James Woodman, M. D. Bath. William Woodward, Esq. Surgeon, Pershore. John Wootton, M. D. Physician to the Infirmary, Oxford. Samuel Wolstenholme, Esq. Surgeon to the Holywell Dispensary, Flintshire. George Wolstenholme, Esq. Surgeon, Bolton, Lancashire. AN ADDRESS, DELIVERED AT THE FIRST MEETING OF THE PROVINCIAL MEDICAL AND SURGICAL ASSOCIATION. BY CHARLES HASTINGS, M. D. I CONGRATULATE you, Gentlemen, that the day for forming a Provincial Medical and Surgical Association has, at length, arrived. An association which, I trust, is destined to exercise no inconsiderable influence on the future progress of medical science. Feeling, as I have long done, the disadvantages under which the prosecutors of medicine, resident in English provincial towns have laboured, in consequence of the want of any system of co-operation, by which their separate exertions, for the promotion of our knowledge of the healing art, may be so united as to render them more influential, and more extensively useful; I cannot but hail this day, Hunc lætum medicis diem, as one of peculiar promise; as one likely to lead to the most important results. When I see assembled around me some of the brightest ornaments of our profession; and when I call to mind the fact that, in addition to those now present, our association already numbers amongst its future members, a large proportion of B James Woodman, M. D. Bath. William Woodward, Esq. Surgeon, Pershore. John Wootton, M. D. Physician to the Infirmary, Oxford. Flintshire. George Wolstenholme, Esq. Surgeon, Bolton, Lancashire. Thomas Wynter, Esq. Surgeon, West Bromwich. J. C. Yeatman, Esq. Surgeon, Froome, Somersetshire. James Yonge, M. D. Plymouth; Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Gentlemen wishing to join the Association, are respectfully requested to apply to some Member of the Council in their immediate district; or to Dr. Hastings, or J. P. Sheppard, Esq. the Secretaries, Worcester. AN ADDRESS, DELIVERED AT THE FIRST MEETING OF THE PROVINCIAL The following names of Members were not received in time to be inserted in their proper place : Blackford, John, Esq. Surgeon, Bromsgrove. Darke, Dr. Stroud, Gloucestershire. Goodheve, Wm. Jas. Esq. Surgeon, Clifton, Bristol. Smith, Thos. Esq. Surgeon, Stroud, Gloucestershire. Surrage, Thos. Lyddon, Esq. Surgeon, Clifton, Bristol. The ANNUAL MEETING of the Association will take place at BRISTOL, early in July. When the necessary arrangements have been made, a circular letter will be sent to each Member, to inform him thereof. When I see assembled around me some of the brightest ornaments of our profession; and when I call to mind the fact that, in addition to those now present, our association already numbers amongst its future members, a large proportion of B provincial physicians and surgeons, who are, and have been, zealous and successful cultivators of our science; whose wishes, moreover, for the success of the association, are ardent and strong; and who are only detained, by paramount necessity, from being here this day, to express their conviction that such an association, as we are now about to form, is not only desirable, but loudly called for, as positively necessary, if we, in the present day, mean to avail ourselves of all the advantages which the stream of time has carried down to us. When, Gentlemen, I contemplate these promising omens, can I, for one moment, doubt the success of our enterprise? can I, for an instant, cease to devote my poor abilities to advance the progress of the good cause in which we are engaged? Neither, Gentlemen, will I affect to hide, on the present occasion, the feelings of unmixed joy which I experience in the reflection, that the Infirmary of my native county has the honour of receiving within its venerable walls, the first meeting that is called for carrying into effect the admirable purposes we have in view: because I feel that the more subservient such institutions can be made to the advancement of medical knowledge, the more instrumental will they ever be, in relieving the afflictions of the sick poor who seek an asylum within their walls. The benefits which arise from the association of men, for the advancement of general science, have been long felt and acknowledged. Witness, more especially, the recent establishment of the "British Association for the advancement of Science," in |