ADDRESS OF HARVEY LINDSLY, PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. GENTLEMEN OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: THE flight of time, in its rapid course, has once more brought together the representatives of the medical profession, and we again meet in that section of our favored land whose history is most vividly emblematic of the progress of American power, its magic increase, and its almost boundless extent. This beautiful city, now teeming with an overflowing population, distinguished by its wealth, enterprise, and commerce, connected by its railroads and magnificent steamers with every part of the great West-with its refined society, its elevated educational institutions, its numerous churches, its noble charities-within the memory of many of our number was only an inconsiderable village, unknown, and without a place upon the map of the world. May our profession keep pace-in respectability, progress, and usefulness, with the unexampled growth of our great countryand with the blessing of a superintending Providence, may we thus continue to meet in harmony and concord, as long as the Ohio and the Mississippi shall roll their ceaseless floods in fraternal union to the boundless ocean. My able predecessor, in the last annual address, has told you what our Association has done, during the brief period of its existence, for the improvement of medical education, the advancement of medical science, and the elevation of the medical profession. I propose to devote the half hour, usually allotted to this exercise, in discussing one or two points, in which changes may, perhaps, be advantageously made in our mode of transacting the business that calls us together-and closing with some observations of a more general character. And I would first take the liberty of suggesting the great importance of adhering strictly to the order of business as laid down in our Constitution. That after the preliminary arrangements, relating exclusively to the organization of the Association, as the election of officers, &c., have been completed, the chief object of our meetings, viz., the reading of the reports of the regular committees, should be commenced and proceeded with, without interruption, till all have been presented. This certainly is the least that can with propriety be given to gentlemen, who have spent much time and devoted earnest labor to the preparation of reports, honorable to themselves and to the profession, and calculated to be useful to the community. It is earnestly to be hoped that the injustice inflicted at the last annual meeting, of neglecting to call for the reports of several of the most laborious and valuable committees, will never be repeated. Allow me, too, to invite attention to what seems a serious defect in the mode in which the peculiar duties of the Nominating Committee are performed. The practice of placing upon that committee one member from each State and Territory, with an equal vote, without reference to the number of delegates he may represent, is clearly in violation of the fundamental principle of representative government. One State, for example, may send eighty delegates, and another only one, and yet according to our present plan, in the Nominating Committee, the former would have no more weight or influence than the latter. I would propose that hereafter this committee be composed as at present, of one member from each delegation; but that when the committee is organized, each member's vote be counted as equal to the whole number present from his district or territory. The number in attendance from each State, being certified by the Secretary, there need be no confusion, delay, or uncertainty in taking the vote. With great deference I would submit, that this change would be both just and expedient; just, because in all bodies the representation should as far as possible be in proportion to the number of the constituency; expedient, because such an arrangement would be a strong inducement in the various bodies represented to send a large delegation, thus increasing the interest and adding to the importance of our annual meetings. In connection with this subject, I would recommend that it be made the duty of the Secretaries to prepare for the Committee of Nominations a complete list of all the subjects referred to committees at former meetings, together with the names placed on such committees. This would greatly aid that important body in the |