Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-06-05
ANNUAL ADDRESS
ANNUAL Address
J OF Dr. J. Williamson, o. Ottumwn
President Of she Iowa state Medical
society. Delivered Before That
BODY NJ Msrshalltown, May
2Sth, 1874.

President Of she lowa State Medical
society. Delivered Before That
Body ~ Mershalltown, May
| 2Sth, 1879.
Gentlemen Of the Iosca State Medsco
Society:
The few words that l have to ofIel
on this occasion will have reference
chiefly to our society and Its work. Il
is now twenty-one years old, and may
therefore, be said to have attained it,
civil majority. That IL is in the exer'
else of its full powers of manhood We
will not claim. Twenty-one years is Q
short time, but If estimated by the
events that have transpired in on,
country, and the world, it is not a
short time; nor If estimated by the
changes that have been wrought In
our Society, is 1t short time. All
social bodies, like our own natural,
living bodies, are continually under
going metamorphosis, both destruct-
i've and conservative. Elements enter
ing into their composition to-day, fall
away tomorrow, and new ones take
their places and exercise their func-
tions. This is eminently true Of the
Iowa State Medical Society. In cast
ing our eyes over the present member
ship as represented here to-day, a very
large proportion is seen to be those
whose connection dstes back but lit
tie while ago. But q kind Providence
and love Of medical science, added
to love of this Society, permit US to-
day to look upon the frrcs of some
whose presence and counsel aided in
calling it into existence.
Weg greet them to-day as friends en-.
titled to special honor. While some
on account Of feeble vitality, have
fallen out by the way, and others have
chosen to develope their powers Of
usefulness, and pursue their ends in
dependent of us, these have shown a
steadfast devotion, and their presence
to-day testifies to an undated inter-
est.
One cannot revert to the early histo-
ry Of this Association but there comes
involuntarily into the mind, the names,
faces and voices Of some who are no
longer with us. The name of Nc
Gugin, a Witherwax, q Siviter, a
Fountain, and others that I might
name, will be perpetuated here as long
as our society shall labor to promote
the love of truth and science. We
love to linger over the memories OF
these men, into whose labors we have
entered. One man soweth and anoth-
or reapeth, is truth that finds abun-
dant illustration in the history of this
Society. To them we owe a debt OF
gratitude to be cancelled only in doing
all in our power to advance the cause
of scientific medicine.
a duty, ana q pleasant ONE we be-
lievc it would prove to be, devolves
upon some one of the survivors ia
miliar with the organization of the
Society, its early history, ana the part
different ones took to promote its
prosperity, to gather up from all avail
able sources, and put in permanent
form such information as will satisfy,
in some measure at least, the interest
that will be felt in the matter at some
future day. This is the more impera-
tive because the records of the Socie-
ty for the first six years, seem to be
irrecoverab.y lost. But, coming to
later years, it is to be regretted that
there remains so little of the real work
of the Society as to be of any particu-
lar value. The Transactions publish
ed in 1872, contain but an insignifisant
fraction of the many valuable papers
which were read at different meetings.
all of which were justly the property
Of the Society, and should have been
retained as such. Authors may rest
assured that, hereafter, any papers left
with the Secretary will not be lost
sight OF, but if possessed of real merit,
will be published in the Society's
Transactions at no distant day. II
should be the aim to publish volume
annually, but if this is not practicable,
then bi-enniaily. The effect Of such
publications upon the quality of the
matter submitted, could not be other
than beneficial in the highest degree
What improvements have these
twenty-one years of our Society wit.
messed in the art of healing? l need
not say to those who hear me, that In
no other like period of time has there
been such wonderful progress in all that
pertains to medicine. Original inves
LEGATIONS have been richly rewarded
both in this country and in Europe
and professional intercourse through
the media of books and Journals, ha.
been SO perfected ss to make the dis
coveries and inventions at once the
common property of the whole world
The physician Of the rem otest West
ern settlement carries his chloroform
chloral, bromide Of potassium, ani
whatever else is new and valuable, in
his daily rounds, no less surely than h,
Of the city. Thanks to the spirit O
enterprise, the pauper and the million
aire meet here, If nowhere else
on common ground. The surgeon o
to-day undertakes the treatment o
wounds, and performs operations tina
twenty years ago would not have bee,
justified. Antiseptics, recently intro
duced, inspire boldness and give sue
cess. The treatment of fractures ha
been greatly simplified. Adheeiv,
plaster, pulley and weight, and treat
ment BY position are all Improvement
Of the last few years. Luxations ar,
now reduced by skilfnl manipulation
ON scientific principles, where former
ly blind force was relied on. Iu til,
matter Of controlling hemorrhage, tn,
ligature 10 receding before the clamp
torsion-forceps, acupuncture pins, an,
wire loops. Operations for stone, tn
removal Of ovarian tumors, and othe
CaUftal OD0ratfOna ara undorts kou h,