AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIA TION, The. On 5 May 1846, a National Med ical Convention of delegates from societies and colleges in the whole unions con vened in New York city. A second meeting was held in Philadelphia the following year and on 5 May 1847 this body resolved itself into The American Medical Association. The an nual sessions of this organization are attended by delegates representing the several constit uent State associations who assemble as the House of Delegates, transact the business and frame the policies of the organization; the ses sions are also attended by those members of the organization who qualify as Fellows and meet as the Scientific Assembly for the dis cussion of scientific subjects. This Scientific Assembly includes an opening general meeting at which the president-elect is installed as presi dent and delivers his presidential address; and 15 sections, in which are presented scientific papers on subjects related to the branch of medicine to the study of which the particular section is assigned. The following are the sections of the association: Practice of med icine; surgery, general and abdominal; obstet rics, gynecology and abdominal surgery; oph thalmology; laryngology, otology and rhinol ogy; diseases of children; pharmacology and therapeutics; pathology and physiology; stoma tology ; nervous and mental diseases; dermatol ogy; preventive medicine and public health; genitourinary diseases; orthopedic surgery; and gastro-enterology and proctology. The
constitution states: “The object of this Associa tion shall be to promote the science and art of medicine. Contributing to this end, the Asso ciation shall endeavor to unite into one com pact organization the medical profession of the United States for the purpose of fostering the growth and the diffusion of medical knowledge, of promoting friendly intercourse among American physicians, of safeguarding the ma terial interests of the medical profession, of elevating the standard of medical education, of securing the enactment and enforcement of just medical laws, of enlightening and directing pub lic opinion in regard to the broad problems of hygiene, and of representing to the world the practical accomplishment of scientific medicine?'