AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, a federacy of 54 constituent State and territorial medical associations, was organized in 1847. In 1939, there were 114,00o members. The objects of the association are to promote the science and art of medicine and the betterment of public health. All policies of the association are established by its House of Delegates which meets once each year at the annual session.
The House of Delegates contains about 175 delegates. which means about one delegate for every 75o members. The delegates are chosen by the houses of delegates of the State medical societies which, in turn, are chosen by the various county medical societies. The affairs of the association are conducted by nine trustees. representing various sections of the country. elected two each year by the House of Delegates to serve a term of five years.
In the headquarters office of the association are departments which produce the publications of the association and also the secretariats of the various councils. The councils of the associa tion include pharmacy and chemistry, foods, physical therapy, medical education and hospitals. industrial health. the judicial council. and the council on scientific assembly. The bureaus of the association include those on legal medicine and legislation, health education, investigation, medical economics. and exhibits. The association also maintains a chemical laboratory for the verifica tion of the composition of pharmaceutical products, and 'a library which receives more than 1.50o medical periodicals.
Significant achievements of these councils include assembling of data concerning every doctor. hospital, medical school or institution for graduate medical education in the United States. There are also more than 300.00o cards. cross-indexing every form of quackery and charlatanism. Available also are some 3.000 addresses on health for use on the radio. In the legal bureau are assembled all the laws and also all higher court decisions in the individual States having to do with medical practice and public health.
Publications of the association include The Journal of the American Medical Association (weekly), Archives of Internal Medicine, American Journal of Diseases of Children, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology, Archives of Surgery, Archives of Otolaryngology, Archives of Ophthalmology, Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicos, and Hygeia, the Health Magazine (for the general public). The headquarters at Chicago. Illinois. employ more than 63o employees. of whom approximately one-half are engaged in the printing and publishing work of the association.
Chiefly notable among the accomplishments of the American Medical Association are the 'standardization of medical education and of hospitals; the verification of the composition and claims made for ethical proprietary remedies with the publication of an annual list; the publication of reports on quacks and on nostrums. which have stimulated action by Government officials : co-opera tion with the Federal Government for providing physicians for medical service during the World \Var and for similar purposes; the widespread dissemination of information on health. using news papers, periodicals, books. and the radio : the devotion of a consid erable portion of its funds to research, and the development of ex hibits for the various world's fairs, health shows, arid similar demonstrations throughout the country. Much (1940) of its effort is devoted to determining the present status of the cost and distribution of medical service and the development of plans for obtaining a wider distribution of good medical care. (M. Fr.)