county, shall be exempt from any and all of the penalties provided in section five of this act. SECTION 9. Be it further enacted, That none of the provisions of this act shall apply to persons practicing Homeopathy; provided, that such persons are graduates of regular Medical Colleges, or of Homeopathic Medical Colleges. SECTION 10. Be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall take effect, in any county of this State, whenever the Board of Medical Examiners for said county shall have been organized, as hereinbefore provided, and the fact of such organization officially communicated to the Probate Judge of said county, by the Board of Censors of the Medical Association of the State. SECTION 11. Be it further enacted, That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act, be and the same are hereby repealed. MEDICAL EDUCATION. Another matter of great importance, to which we feel compelled to allude, is the subject of Medical Education. We have too many Doctors; and the standard of qualifications for graduation in our multitudinous Medical Colleges is deplorably, we might almost say shamefully, low. We all know that the Profession is crowded with incompetent men, and that other incompetent men are continually gaining admission to its ranks. We all agree that this ought not to be so; that it is an evil that is constantly increasing; and that something ought to be done to put a stop to it. But up to this time the question, How shall it be stopped? has received no practical solution. But are we, therefore, to lose heart and hope, and fold our hands with the apathy which is born of despair? Nay, verily a thousand and a thousand times, No! The evil has grown out of the fact that the Profession, instead of guarding the doors of admission into their ranks with jealous scrutiny for themselves, have left the examination of students and the conferring of the degree of Doctor of Medicine entirely in the hands of the Faculties of the Medical Colleges. But this evil, colossal as it has grown to be, will be utterly destroyed whenever the Profession in good faith make the simple resolution, and act up to it, that they will no longer recognize the Diplomas of Colleges, but will determine for themselves to whom and upon what terms they will accord professional recognition and fellowship. This is too large a question to be argued here. What we desire to say is simply that we believe that the evil mentioned can be very materially diminished by the application of very simple measures, provided that the application of these measures is faithfully made. We would have the evil assaulted where it is most vulnerable, namely, in its cradle-in its very origin. If nobody was allowed to commence the study of medicine except such persons as have good natural ability and a decent preliminary education, it is easy to see that the number of doctors annually graduated in this country would be very greatly diminished; and would be diminished by the excision of that class of doctors which it is most desirable to get rid of-namely, the class of ignoramuses and incompetents. We therefore recommend very earnestly, that the County Medical Societies be advised to put at once into practical operation that Article of the Constitution (the 71st) which makes it the duty of the Boards of Censors of the County Societies to examine all persons proposing to begin the study of medicine in their respective counties, and which further enjoins that no practitioner of medicine shall receive as a student any one who does not hold a certificate of having passed this preliminary examination favorably. CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. It is a part of the Constitutional duty of the Board of Censors to recommend to the Association the names of such persons as they may think deserving of places in the Roll of Correspondents. We have, at the present session to recommend for this position the following gentlemen, all of whom have been heretofore connected with the Association, either as Delegates or as Counsellors, and who have now ceased to be residents of the State of Alabama: Dr. THOMAS O. SUMMERS, JR., formerly Professor of Chemistry and Physiology in the Southern University at Greensboro, and now Professor of Anatomy in the Medical Department of the University of Nashville. Dr. A. S. GARNETT, formerly Professor of Natural History in the University of Alabama, and now a practitioner at Hot Springs, Arkansas. Dr. WILLIAM A. BRADFIELD, formerly of Perry county, and several times a delegate to this Association, and now a practitioner at Pascagoula, Mississippi. APPLICATIONS FOR CHARTERS. Applications for Charters have been made by the following County Societies, namely: The Medical Society of the county of Dallas (Selma). The Medical Society of the county of Butler. The Medical Society of the county of Perry. The Medical Society of the county of Autauga. We have satisfied ourselves that the Constitutions of these several Societies are all in harmony with the Constitution of this Association, and we therefore recommend that the applications be granted, and that the Charters be issued properly certified and sealed, as soon as the blank forms of charter and the seal of the Association have been obtained. ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE SECRETARY AND OF THE TREASURER. We have examined the Annual Reports of the Secretary and of the Treasurer, and find them respectively satisfactory and correct. We therefore recommend that they be approved. In order to facilitate the transaction of business in our annual sessions, and to relieve Committees of Arrangement of some embarrassment, we respectfully recommend the adoption of the following Ordinance, namely: ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO THE ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL SESSIONS. 1. Be it ordained by the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, That during the annual sessions of the Association the daily meetings shall extend from 10 o'clock A. M. to 3 o'clock P. M., except on the first day of the session, when the Association shall be called to order promptly at 12 o'clock noon, and shall adjourn at 3 o'clock P. M. 2. Be it further ordained, That the Annual Oration shall be delivered on the evening of the first day of the session; and that the Annual Session of the House of Counsellors shall be regularly fixed for the evening of the second day of the session, THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Finally, we have to report that we have carefully examined the Annual Address of the President of the Association, Dr. J. S. Weatherly, which was referred to us by special motion. We find it to be a truly admirable production, and one that reflects credit upon its author and upon the Association over which he has presided. We have no hesitation in asserting that it is far above the average of such Addresses in ability and in practical interest and importance. It is of that rare character of merit which makes it interesting and instructive, both to the Medical Profession and to the general public. Its wide circulation cannot fail to be productive of good; and we therefore recommend that one thousand copies of it be printed in pamphlet form at the expense of the Association, for general distribution under the direction of its author. All of which is respectfully submitted. Done at the Annual Session of the Association in the city of Montgomery, on the 15th day of April Anno Domini, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. JEROME COCHRAN, M. D., JAMES GUILD, M. D., RICHARD FRASER MICHEL, M. D., GEORGE ERNEST KUMPE, M. D., NICHOLAS DAVIS RICHARDSON, M. D., Board of Censors. The Senior Censor stated that the Board was unable to comply with the instructions of the Association to procure a seal and blank charters on account of insufficient funds in the treasury, and asked further time, which was granted. The President now announced to the Association that he had the pleasure of reading to them the following dispatch, in response to ours, from the Medical Association of South Carolina, now in session at Charleston: DISPATCH. CHARLESTON, S. C., April 14th, 1875. To the President of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama : Your kind favor draws out a hearty response from this Body, and as co-laborers in a common cause they greet you with their best wishes and highest regards. JAMES MCINTOSH, M. D., President. J. S. BUIST, M. D., Corres. Sec'y. The President now conveyed to the Association an invitation from Dr. W. O. Baldwin, Ex-President of the American Medical Association, for the members of the Association to lunch with him to-day at the noon recess. Accepted. The Association now proceeded to discuss the Report of the Board of Censors. Dr. Ketchum introduced and urged the following resolutions, which were accepted by the Board, and adopted by the Association: Resolved, That so much of the report of the Board of Censors as refers to the President's Address be adopted. Resolved, That so much of the report as refers to the organization of the Committee on Public Health be amended by striking out the suggestion that the Committee should consist of the five officers of the Association, and be so changed as to make the Committee consist of the Board of Censors and five Counsellors, to be selected by the Association, to serve for the several terms of one, two, three, four and five years; a new member being thus elected annually. The following recommendations of the Board of Censors were then adopted by the Association, viz: (1) the recommendation modifying the order of business; (2) the recommendation to notify the Governor of the acceptance of the Board of Health bill, passed by the last legislature; (3) the recommendation with regard to medical legislation; (4) the recommendation with regard to the establishment of County Boards of Censors according to Art. 71, Sec. 14, Const. The Association then proceeded to consider the bill entitled "An Act to Regulate the Practice of Medicine in the State of Alabama," Document B. of 1874, and recommended again this year. The Secretary read the bill in extenso. Dr. Cochran said that this was a matter of serious import, and probably the Profession were not ready to act on it at the present time. He therefore moved that the bill be published in the next volume of Transactions as supplemental to the report of the Board of Censors. Adopted. The Association then adopted the following amendment to Art. VIII, Sec. 4, Const., recommended last year : Delegates shall be elected by the County Societies to represent them in the Association; and each County Society shall be entitled to two Delegates, whose term of service shall be for one year. Dr. Cochran stated that though this Association was now the State Board of Health, still there was no provision made for printing our Transactions by the State; that we had best for the present go along as we had been doing in the past in this respect. Dr. Ketchum offered the following: Resolved, That the Association adopt so much of the report of the Board of Censors as relates to the printing of the proceedings, and that the Board of Censors be instructed to memorialize the legislature on the subject and repre |