Two Georgia & Alabama Railway 5 per cent bonds..... 2,000.00 The investments of this Fund are: Baltimore City Stock, par value..... Two Minn. & St. Paul Railway 5 per cent, par value Two Chicago City Railway 5 per cent, par value Cash in bank December 31, 1922. Income from City Stock... Income from Minn. and St. Paul Railway. Income from Milwaukee R. & L...... Income from Chicago Railway.... Interest from Continental Trust Company.. Paid on order of committee... Cash in bank.......... $266.98 $977.68 On account Great Northern R. R. of Canada..... $513.97 Paid on order of committee.. 16.19 206.98 GENTLEMEN:-Pursuant to your instructions, I report I have made an audit of the Cash Transactions of your Faculty for the year ended December 31, 1922, and have found same to be correct. I have also examined the securities called for and have found same to be intact and in good order. March 14, 1923. COUNCIL Respectfully submitted, A. B. BATEMAN. Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the House of Delegates: The Council has held its regular meetings throughout the fiscal year, and they have been fully attended. The members have taken genuine interest in their duties. The routine reports of other officers leave little for the Council's Chairman to report. The new book stacks have been erected and are in use. It was a good investment, for the room was sorely needed. Recently the State Board of Medical Examiners sent to the Faculty $500 and a gift of $100 was received from a member of the Faculty, the Council added $400 making a total of $1,000 paid this year. At our last annual meeting the debt was $3,000, leaving the debt at this date, $2,000. The Council felt that the retainer fee hitherto paid to our Legal Advisor, Mr. James U. Dennis, was less than his work earned. Mr. Dennis has always responded to calls made by the Council and has often attended our meetings to advise us on doubtful questions. At a recent meeting, we added $200 to his annual retainer fee, as a voluntary tribute on our part, to his good work for the Faculty. During the Session of the State Legislature, the Council employed Mr. J. Davis Donovan as special agent at Annapolis to look after medical legislation. We did the same two years ago and succeeded in stopping some very pernicious measures because we found out about them. This last Session passed without much of importance to . us, except that part of the Governor's Reorganization Bill which affects the State Board of Medical Examiners. The report of the Board will cover this. The Council is satisfied that the very fact of our having on the spot someone who is known to be on the watch, and who will promptly report to the Council, has an excellent influence. The past year has not been very productive of suits for alleged mal-practice. One case came to trial in Baltimore and the judge took it from the jury. A second case has been postponed and two others have not progressed farther than "threats," in other words, notification to the doctor that suit would be filed and giving him opportunity to settle first. The Council has accepted defense of all these actions, and they are all we now have on hand. When our annual dues were increased a year ago, the question arose as to whether we would have to pay tax on the dues of members of the Baltimore City Medical Society. They pay $15 yearly. Mr. Dennis took the matter up with the Internal Revenue Office, and it was finally decided that we were not subject to taxation. Some of our members who subscribed in December, 1920, to the Fund for clearing off the old mortgage, have not yet paid their subscriptions. Money had to be taken from the general fund to complete this payment. It is hoped that this shortage can be replaced by payment of these old pledges. Respectfully submitted, HIRAM WOODS, STATE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS The Report of last year showed a tabulation of some interest, as presenting the range of our work in Examination and Licensure during the preceding ten years, the average number of participants for the period being 164—the highest in one year being 254, and the number in 1920 being 142. The Record for 1921 showed 145. Whether or not these figures furnish a trustworthy basis upon which to judge of future numerical additions to the Profession is perhaps indeterminable, but we do know that conditions exist which should naturally tend to deter men and women from entering the Medical Profession with the avowed purpose of deriving from its pursuit such pecuniary returns as will secure a comfortable living, and provide a fund for that period of incapacity which comes with unerring certainty if life should be prolonged. We are, of course, familiar with these conditions, and it is needless to enumerate, but notable, however, are the spread of cults and the avidity with which the laity accept their methods and assurances of relief; the constant and rapidly increasing complexity and expense involved in a course of medical study, the universal and prodigious effort of State and Nation, justified by every consideration of economy and humanity, to conserve health by preventing disease. As of old the slogan was "Millions for defence but not a cent for tribute," so the spirit of today is to spend, and spend to the utmost, to conserve health, to bulwark against disease and save our people from its ravages. Therefore, does it not appear that the field of Medicine may lose its attractiveness, and is there not much justification for the question now go prominent in current Medical literature as to the future of the Medical profession? With not a little misgiving do we attempt the determination of what now constitutes the real function of an Examining and Licensing Board. Thirty years ago when the physician's right to practice medicine and surgery was first ledged by the legislative enactment it was comparatively easy. The twofold purpose then was protection of the public from the blatant and notorious charlatan, and from those who flaunted Diplomas secured by cash payments, or compliance with the easy and indulgent terms of a Medical College whose existence was purposeless except to draw students and reap a rich pecuniary return. Such was the unfortunate situation, and it was not difficult to establish a standard of medical education and examination for License which should be the basis for legalized practice, regardless of teaching body, school or equipment. Standards and methods were established and valuable results to the profession and laity quickly followed. In the intervening period, however, marvelous advances have been made in medical research, new fountains have been opened and streams of knowledge issue which should be utilized, so far as practicable, in adding to the equipment of those whose great function is to protect mankind in our combat with disease. And this raises the question of the relationship of the Examining and Licensing Board to the ever widening field of medical research. Is it within the province of the Examining and Licensing Board to direct the scope of work by medical colleges, to prescribe a course of instruction for them to observe, or is it rather for the Board of Examiners by such methods and procedures as it regards best adapted for the purpose to limit its work to ascertainment of the qualification of those appearing for Examination? The significance of this query and the gravity of the problem is readily understood if you have familiarized yourself with the proceedings of the "Annual Congress on Medical Examination, Licensure, Public Health and Hospitals," held in Chicago March 6-10, 1922, abstracted in the various Journals, and with quite full Report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. While we are sincerely interested in every project tending to the extension of knowledge in the various departments, and bringing the results of scientific research into practical availability and use in the unceasing struggle into which our profession is engaged, it would seem that the work of the Boards of Examiners and Licensure should be rather rigidly restricted to the determination of qualification and fitness for which they were organized, and to which their efforts have been directed. The discussion of this subject, as indicated by the title of the Congress, covered a wide field and was presented by men of large experience, forceful speech and of most persuasive eloquence. It is not the purpose of this Report, nor would it be within its range to make a detailed presentation of these discussions and though there was much confusion of intellect following the reading, we have noted sentiments or opinions of value which we incorporate. In reference to "Uniformity of opportunity for internes to get service in hospitals," the question is raised, "Shall the Hospital be supervised by the State Board of Medical Examiners," to which all agreed that this "is not the function of the State Board of Licensure—that they are not in touch with the Hospitals and are not Medical Educators primarily"—with which this Board is in full accord. A declaration of great truth, but not observed as it should be, "We should select students with character who will recognize that the medical profession is a profession of service-if it is not that it is nothing." A splendid elevating sentiment to which we all subscribe, but the practicability of applying it to the enrollment or formation of the student body is far beyond our ken. There may be much truth in the statement of an educator from a leading medical school in the South, "Our Medical Students come to what they are going to be largely in spite of our training, and it does not make so much difference what they get from us, in the way of facts, as it is that they get the right spirit. If they get the spirit of being students and carry that spirit when they get into their work, so that they may study anatomy, physiology, etc., the rest of their lives and do not feel they have finished their education after graduation, we will turn out students who will go on as such indefinitely and the details we have given them in the class room are relatively unimportant." Does not that seem to be the real inspiring influence that must keep secure the medical profession in them, admiration, gratitude and support of our fellow men? If we imbibe the spirit that animated the lives of whose who have passed but whom we love and regard as our exemplars our task will be lightened and the warrant for the complicating discussion to which we have referred will be greatly minimized or entirely removed. Of far greater importance in the practical discharge of the duties of the Maryland Examining and Licensing Board and demanding close and intelligent consideration is the union of the various Govern |