the government directs medical education, and that no one is allowed to practice medicine unqualified by a previous regular medical education, and that the name of every practitioner in the kingdom is to be found in the Medical Register, the necessity for credentials, and such a scrutiny as ours, is seen not to exist. It struck us that the British Medical Association was composed in the aggregate of a much older body of men than composes the American Medical Association. Certainly we noticed a greater number of gray beards and bald heads at Birmingham in August, than we had seen in Philadelphia in May. The assembly was marked by dignity and decorum, and much less of excitement and confusion than we sometimes find in our own meetings, which may partly be attributed to the calmness arising from greater age, and partly to the absence of any very exciting questions before the meeting. Occasionally, however, there were evidences that a scientific body of British gentlemen would prove not very unlike a similar body of Americans were there the same "bones of contention" thrown among them. The meetings of their sections were well attended, and the different papers previously announced were read and generally discussed. A standing rule governing their sections is, that the reading of no paper shall consume more than twenty minutes, nor any speaker more than ten minutes in debate. Each day, there was found upon the table, a large package of printed copies of a daily journal or bulletin, for the use of the members, which contained the names in alphabetical order, of all the members registered, with their titles and addresses when at home, and also their temporary addresses while in the city. In addition, there was to be found in it, a programme of the general business of the day, together with the title of each paper to be read before the respective sections. This was very useful, and we would respectfully suggest the adoption of a like publication for our own body. As is well known, the British Medical Association several years ago abandoned the annual publication of a volume of Transactions similar to ours, but issues instead a weekly journal, the basis of whose contents is, the articles read and discussed before the Association. As we know, under the able and very efficient supervision of Mr. Ernest Hart, the editor appointed by the Association, the British Medical Journal stands now as a success, but we learned that during its earlier years it had a very hard struggle, and brought some financial embarrassment to the body. Mr. Hart receives a salary of $1200 for his services. Since it has been lately proposed that we should adopt the system of our English brethren, and abandon the publication of our annual volume for a journal, we think it not inappropriate here to say, that, while an association journal has proved a success across the Atlantic, what we learned of the obstacles it had to surmount, and our knowledge of the differences between the British and American medical public, convince us, that the change would be undesirable if not positively prejudicial to our interests. The annual addresses in medicine, surgery, State medicine, etc., are especially interesting features in the yearly programme of the British Association, and the past year, Dr. Wilkes, Mr. Pem- . berton, and Dr. Haughton most fully sustained the interest which always attaches to their delivery. Last year, it was proposed to amend our constitution by appointing annually, orators on kindred subjects; if as much wisdom shall be exercised in the selection of appointees as seems to characterize our neighbors across the water, the change will prove of much value to us. A few years ago, the British Medical Association instituted their Annual Museum, as a part of the programme of their sessions. This new feature, the credit of which we believe is due Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, and which we very wisely adopted last year as an appendage to our meeting, added greatly to the interest of the occasion. Our national vanity induces us to say, that the museum at Philadelphia last May compared very favorably with that of our neighbors at Birmingham. The main features of each exhibition were the same, viz., the showing of apparatus, instruments, pathological specimens, drawings, and new instruments and rare books illustrating our profession. Many of the specimens had been brought from a distance, and many magnificent private collections were on exhibition. While a prime object of the British Medical Association is the cultivation of medical science, yet the cultivation of social feeling seems hardly to be a secondary consideration in the meetings of our brethren. They very wisely seem to think mortar as essential as brick in the construction of their edifice, and that the bonds of professional brotherhood, and the ties of professional unity of action, are more effectually sealed, by everything tending to the promotion of good-fellowship and pleasure in the social relations. Besides, the annual assembly of the Association seems to be looked forward to, as a week of relaxation and holiday, by a large number of the hard-working British medical men, who come from all parts of the kingdom to attend the meetings. Certainly this is the view most naturally impressing itself upon those foreign visitors at the Birmingham meeting, who were in the daily enjoyment of the most elegant social courtesies, and participated in the delightful excursions for visiting Stratford-on-Avon, Kenilworth-Castle, HewettGrange, Burnsgrove, and other places of interest, within accessible distance from the city. If our British brethren have hitherto failed to reciprocate the courtesy extended to them by our Association, by sending delegates, the circumstance is due, not to any indisposition on their part, but to the fact that our meetings take place at a season of the year when it is impossible for them to leave home. That they are always glad to see their American brethren, is sufficiently evidenced by the kindness and hospitality which they have invariably shown them, on the delivery of their credentials. JOHN D. JACKSON. |