Address of the President : the past, the present, and the future of our Association : delivered at the annual meeting of the American Surgical Association, held conjointly with the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons, Washington, D.C., September 22-25, 1891 / by Claudius H. Mastin.

  • Mastin, Claudius H. (Claudius Henry), 1826-1898.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address of the President : the past, the present, and the future of our Association : delivered at the annual meeting of the American Surgical Association, held conjointly with the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons, Washington, D.C., September 22-25, 1891 / by Claudius H. Mastin. 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.

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    MASTIN', of Philadelphia, on the 31st of May and the 1st and 2d days of June, in the year 1882. At this session a fellowship of only twenty-five were present, but the work was practical, full of zeal, and showed that the Association was to become, in the not dis- tant future, an altar upon which would annually be laid valuable contributions to surgical science ; and the world saw, even at that time, its membership was destined soon to become earnest and zealous, as laborers in the interest of human progress and human suffering. The third session was called together in the city of Cincinnati, on the 31st of May, 1883, and forty Fellows, alt told, constituted its full strength. Its first volume of Transactions, which was published after that meeting, attests the amount and value of the work which was accomplished. Everything then seemed to foreshadow a bright future, and nothing transpired to dim the occasion, save the absolute refusal of our beloved founder and president to accept a reelection to office. That great man, the Nestor of modern American surgery, the founder and the cher- ished idol of this Association, Samuel David Gross, standing without fear and without reproach, held that he had no preemp- tion right to office, and contended that he had occupied it long enough. He thought that his reelection would be at variance with the genius of our republican institutions and the habits of the American peoples. He believed that rotation in office should be the order of the day, not only among politicians, but among scientists and professional men. He felt that his highest ambi- tion, as respected this Association, had been accomplished. He appreciated clearly that the work which he began was exceeding his most sanguine expectations, and was surely destined to pass into history. We knew that we were losing the guiding hand of a great pilot, and we were loath to permit him to leave the helm of office to serve in the ranks. In the language of a gifted Fellow of this Association, “ Had the constitution conferred upon us the power, we would have put on him the royal purple, and, hailing him chief among all, have bid him wear it for life.” But he was inflexible, and that meeting was the last he ever attended. Those of us who were present on the closing day of