Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1874-10-20


angels, whose voice is ever music and
whose touch is ever healing at the bed
side of pain, even in the moments of
sorest anguish, it 10 your happy mis-
sion to bring hope to the despairing,
confluence to the hoping, ease to the
suffering. and strength to the feeble
AS ministers then, self dedicated to the
relief and comfort Of the sick and az
flicted of your fellow men, we bid you
welcome. You are now come togeth-
er from long distances and every part
of the State, often, 10 doubt, at much
personal Inconvenience, to compare
Opinins and interchange experiences.
so that, if happily, any one of you
shall, in his practice in q single case
or province of your profession, have
found better way to better RESULTS
than had been previously reached you
may communicate it to the rest, and
thus all contribute to extend to all
men every where, the benefits of your
discoveries. 1t is noble mission,
and worthy of all praise and support.
In this character then also of mission
aries in the great cause of humanity
in its broader and higher aspects, we
again bid you welcome and God speed
But the people OF Abingdon have be-
sides, q special cause for warmly
greeting you. You come from all
parts of Va. so do we. At the mouth
of the defile through which. all the
rills of immigration from every part
of it poured in a great stream to cover
the mighty plains and valleys Of the
west and south, we are made up of &C.
cretiOns from all those sources. Stu
ated at the extremity of the State, i'm a
stones throw, almost. of n. c., and
Tenn, on the South and west, and
not much farther from KY, on the
north, and having the friendliest rela-
lions with allO them, yet do our
thoughts and feelings turn ever nat
urRlly and most affectionately, to those
parent springs in the east, from which
We derive our lineage. Still to our pa
rent turn-and welcome as brothers
with q catholic Virginianism that
knows no distinction of sections, all
who may chance to come among US,
for any reason, from any part of our
loved ancestral homestead. For this
cause, too. we tender you frGternal
greeting, and bid you thrice welcome.
But | viii nOtdetain you longer. gen.
tlemen, from the earnest laboTs that
await You. / trust they will prove
able, useful, honorable Gnd agreeable,
and may so result, as to link the name
of abingdon with your own, in the
grateful memories of men for some act
achieved by you here, some new nd
vance in those fields of science which
still lie, vast and un6xplOred, in the
domains of primeval night. which
shall, in some signal and memorable
manner, rebound TO the benefit of
your kind.
On the part of the Abingdon
Academy Of Medicine was then
delivered the following address of
welcome by DIR. E. M. Campbell
INr. President and Gentlemen Of
the Medical Society Of Tiryiaia:-It is
my pleasure, as the representative
of THE Abingdon Academy of Medi-
cine, to cordially welcome you to our
town. We regarded it as cOmpli-
ment paid us last Fall, at Norfolk,
when you resolved, unanimously. to
hold your next meeting in Abingdon.
We thought then, and still think,
that the honor conferred vas intended
for the Southern part of the State,
rather than for any village or Society
ia it. We are glad of your as, en-
bling here, aud think that much
good will result irON it.
The Medical Society Of our State
is comparatively in its infancy, and
as it aims to elevate the standard OF
Medical requirement and thereby
benefit mankind, its transactions
should be Witnessed as we'll as heard
of by the whole people. Your So
ciety has held meetings in Piedmont
in the Valley, and in Underwater, and
it now aaords me much pleasure to
extend a Virginia wei come to il
in the Trans-Alleghany.
We cannot offer for your nspec>
! ton, as StauntOn or Charlottesville
can. magnificent institutions, endowed
by the State, for the relief of the
unfortunate aud the advancement oil
letters, nor the variety of amusc-
ments or works of art that can be
seen at Richmond, the capitol city o,
this proud Old Commonwealth, nor
as Norfolk can, excursions on a. bay
upon which the navies of the worlC
may ride and be independent of the
storm, but we can ask you to loOa
upon a country whose scenery is as
beautiful as God ever made, varieC
by high mountains with their crest'
of blue, broad valleys with carpets
of green, cliffs rugged with thci
| iutting limestone. and viyified by al
atmosphere distilled in the gres
laboratory of nature, pure as the
crystal fountain that leaps from the
rugged mountain side, and more ex-
hilirsting than finest or purest wine
Conscious ourselves that the objec
and purpose of our association is fol
the elevation of our profession anC
the alienation of human suffering
conscious also Of the fact that, in III
ayes since the advent of the Saviour
of man upon earth that the world il
filled with dogmas and with doubts
as is exemplified in almostevery Crane
enterprise. invention or discovery
that has been undertaken or achIev'
ed-let us press on to the bright goa
we propose to reach, despite carper:
O., quacks, doubters or dOgmatists
This can only be done by Organization
and systematic effort.
There has been an oppression OF
the popular mind that our meetings
we're held more for the purpose o
raising fees, and putting money in the
pockets of doctors, and this feeling
has been famed and encouraged by
demagogueS quacks, and chariatans
to advance their own selfish purposes
Your meeting, ana sure, will go fal
to remove this false impression, and
aid ia establishing the fact that thu
49, a. "a ectahliS higher