Dr. R. C. S. REED, of Ohio, spoke of the many unpleasant features attending the appearance in court of physicians summoned by one side of the case to give evidence. He thought that medical experts should be called by the court or State.

Dr. C. N. HEWITT, of Minnesota, related his experience as an expert, being very similar to that of the other speakers. Dr. HIBBERD offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Section of State Medicine deems it advisable, and more conducive to the ends of justice, that medical men called as expert witnesses should be subpoenaed directly by the court, instead of as now, to be called by either side.

The subject was further discussed by Drs. BRACKETT, of Iowa; Dr. HUGHES, Missouri; Dr. THOMAS, Georgia; Dr. VAN VELSER; Dr. ENGLISH, New Jersey, and Dr. CATLET, Missouri.

The resolution was adopted, and referred to the general body, with request to act upon it.

The following resolutions were offered by Medical Director A. L. GIHON, United States Navy, and adopted, and were ordered to be reported by the Chairman to the Association :

Resolved, That the American Medical Association heartily indorses, and commends to Congress, the proposition of the Surgeon-General of the Navy to establish at Washington, in connection with the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the Navy, and in co-operation with the American Public Health Association and the American Medical Association, a National Museum of Hygiene, which shall exhibit the history and progress of sanitary science by a collection of publications, articles, models, drawings, etc., illustrating defects and improvements in food and water supply, bedding, clothing, marine architecture, house and hospital construction and furniture, apparatus for heating, illumination, ventilation and removal of excreta and refuse, culinary, laundry, and bath facilities, and for physical culture and exercise, and whatever else tends to the preservation of health and prevention of disease.

Resolved, That this Association earnestly urges upon Congress the appropriation of the sum of ten thousand dollars, which has been recommended for the purchase of exhibits and their subsequent care and preservation; and that the Permanent Secretary shall, without delay, send a copy of these Resolutions to each member of Congress.

The Section then adjourned.

THURSDAY, June 8, 1882.

The Section was called to order, at 3 P. M., by Dr. GIHON, the Chairman.

The Secretary, Dr. SEARS, read the minutes of the previous meeting.

The following Resolutions, presented at the general session of the Association on Tuesday, on behalf of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, were referred to this Section, and taken under consideration:

Whereas, Alcoholic intemperance is a prolific cause of disease, and prevention, through the education of the people, is one of the most powerful antidotes,

Resolved, That we approve teaching the children and youth in the schools and educational institutions in this country, as facts of hygiene, the physiological dangers and evils resulting from the use of alcoholic beverages; and

Whereas, It is the acknowledged duty of the State to provide for such education of the people as is essential to good citizenship,

Resolved, That we recommend the State Legislature to enact laws requiring the physiological dangers and evils resulting from the use of alcoholic beverages taught in all schools supported by public money or under State control.

The Chair having decided to give half the time remaining to the discussion of the Resolutions, Mrs. MARY H. HUNT, of Boston, Massachusetts, was heard in their support. Dr. T. A. FOSTER, of Maine, in seconding the Resolutions, said he had abolished the use of alcohol in his practice. He had had charge of a city hospital three years, and a county jail twenty-one, and during that time averaged two cases per week of delirium tremens. He treated them without alcohol, and never lost a

case.

A discussion followed, participated in by Dr. HUGHES, of Missouri; Dr. GIHON, of the Navy; and Dr. HEWITT, of Minnesota. The latter offered the following Resolution as a substitute for those referred to the Section by the Association :

Resolved, That the Association reaffirm the Resolutions in regard to the abuse of alcoholic liquors passed at Buffalo in 1878; and further urge that all State legislatures introduce hygiene as one of the branches to be taught in the schools.

This was adopted, and ordered to be reported to the Association.

Dr. CHARLES H. HUGHES, of Missouri, then read a paper on the Rights of the Insane.

On motion, Dr. Hughes' paper was referred to the Committee of Publication.

The Chair, having reported that the Resolution respecting expert testimony had been referred to the Association, and laid on the table for the reason that it provided a specific mode of obtaining expert testimony, instead of leaving the matter to the legislation of the several States, a substitute was offered obviating the objection to the original Resolution, and unanimously adopted, and the Chairman was directed to report it to the Association.

This Resolution, as referred and unanimously adopted by the Association, is as follows:

Resolved, That it is the sense of the American Medical Association that it will be conducive to justice and the dignity of the profession if medical expert testimony can be presented to the courts without the appearance of being biased by any intention to influence either side of a case, but simply as a statement of scientific facts.

The special reports of the elected members of the Section were then taken from the table, and directed to be referred to the Committee of Publication.

The Chair appointed, as the Committee of Selection of the Section, Drs. Hewitt, Reeves, Cochrane; and as the Committee of Award, Dr. A. Nelson Bell, of New York, and Dr. Charles H. Boardman, of Minnesota.

The Section adjourned.

ADDRESS IN STATE MEDICINE.

BY ALBERT L. GIHON, A.M., M.D.,
Medical Director, United States Navy.

WHEN notified of my election as Chairman of the Section in State Medicine, I began to ponder in what terms I might congratulate the Association on the growing interest our profession was manifesting in this department of its humane mission.

Having, myself, been interested so many years in this one of its many aspects, I was glad of the opportunity of bearing testimony of its success, as I had repeatedly done of its importance.

It was, therefore, with no slight revulsion of feeling that I read the concluding paragraph of the report of the former secretary of the Section, as published in Volume XXXII of the Transactions, to wit:

"If the next annual meeting of the Section is not better supported, and more zeal and interest manifested in the work, the Secretary would certainly recommend that the Section in State Medicine be discontinued, and the entire subject left with the American Public Health Association."

The temptation was very great for me, as a vice-president of that Association and one of its most earnest followers, to come prepared simply to second the advice of Dr. Jennings. On reflection, however, I recognized that this course would be fatal to the interests of State Medicine, and an admission that sanitary considerations are not the paramount aim of medical science. Impressed with the responsibility devolving upon us as officers of the Section, the Secretary and myself, after consultation as to the best means of awakening attention to the subject, addressed a circular to several hundred members of the Association and medical men throughout the country, requesting them, if they proposed attending the thirty-third annual meeting of the Association, and desired to make any communication to the Sec