to my applications in behalf of the association, would be vain. I will only, therefore, declare that the impression made on my mind is such as time will not efface, and that my gratitude is too great for words to express. A committee has for some time been engaged, whose endeavour has been to take advantage of the suggestions made by our numerous correspondents, and the results of their labours have been for some time widely circulated amongst the members of the profession, in a prospectus, which recites the following as the principal objects to which the attention of the association will be directed.

1st.-Collection of useful information, whether speculative or practical, through original essays, or reports of provincial hospitals, infirmaries, or dispensaries, or of private practice.

2nd. Increase of knowledge of the medical topography of England, through statistical, meteorological, geological, and botanical enquiries.

3rd. Investigation of the modifications of endemic and epidemic diseases, in different situations, and at various periods, so as to trace, so far as the present imperfect state of the art will permit, their connexions with peculiarities of soil or climate, or with the localities, habits, and occupations of the people.

4th. Advancement of medico-legal science, through succinct reports, of whatever cases may occur in provincial courts of judicature.

5th.-Maintenance of the honour and respectability of the profession, generally, in the provinces, by promoting friendly intercourse and free communication of its members; and by establishing among

them the harmony and good feeling which ought ever to characterise a liberal profession.

As one great means of carrying into effect these objects, it is proposed to hold an annual meeting of the members at some one of the provincial towns, changing the place of meeting each year; which meeting will not only be instrumental in producing friendly intercourse between all the members of the Association, however separated by distance from each other; but it will also be dedicated to the promotion of medical science, as one of the members will be annually appointed to give a history of medicine during the past year, or an oration on some subject connected with medical science, or a biographical memoir of some eminent cultivator of medical science, who may have resided in the provinces. This retrospective view of medicine alone, will, I think, stamp a considerable value upon our proceedings, because nothing can be more proper than that, at stated periods, reports should be made of the advancement of a progressive science, and nothing can be more likely to stimulate to renewed exertions those who have been toiling hard in the field of knowledge, than to look back and discover, that a harvest, more or less abundant, has been reaped as the fruit of their exertions.

Various, indeed, are the means by which our annual meeting may be found advantageous in increasing our stock of knowledge. It has been suggested by a very distinguished individual,* that a certain number of members shall be appointed

* Dr. Conolly, of Warwick.

each year; whose duty it shall be, to report on the state of medicine, in the several countries with which we have literary communication. Thus the state of the science in France, Germany, Italy, and America, would become familiar to each of us, and much interesting and valuable information could not fail thereby to be elicited. In this respect, also, the British Association for the advancement of science, may be imitated by be imitated by us with great advantage. They have appointed committees of their body to select the points in each science which most call for inquiry, and endeavour to engage competent persons to investigate them; and they attend particularly to the important object of obtaining reports in which confidence may be placed, on the recent progress, the actual state, and the deficiencies, of every department of science.

On the last of these points, the collection of reports, an able and zealous member of the British Association, Professor Whewell, says, "A collection of reports concerning the present state of science, drawn up by competent persons, is, on all accounts, much wanted; in order that scientific students may know where to begin their labours, and in order that those who pursue one branch of science, may know how to communicate with the inquirer in another. For want of this information, we perpetually find speculations published, which shew the greatest ignorance of what has been done and said on the subject to which they refer." Additional energy may, therefore, be given to our proceedings, and the zeal of our members be increased, if a certain number of them be appointed, each year, to

report at the following annual meeting, the progress of the distinct branches of medical science, during

the year.

We shall not, then, find any lack of good employment for our time at the annual meeting.

The objects to which the attention of the members in general may be directed, are also of paramount importance.

Is there not a rich mine open to the labours of our members, in the department of essays, speculative and practical? There is scarcely a branch of physiological or pathological investigation, which may not be undertaken by means of essays.

In Physiology. After all the laborious and minute researches of the anatomist, there are yet parts of the animal frame of which we know not the uses, scarcely the structure; and there are several functions of which the physiology is still very imperfect.

Of the blood, the chemical investigation has been minutely pursued. Has its physiological condition been investigated with equal care?

The actions of the heart have become the subject of much minute observation, ingenious speculation, and keen controversy. However the inquiry may terminate, the science of physic cannot fail to profit by the labour and intellect so meritoriously devoted to the research.

The respiratory process, and the changes induced by it, have been ably and zealously investigated; yet even here, there is room for more extended inquiry.

Of the brain and nervous system, the knowledge has been greatly advanced in modern times. The

structure of the brain has been much more clearly demonstrated, since the mode of treating it, by transverse sections, has been exchanged for the more rational one, of unfolding its several parts, without injuring their texture, or rudely disuniting them.

Respecting the nerves, the brilliant discoveries of Sir C. Bell constitute an æra in anatomical science. They shed around his name a lustre of no common brightness, and will extend his fame to distant climes and remote ages. They open a field, too, for further investigation, for it is highly probable that the nerves perform other functions besides those of sensation, motion, and volition; and that there are special nerves devoted to several of the more intricate processes of the animal economy, which enlightened research may yet explore.

Of the several abdominal viscera we have yet much to learn. The uses of the spleen, of the renal capsules, of the appendix cœci, are still conjectural, if not wholly unknown. The physiology of the liver is very imperfect. In fine, sedulously as anatomy and physiology have been cultivated for ages, there is still enough unascertained to excite inquiry and repay exertion.

Pathology. In pathology, the field is still more ample, for this branch of science, can hardly be regarded otherwise than in its infancy. It presents but few truths which merit the name of principles, and even the series of morbid changes from which the special diseases, recognised by nosology, result, has been hitherto very imperfectly investigated.