Mr. President and Members of the Society: The very pleasant task has been assigned me of welcoming you to Cincinnati. What I say shall have the merit of brevity, for I know the importance and interest of the paper to which you are yet to listen. We are heartily glad to see you here because we have felt that the session of the Association would be education to us and to the community. We can do but little to rival the hospitality of the eastern cities in which you have usually held your meetings, but we hope that from your educational standpoint it will not prove unwise to have accepted an invitation west of the Allegheny mountains. Our interest in your work will be stimulated and the public appreciation of its value will be strengthened by thus bringing it and its ripening fruits to the attention of the people in the newer as well as the older parts of the country. For your work's sake, then, if not for your own, we hope that your visit may seem profitable.