the city of our destination. Here we crossed the river, about a quarter of a mile wide, on a pontoon bridge.

We immediately reported to the surgeon in charge and were each assigned to the care of a hospital. We then, for the first time, realized in its full force the magnitude of the exigency which had called us out. Thirty-five thousand helpless, wounded men, a large part of whom now lay within the limits of the little city, where a short time before ten thousand had almost abandoned their homes and were forced to leave to our soldiers their houses and shelter, in which the wounded men were to be cared for. Every building in the city, public and private, were literally packed with suffering soldiers, all dying.

Here was a field of experiences from which has grown volumes of valuable material, and I trust you will pardon me for adding two or three incidents which occurred during our few weeks stay.

The first effort of the surgeons was in the direction of bringing order out of chaos, getting the men off the floor and on to such stretchers and cots as could be provided or improvised, under such unfavorable circumstances.

Dr. Newell's hospital was some distance away from mine and I had seen but little of him until one morning, four or five days after our arrival, he stepped nervously into my department and in his own peculiar manner, said "I want you to see one of my men, amputation of the thigh, stump looks bad, everything going wrong, come immediately if you can.” I went with him at once, and soon found the condition of affairs had not been exaggerated. The old deep flap operation had been made at the junction of the lower and middle third, the stitches had mostly given away, the flaps were swollen and gaping, color bad, discharge copious and very offensive. Upon a close inspection, I thought I saw something resembling a foreign body deeply imbedded at the base of the flaps. I borrowed the doctor's forceps and caught hold of it, and made gentle traction. It yielded and I used more force. The foreign substance came, but did not seem to end but continued to come. I stepped back, partly from astonishment, but still retained my grasp, and at last it came, to our surprise, like the ribbon from the mouth of a skillful juggler, until three yards of narrow cotton bandage had been removed, entirely covered with maggots and matter. The doctor looked on with amazement and consternation for a moment, then turned pale and fell fainting to the floor, from the effects of which he did not recover for forty-eight hours.

The bandage had, no doubt, been hastily packed in upon the field for the purpose of checking venous hemorrhage, and the messenger of mercy who had placed it there never saw his patient again or had any opportunity to inform his subsequent attendant of its existence.

In one of our walks about town one day we met at the door of a hospital a surgeon of one of the Massachusetts regiments, who requested us to assist him in the removal of a bullet from the thigh of one of his in

mates. The doctor kindly gave him chloroform and the young surgeon proceeded with the operation. By an unfortunate stroke of his knife, he made a deep cut in the index finger of his left hand. Fully realizing the danger of septic poison, his knives having been in constant service, he handed the knife to me with the request that I complete the operation, The abscess was incised and at its bottom was found the ball, which upon being removed and washed occasioned no little surprise, when it was found to have been thoroughly cemented to the inside of a regulation button. The theory of those who saw it was that it must have gone through the man in front, taking in its passage the button from the rear of his coat and still have retained sufficient momentum to bury itself deeply in the soft tissues of the thigh as found.

Courage is as essential on the part of an individual in fighting to success the battle of life as patriotism on the part of the masses in protecting the life and honor of the nation. The truthfulness of this proposition was finely illustrated by the case of a young soldier belonging to one of the New York regiments, who had received a gun-shot wound through the abdomen, wounding the ascending colon, through which fecal matter was constantly passing. The patient was lying upon the floor in a hopeless condition of despondency, having been told by his comrades that he must die. He was a man of fine physique and to all appearances the possessor of a large amount of recuperative power, which manifested itself later on. He indicated his condition to me, as one without hope or courage, when he said he was just waiting for death. When he was told that death might not absolutely result from his wound, he seemed to gather courage in a moment, a change at once came over him and he declared he would make a fight for life, which he did, and a heroic one. Little could be done for him other than to place him upon a stretcher with a perforated bottom, and by constant vigilance and care the wound was kept scrupulously clean, and by the end of eighteen days his external wound was closed, and he had a full movement of the bowels by the natural passage, and he was well on the highway to perfect health. Gentlemen, I feel honored by your presence here tonight, and proud of the fact that I am a member of this body. I am profoundly grateful for the honor you have bestowed upon me in making me your presiding officer upon this occasion. Such a compliment deserves to be acknowledged by a more labored and learned address, but judging from your former kinduess and consideration under like circumstances, I know you will accept this poor offering I have to give and allow me to close.

The special committee on Medical Legislation, &c., appointed one year ago, made the following report, through the chairman, Dr. C. F, Branch, of Newport:

REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE.

Mr. President and Gentlemen:

In accordance with a resolution passed by this Society one year ago— to the effect that a Committee of three be appointed by the Society, who should make a thorough canvass of the State, and thus attempt to get at the number of practitioners of medicine in our State who are following their practice under the protection of a "bogus diploma,"-to look up the evidence of the need of legislation to regulate the practice of medicine in the State-and therefrom determine the necessity of establishing a central board of license censors-and that a report be rendered to the next annual meeting of the Society,

As chairman of that committee, I would respectfully report that 562 physicians in our State have been interviewed, by mail, with a half sheet enclosed in a return, printed envelope, upon which was stated the substance of the resolution, and also these questions:

Give your full name and residence?

From what Medical College did you obtain your degree?

Give date of graduation?

Are you a graduate of any Literary Institution, College, Academy or High School?

Have you ever taken out a license?

Of the 562 physicians thus interrogated, 312 have very kindly responded-and exactly 250 have either neglected to reply, or wilfully shunned the light task asked of them—or, but about sixty per cent. have taken any notice of the question.

Of the 312 who have responded, 283 are of Regular or Old School; 19 are from our Homœopathic brethren, and 10 are from the Eclectics.

Of the 312 but 164 have procured licenses to the practice under our present laws, though 62 of the 312 are of those who had been in actual practice in our State at the date of the law requiring a license, which five years of actual practice made such practitioners exempt from the workings of the law.

Adding to the list such of those as are licensed it makes a total of 226 practitioners who are licensed, and the balance of 86 practitioners who are not licensed, but who should be.

I know of no way to settle this question about the remaining 250 doctors who have not been heard from, among whom are many, probably, of the class we intended to have reached.

Of the 312 heard from, 56 are graduates from Colleges; seventy-two have received Academic educations; thirty-four are graduates from High Schools; one hundred and forty-seven have received only a common school education, and three failed to reply to the question relative to education, hence we may infer their school privileges were limited, as in truth some of their replies would indicate,

It is noticeable that many who received a college education are graduates from our State University or Middlebury College, while a majority are those who attained their degree of M. D. at our deservedly popular State Medical School, at the seat of our University at Burlington.

Every one who has replied to our questions has a diploma, giving date of graduation, together with the name of the college, which in every instance has been an institution which we would recognize as being among those which the profession generally recognize.

I regret that the matter of "bogus diplomas" has not been better ventilated, but, as it was impossible to visit the different towns, and personally investigate this matter, your committee have been powerless to satisfy themselves, and thus are unable to answer this question to the satisfaction of the Society.

It is apparent that there is need of increased legislation to further regulate the practice of medicine in our State. Even our present laws need to be amended, and standing shoulder to shoulder as a Society, see to it that they are enforced.

What man would be suffered to enter the bar of Justice and plead the cause of right or wrong unless he were qualified?

Who among you could enter a pulpit and preach the doctrines of our Great Physician without first being ordained?

Why should it be less easier for any of us to attempt the practice of medicine, midwifery or surgery without first giving evidence of our fitness for that profession, which is expected to minister its benefactions to all classes, chastely, cautiously and honestly.

With regard to the establishment of a central board of license censors. We are cognizant of the fact that many of our sister States have but recently enacted laws which will tend to regulate the practice of medicine within their borders, although Gov. Jackson, of Maryland, has lately vetoed the Medical Bill, as passed by the General Assembly, and the profession are left for another period of two years without protection from the annual invasion of medical quacks squeezed out of other States. To say the least, it shows a spirit of narrow minded prejudice unworthy a cultivated and enlightened executive.

It would be conjectural to predict what may be done at this term of our Legislature

I am aware that from the general makeup of our assemblies that it would be difficult to change our entire law of medicine.

Politicians attach but trifling weight to medical opinions or wishes. If this were because these opinions are weak, and these wishes impracticable, or hurtful, then such treatment might be endured as being of educational value. But this is not the case.

If the profession in Vermont would retain their self respect, and secure their just requests, then let us organize and work together, not forgetting

that a body of men representing an important idea are of no use in poli

Dr. Dutton, of Rutland, of bogus college fame, arose and proceeded to address the Society on the subject of "Myself and my so-called bogus college." In the midst of his remarks the Society adjourned.

After adjournment the Society met in the dining room of the Pavilion for the annual banquet. The exercises were in charge of Dr. H. D. Holton, Anniversary chairman. Between fifty and sixty members of the Society were present.

We also had the pleasure of entertaining Gov. C. S. Page, and several prominent members of the Legislature, besides the delegates from Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

After the the substantial portion of the banquet was disposed of, a very enjoyable hour was spent in speech making, stories, &c. At midnight the Society disbanded after singing "Auld Lang Syne."