Gentlemen,—My first duty, which is also a pleasure, is that of thanking you, as I do most warmly, for the honour you have conferred upon me in electing me to preside for a season over this great Association, a position which may well be called the blue ribbon of our department of medicine, rendered illustrious as it is by the names of great men who have held the office in the past. My only regret has been that in accepting it I replace one whom we should all gladly have seen in this chair, one whose enforced retirement cannot be alluded to without a feeling of loss, though we rejoice that his health is so far restored as to enable him to be amongst us to-day. For the rest, I am happy to echo the sentiment expressed by Dr. Macpherson a year ago, and to welcome my election as a token that the interests, aims and aspirations of the departments which preside over the lunacy administration of these countries are recognised as identical with those of all the other members of this Association—that, in fact, we all form one great body, united by devotion to as lofty an object as can animate the members of any merely human society.