I am not insensible of the responsibility which he conferred upon me, but I am persuaded that you will not expect of me on this occasion that I indulge in a flight of oratory or make an ostentatious display or gaudy exhibition, which would neither suit the disposition of the speaker nor the importance and dignity of the occasion, but I desire to extend to you a most hearty welcome in behalf of the city of Fitzgerald. I do not know much about your association, but from what I have been told and from what I have read, I understand that you have one of the greatest and noblest associations, not only in the State of Georgia, but in the United States.

Now, my friends, I wish that I might tell you in flowery language how glad and how proud the citizens of Fitzgerald are to have you with them, and I hope that when you have spent your time here and finished your deliberations, and have gone to your homes you will have been so impressed with our city and with our local medical institutions that you will at some future time honor us with another visit of your society.

I thank you very much for this privilege and beg to deliver to you the keys of the city.

Address of Welcome in behalf of the local profession by Dr. L. S. Osborne:

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Association: It has been some twelve months since we, as a society, enjoyed the generous hospitality of that beautiful city by the sea, Savannah. These have been long months or short months, according as circumstances have placed you; months of hard work and small pay; months of worry and unrest; of mingled pleasure and pain; months of joy for some, and perchance of sorrow for others; months in which some have taken to themselves new partners for life's strenuous journey; in which many have welcomed

new lives into their family circle; in which a few have. parted with those they held most dear, while others have themselves passed to that beyond where favors are unknown, neither is there appendicitis, nor colicky babies, nor delinquent debtors.

We can not, like Savannah, point you to our magnificent waterways; we have no Tybee; no Thunderbolt; no fine harbor; no broad river; not even one little measly creek. This is a dry town. A very, very dry town. Neither can we, like the oldest city in the State, show you places of great historical renown; we have none, for we are among the youngest of Georgia's many fair cities. Thirteen years ago where Fitzgerald now is, stood only one small turpentine still, with its commissary and some dozen houses, with railroads twenty miles away. The place where you now sit was then an unbroken pine forest, and the stumps were still in the ground when yonder five-story building was begun. What we are today we have made in these few years, and we are proud of our accomplishment. But how small, how pitifully small, is this record of our little achievements, when compared with the history of that grand science whose devotees we are. A science whose beginning was, when mother Eve handed that lemon, in the guise of an apple, to our father Adam, and whose history goes so far back that its birth was registered with the first recorded cry of pain from human lips; which goes back to the remote ages of Mongolian record; back into the fabled days of Egypt, into the temples of Canopus and Fulcan; into legendary Greece; to Esculapeus and the Alscepiadae. Wonderful, most wonderful history, how fascinating its gradual unfolding through ages that were built of the centuries before the coming of the Savior gave to Christian civilization a point from which to count time. And

through all that time, and through the Christian era to the dazzling professionalism of the twentieth century, from the mystic medicine of the sun to the flash of the X-ray, the human family has ever knelt in the temple of Isis, and bowed while it received the prescription from the attending physician. Society has, by written and unwritten law, ever thrown around the physician the greatest protection and the greatest privilege. He enters the citadel and sanctuary of the home, and it hands to him the keys to both body and mind. It sinks back upon its pallet of pain, and facing even the great unknown, yields to his treatment with a faith that is marvelous, and a confidence that is sublime. Society requires of him, by inexorable though unwritten law, that he be not only a profound and progressive student of his science; not only a skillful and scientific practician, but that he be a man; one whose honor is inviolable, and whose association is always welcome.

My brothers, the Medical Society of Irwin and Ben Hill counties is young in years and few in numbers, but the hearts of its members to-day are full of pleasure in being able to welcome you to this, our home. Like all young things, we are imbued with the spirit of generosity, especially with the possessions of others, therefore we say to you, behold Fitzgerald, the Colony City! In all its newness and its roughness! Such as you see it, it is yours, take it and use it, do what you will with it. and us. You are very welcome. We are glad to have you with us. We have eagerly anticipated this pleasure since last we met, and now that you are here, in the name of our Society, I bid you welcome, welcome, thrice welcome!

Dr. R. B. Barron, of Macon, responded to the address of welcome. He said:

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Association: Your words seem to have the true ring of sincerity; they seem to come from the heart; and, in behalf of the Medical Association of Georgia, I wish to say to you that we appreciate them. It is a pleasure for us to be with you. We look upon your city as one of the most remarkable in the State; founded, as it was, by the men who wore the blue, it seems to us that they were guided to this locality where the revered head of the Southern Confederacy played so important a part in the closing scenes of that remarkable conflict and strife which is now so long past that those who hated each other now dwell in the sweetest peace and harmony.

Your city is remarkable in other respects. You have transformed the community of the wiregrass section into a land of bright prospects and happiness, wherein there are many evidences of industries being organized and carried on. You have caused the country to blossom as a rose, and all this has been accomplished by the combined efforts of the blue and the gray.

Friends, we most heartily accept your cordial welcome. We will break bread with you because we know that your hospitality is both honest and sincere, and, taking you at your word, we will make ourselves at home. In behalf of the Medical Association of Georgia, let me thank you not only for your very kind welcome, but for the great privilege of being with you.

The next order was the reading of the minutes of the House of Delegates of the previous day. (See minutes of the House of Delegates) which were adopted.

MINUTES OF HOUSE OF DELEGATES.

FITZGERALD, GA., April 14, 1908.

HOUSE OF DELEGATES.

The first session of the House of Delegates was called to order at 8 p.m. by President M. A. Clark, of Macon.

The report of the Committee on Scientific Work was called for and, in the absence of the chairman, Dr. Rals⚫ton Lattimore, Savannah, the secretary stated that the committee had sent out notices to members requesting papers, and at a meeting in Macon the papers had been examined and the program prepared. Reports from the different counties showed a majority in favor of not having a division of the scientific work.

In order to have all the papers read the committee decided to have the scientific sessions devoted exclusively to their reading, and to have the House of Delegates transact all business and report at the regular meetings. In the work of getting up the scientific exhibit the committee had been favored by Dr. Walter Wyman, Surgeon-General of Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, and Dr. M. J. Rosenau, Director Hygienic Laboratory, with an exhibit which had been prepared by Dr. Rosenau especially for this meeting, which would include a demonstration of the interstate control of vaccines, viruses and antitoxic serums, and illustrations of the hookworm disease. It was decided to have this exhibit in a room adjoining the one in which the general sessions are held, in order that it might not interfere with the regular meetings.

On motion the report was adopted.

The next order was reports from Councillors. Re