Report of the Special Committee on Ozone and other Atmospheric Con- ditions in connection with Records of the Prevalence of Diseases. May, MINUTES OF THE THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, Held in Richmond, Va., May 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th, 1881. THE Association met at Mozart Hall at 11 o'clock A. M., and was called to order by Dr. FRANK D. CUNNINGHAM, Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements. The President, Dr. JOHN T. HODGEN, of Missouri; Vice-Presidents, Dr. HENRY D. HOLTON, of Vermont, and Dr. LEVI G. HILL, of New Hampshire; the Permanent Secretary, Dr. WILLIAM B. ATKINSON, of Pennsylvania; the Assistant Secretary, Dr. J. GRATTAN CABELL, of Virginia; the Treasurer, Dr. RICHARD J. DUNGLISON, of Pennsylvania; and the Librarian, Dr. Wм. LEE, of District of Columbia, were present. Dr. H. D. HOLTON, of Vermont, Vice-President, occupied the chair. The session opened with prayer by the Right Rev. Bishop J. J. KEANE, of Virginia. Dr. CUNNINGHAM then in brief and appropriate language introduced Governor F. W. M. HOLLIDAY, of Virginia, who delivered the address of welcome. Gentlemen of the American Medical Association: In the name of your brothers in Virginia, I bid you welcome. to their capital city. I bid you welcome to its many historic associations; welcome to the beauties which nature and art have combined to bestow upon its site and surroundings; welcome to the fellowship of a common pursuit and common aims; VOL. XXXII.-2 above all, welcome to the cordial hospitality of their homes and hearts. Richmond has been the scene of great and important gatherings for more than a hundred years. From the time when the first notes were sounded which heralded the coming of the Great Republic, through all the years that have gone since then, there has not been a generation that has not witnessed convocations. here, out of whose deliberations have issued utterances which have guided in some way the destinies of men. You cannot walk these streets, nor stand upon any of the surrounding heights, that you are not in the midst of the dust or the memories of those whose lives are interwoven with the warp and woof of a people's history. But of all the conventions that ever here met, none in the height and nobility of their aims surpassed that into the faces of whose members I am now looking. The forces of the world. are not greatest amid the earthquake and the storm, but in the still and quiet agencies which make all nature bloom. Vitai progress is advanced and its true glories manifested, not by the spirit evoked amid the shout of the assembly or the strife of battle, but by the gentle genius cradled among the little groups that gathered at the grave of Lazarus, and in the garden of Gethsemane. The issues of the heart are more far-reaching and living than those of the head. Science, so-called, we agree, has a vast field in which to wield its weapons and assert its claim to rule. Its conquests are the subjugation of forces, and through its ministers, the Arts, the crowning of human life with unmeasured. blessings. There is no place for the Pessimist here and now, when he watches the current of history, and sees how each coming year is freighted with gifts, which outvie the traditions of the Golden Age. These things belong to the domain of Fact, and generate a material civilization, which is far from being the highest. But, independent of the effects upon the race, the pursuit of pure science to the individual is apt to result in the assailing of fundamental beliefs. The reason seems to be plain. The arena of the known, in which science professes to operate, is surrounded on every hand by the unknown and unknowable; and the intellect, in its pride, because unable to grasp, seeks to claim victory by denial. There is a domain of Faith just as real and substantial as that domain of Fact in which the scientist professes to move and work. The Heart must have a home as well as the Headwhose hearthstone is warmed, not by heat begotten by Nature's forces, but lighted and kept alive by unseen spirits with fire from on high. Without the elements of both, there can be no real and permanent growth, either for the individual or society. In this casket of the Body there lives the jewel of the Soul. Both must be provided for. The thoughts must be warmed and elevated by the affections. The mechanical pursuits, even the higher callings of law, statesmanship, and theology are apt to end in the purely intellectual. Not so in your high profession. Your studies take you into the loftiest ranges of science; your lives lead you into those scenes where lie the sick, the dying, and the dead, and where love and gentlest sympathy ever hold their court. You cannot in your travels in the domain of Fact get away from the visions of the beauties and charms of that realm where Faith reigns; and in your sweet communings with the spirits who live in Faith, you cannot be oblivious to the demand of those laws which bind us in the land of Fact. Thus, great as are your duties and responsibilities, equally great are your advantages and opportunities. In one hand you carry the torch of Science, throwing its light along the onward, upward way where, on every hand "Excelsior" is written, and where, alas! lie the wrecks of many fortunes; in the other, you carry the lamp of Charity; behind you follow the Virgins, to keep it supplied and trimmed, and to strew the path with sweetest flowers. I bid you cordial welcome, gentlemen, to our city, and wish you godspeed in your noble work! The Secretary next called the roll of members who had registered. A motion to dispense with the calling of the roll was laid on the table. On motion of Dr. J. M. TONER, of the District of Columbia, the list as read was accepted. |