Gentlemen,–The coveted position of President of this Association, which is to-day celebrating its sixty-fifth anniversary, is one to which many may aspire but few may reach, and I recognise to the full that the honour of being selected by you as worthy of this office–the highest compliment in your power to bestow–is not due to any distinction or merit in me, but arises from the fact that as your Secretary–holding an office which at least requires assiduity and patience–I have been closely associated for a longer period than has fallen to the lot of any of my predecessors with the interests and objects for which our Association has existed, viz., the promotion and cultivation of science in relation to mental disorder and improvement in the treatment of the insane.