Address of Joseph M. Toner, M.D., President of the Association.

  • Joseph Meredith Toner
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address of Joseph M. Toner, M.D., President of the Association. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    6/20 page 6
    out our country at the period when this Association carne into existence, and contrast it with one showing our present prosperous condition and numerous well-organized societies, the younger members would scarcely recognize them as representing the same profession. It is not too much to claim that this Association, by the mere moral support it gives in encouraging the formation of local medical organizations, has done immeasurable good, and added largely to this result. It fully recognizes the unity of the regular profession throughout the United States. At the same time it has erected a standard of medical excellence and ethical esprit du corps never before attained in America, and has persistently and publicly held them up for admiration and adoption. It has drawn with distinctness a line that separates the regular from the irregular practitioner, which will in the future as in the past be firmly main- tained. And it is desirable, as far as practicable, to encourage uniformity in the plan and scope of all medical societies, which, in the sphere of their influence, correspond to our civil political divisions. And, further, I think we should continue our efforts to encourage these local medical organizations until every State and county in the United States shall have its medical society, holding proper relations with each other and with this body. The Asso- ciation is now, and always has been, anxious to bring into its fold the leading physicians from every State, and from every city and village and rural district in the land, and has solicited and still invites original papers on any subject that can advance medical science. It has published^ annuall}' from its organization a volume of contributions and regular and special reports of great value in the At the present time there are over 1200. The first medical organization in the United States that I liave seen any reference to was one in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1741. Another was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1765, of which John Morgan was a promoter and an active member. In 1766, the New Jersey Medical Society was formed. In 1773 the Americal Medical Society was formed in Phila- delphia, Dr. William Shippen, President. In 1776, the Delaware Medical Society was formed; in 1781 the Massachusetts Medical Society; in 1784 the Connecticut Medical Society ; in 1787 the College of Pliysiciaus, Philadelphia ; in 1789 the Medical Society of South Carolina; in 1791 the New Hampshire Medical Society; in 1799 the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland. ' The Transactions, as numbered, reaches twenty-four volumes. From an over- sight of the early publishing committees, the Proceedings aud Transactions of the first two meetings (1846 and 1847), which are known as the Proceedings of the National Medical Convention, are nut included iu the series.
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image