MINUTES OF THE TEXAS STATE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, HELD IN DALLAS, TEXAS, APRIL 27, 28, 29 AND 30, 1886. FIRST DAY-MORNING SESSION. DALLAS, TEXAS, April 27, 1886. The Eighteenth Annual Session of the Texas State Medical Association convened in Merchants' Exchange building on this day at 10 a. m. The Association was called to order by Dr. R. H. Chilton, Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements. The Right Reverend Bishop A. C. Garret opened the session with prayer. The Mayor, Hon. John Henry Brown, spoke as follows: Gentlemen of the State Medical Convention: In behalf of the people of Dallas, it is my pleasant duty to greet you on your annual reunion from all sections of the State. Be assured, it is not the formal greeting of lip service, but a sincere tender o salutations and hospitalities, from intelligent and reflecting virtue, to the representatives of a profession which comes nearer home to our firesides, our sorrows and our inner life than any other. It has been my fortune in life-as child, boy, man—as soldier in the swamp, in the mountains and on the plains, as son, hus Minutes of Eighteenth Session. band and father, from latitude forty degrees North to the tropics in the far South, to know, to receive or to witness their tender treatment, and to love men whose lives were devoted to the healing of human ills. Some of them sit in this hall to-daymen who have strong holds on my heart. Scarcely a resident family in this city is without some such tie to one or more of our corps of physicians-a body of gentlemen of whom we are proud in the aggregation of their scholarship, their professional skill, their proverbial kindness to the lowly and distressed, their advanced positions in the knowledge of late and current discoveries in medical science, and in their general bearing as citizens and gentlemen. The great and patriotic outpouring of our people on San Jacinto day, last Wednesday, in honor of the old soldiers of the Texas Revolution, recalled to my mind the distinguished part borne in it by members of your profession. A few illustrations must suffice. Dr. Branch T. Archer, a man of great learning, after winning distinction in Virginia, came to Texas, in 1830. His fiery eloquence powerfully aroused the people in resistance to tyranny. He was president of the first revolutionary convention in 1835, Commissioner to the United States, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary of War under the Republic, and, finally, a powerful advocate of annexation. He was Anson Jones, a native of Massachusetts, and a graduate of Harvard, a physician of high rank, came in 1833. Surgeon General of the army of 1836, Minister to the United States, a Senator of the Republic, Secretary of State under President Houston, and the last President of Texas, from whose lips fell, on the 19th day of February, 1846, the last words ever spoken in the Republic, for, with their utterance, the Republic ceased and the State of Texas was born. His memorable farewell address, to which I listened, closed with the words: "The Republic of Texas is no more." Dr. Charles B. Stewart, of Montgomery, a South Carolinian and an octogenarian, deceased but recently, was a ripe scholar, a physician of the first rank, a thorough patriot and a wise legislator. His name stands second on the Declaration of Texas Independence. Dr. Thomas J. Minutes of Eighteenth Session. Gazeley was another of the signers, a man of great worth and fine intelligence. Dr. Benjamin B. Goodrich was another of similar claims to respect. In my youth it was currently understood that he had been cured of consumption in Vicksburg, Mississippi, by having the tubercle cut from his lungs by a leaden ball fired in a duel. I do not vouch for the fact, but have no reason to boubt it, as I was personally cognizant of a similar fact in Gonzales, Texas. Dr. George W. Barnett, a Tennesseean, and another signer, was an able man, a brave soldier and an honored Senator, and was killed by Indians in 1848 in the last raid ever made into Gonzales county. Lastly, I will name your late venerable associate and our late patriarch among the veterans, Dr. Ashbel Smith, alike distinguished for erudition, statecraft, professional skill, patriotism and courage. He filled honorably the posts of Surgeon-General, Secretary of State and Minister to Great Britain, afterwards serving wisely and well in the councils of the State, and gallantly as a colonel in the Confederate army. As among the earlier statesman and soldiers of Texas, all writers agree there was an unusual manifestation of talent and practical wisdom, so I unhesitatingly assert of the physicians of that period, of whom those named are but significant types. So, gentlemen of the Convention, you can appreciate the sincerity with which you are welcomed-thrice welcomed-to our city and our homes. Dr. S. D. Thruston, in his eloquent style, welcomed the Association in behalf of the Dallas County Medical Association. The Hon. Seth Shepherd gave a rousing welcome from the citizens. The hearts of the profession and people were open and warm to receive the Association and to make it a delightful and enjoyable meeting in its scientific work and social features. Minutes of Eighteenth Session. Dr. E. L. Thompson, of Dallas, introduced Dr. E. P. Becton, of Sulphur Springs, President of the Association, who then delivered the following address: GENTLEMEN: Another year, with its many trials, hardships and disappointments, and its few triumphs, has gone. Kind Providence has permitted us again to assemble as a State Medical Association. Our coming together is saddened by the reflection that some who were wont to meet with us are no more. Death has claimed for his own Ashbel Smith, W. H. Park, W. A. East, J. L. Felder, John H. P. Downman. They were good and true men, and deserve more than a passing notice. Doubtless the Committee on Necrology will do full justice to their memory. SUSPENDED MEMBERS. I would respectfully recommend that the members of this Association whose names have been dropped from the roll for non-payment of dues be reinstated on payment of the usual admission fee and one year's dues. I admit that the precedent is not a good one, but in view of the stringency of money matters, think this Association would do well at this time to relax the rule. AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Unfortunately for the honor of the profession there are men in it who are not in harmony with either the letter or spirit of our national code of ethics. The indications are that these have a well laid scheme for disrupting the American Medical Association at the coming meeting in St. Louis, using, as a pretext therefor, the action of the Association at its meeting in New Orleans last April in regard to the International Medical Congress. The representatives of the Texas State Medical Association were a unit upon that question, and sustained the National Association in its efforts to keep its altars undefiled. I would respectfully recommend that you pass such resolutions as will put emphasis to the position of the Texas State Medical Association in regard to this whole matter, and that our delegates to the National Association be instructed to carry out these reso Minutes of Eighteenth Session. lutions. The maintenance of the code of ethics in its entirety, and the moral soundness, is of far more importance to the great body of working physicians in the United States than the holding of one meeting of the International Medical Congress in our national capital. As Americans, we would be glad to have a special committee on surgery. Your attention is called to the very excellent and carefully prepared report on surgery by our special committee, a copy of which was sent me in advance of this meeting. The untiring efforts of the distinguished chairman of that committee to collect statistics of Texas surgery is truly praiseworthy. He has done a good work for the profession, and has most clearly shown that much professional good "can come out of Texas." I recommend that this committee be continued, and that all necessary expenses be paid by this Association. MEDICAL LEGISLATION. I am now, and have ever been, opposed to asking for any legislation in behalf of the medical profession. In this I am aware of the fact that I differ from a majority of this Association. I have heretofore, as a member, acquiesced in the will of the majority, and have done what I could to aid in carrying out that will. But, as President of this Association, I feel it my duty to recommend that no action be had at this meeting looking to asking the Legislature to pass any law to “regulate the practice of medicine." I believe, with my loved and lamented teacher, the great Bowling, that "medicine and things medical belong to medical men." The educated physician needs no protection, except such as the law gives every good citizen. Quacks cannot be suppressed by legal enactments. As has been truthfully said by an honored member of this Association: "They find place and favor in all professions and avocations, and are simply an outgrowth of human corruption, and doubtless will be found in all human institutions this side of the millennium." Vile impostors and pretenders are found in the pulpit, at the bar, in politics-everywhere; and every effort to rid our profession of them and to elevate the standard of honor |