, splendidly educated, and scientific man. The

principle does not hold good with, them in the other avocations and professions of life, for in order to get a proper deed to a town lot they must have a good lawyer, and on a Sunday they would not listen to the minister that is not trained in eloquence, if a better could be heard. But, more's the pity, if a wife or daughter lie dying of a fever, many are just as apt to employ a charlatan to attend them as a scientific physician.

The Rush Monument Fund. At the meeting of the American Medical Association in 1884 the following resolution was passed:

"Resolved, That this Association undertake to erect a statue to Dr. Benjamin Rush, in the city of Washington, by the members of the profession of medicine in the United States."

How futile has been the attempt can be made manifest when it is known that up to the present time only $4,000 has been raised. At the meeting at Philadelphia last year new energy was thrown into this grand project. A number of individuals subscribed large sums, and a number of States were pledged to give $2,000 each. Colorado, Pennsylvania, and several other States have already raised their shares pledged. Kentucky was pledged simply to do her duty, and as your President I desire that each and all of you help and advise with me in this matter. Don't let it be said that Kentucky, the State that never shirks, has failed to do her duty in this most worthy endeavor. As an incentive let me remind you that the homeopaths in this union of States raised, in a few years, $75,000 to erect, and have erected, a monument to Hahnemann. I shall appoint a committee in the morning to canvass this matter, and I beg not only your advice but your money.

The American Medical Association. I desire to remind you of your allegiance to the "mother" society, the American Medical Association. She stands to-day the peer of any medical organization in the world. It is indeed a proud distinction to be a member of this august and dignified body, controlled as she is by a code of ethics unsurpassed; each and every member feels honor bound to treat his fellow in medicine with that respect which is born of a gentleman. Let me impress upon you your duty, which is as American physicians to stand by and encourage by your presence her every effort to uphold the dignity of the profession and to give to the world the very best medical literature extant. The coming meeting promises to be the banner one. Our Western brethren are making every effort within their power to make it a memorable one, and Kentucky should show her appreciation by sending a large delegation.