John W. Byers

Address in Obstetrics DELIVERED AT THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

THE PRESENT POSITION AND THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF OBSTETRIC MEDICINE. MY first duty is to thank the British Medical Association for the compliment it has paid me-in inviting me to deliver the Address in Obstetrics. I feel the responsibility of my position all the more as I am confident that in selecting me the Association wished to honour that branch of medical science which, owing to the unique facilities afforded in Ireland for clinical investigation and study in maternity hospitals, has come to occupy with us a position of acknowledged pre-eminence. Occasions like this great medical meeting present fitting opportunities for reviewing the position at present occupied by the three divisions of the healing art-medicine, surgery, and obstetrics; for recording what real progress has been made in each branch; for discussing calmly and scientifically various new views, especially those pertaining to treatment; and, finally, for suggesting the lines of advance along which we may hope for still further success. It is indeed quite unnecessary for me to say anything as to the importance of obstetric medicine, which the malority of the medical profession have to

Presidential Address on the Present Position and Future Work of the British Medical Association: Delivered at the Opening of the Session of the North of Ireland Branch, October 18th, 1900

the general infection, but we have no experlence as yet to indicate whether this may prove beneficial or not. The malady is a terrible one, and demands our best efforts both to learn its exact nature and to find remedies for it. When a measure of improvement is secured by any method, it is proper to continue the treatment for long periods, and not to rest satisfied that the disorder is overcome.