ADDRESS OF N. S. DAVIS,

PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION.

GENTLEMEN OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION:

IN entering upon the discharge of those duties imposed on me by your too generous partiality, one short year since, I was constrained to do it with expressions of deep regret, that the great struggle for subduing a gigantic rebellion was still continuing; and that in consequence, the seats of many of our professional brethren whose cordial hands and warm hearts had so often greeted us, were still vacant. Those expressions of regret were accompanied by the hope, that, before the day for this annual gathering would come, the dark and desolating cloud of war would be broken, and give place to the radiant bow of peace, with former friendships restored and our National Union unbroken. It is my highest pleasure to congratulate you, to-day, that what we then so fondly hoped for, is now substantially accomplished. The cherished flag of our country again waves in triumph over every part of our almost boundless domain; and the patriotic legions. who have borne it proudly, on so many bloody fields of human strife, are returning to their peaceful firesides, decorated with wreaths of victory and enshrined in a nation's gratitude.

But our congratulations, to day, are still mingled with a deep shade of sadness. Sadness, that so many of our countrymen have been compelled to sacrifice their lives in defence of the integrity and perpetuity of our government. Sadness, that so many of our professional brethren have been constrained to abandon the peaceful pursuit of their humane calling at home, and sacrifice comfort, health, and, sometimes, life, in the noble effort to mitigate the calamities and sufferings of war. And a deeper, more enduring sadness, that to the desperate wickedness of treason, has been added

the darkest crime that can disgrace human nature, the deliberate murder of the Chief Magistrate of this great Republic. Let us hope, however, that in this act, the climax of human wickedness has been reached; that the cup of our national calamities has been drunk to its bitterest dregs; and with becoming humility, in the true spirit of our humane calling, let us implore the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe to make our reunion one of hearts as well as States; and our great nation, one in which labor shall everywhere receive its just reward, whether in the workshops and humble cottages of the North, or on the sunny plantations of the South.

By a natural transition, the mind turns from these reflections to the work of death in our own ranks, since our last annual interchange of greetings. A few months since, one who has filled the highest position in the gift of this Association with unrivalled ability, and whose professional skill, ripe scholarship, and noble Christian deportment had endeared him to us all, was called upon to cease his earthly toil and enter upon a higher and a holier existence.

And at the very hour when our profession was bowed in full sympathy with the national grief for the loss of its Chief Magistrate, our cup of affliction was made to overflow afresh by the final departure of one who, by universal consent, had occupied for many years the highest position, especially in the surgical department of our profession, not only in America but throughout the civilized world. Need I mention the names of Jonathan Knight, of New Haven, and Valentine Mott, of New York?

After long lives, ardently and successfully devoted to the dearest interests of humanity, full of years and full of honors, peacefully they have gone to their eternal rest. But their names, their works, and their noble examples are left to us and the generations that will follow. Nor has the work of the destroyer been limited. to these; for within a few months past Thos. D. Mitchell, of Philadelphia; William E. Coale, of Boston; and Sylvester D. Willard, of Albany-all members of this Association, and eminent in the profession-have been released from their earthly labors.

With this slight and imperfect tribute to the memory of those whom we shall see no more in our midst, permit me to occupy your attention with some reflections upon the past history, present organization, and future prospects of this great National Medical Association. In submitting these reflections, I shall assume