THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

BY W. H. NEILSON, M. D., OF MILWAUKEE.

Ladies and gentlemen of The State Medical Society: I esteem it a great honor to come before this Society in any capacity; and to come before you as your servant, the presiding officer, fills my heart with gratitude. Out of that full heart I desire to present a few thoughts to you for your consideration which are of importance to this organization and which I deem for the welfare of the Society.

The medical profession of the State of Wisconsin is the peer of any in the land, and is perfectly able to and should properly take the initiative in the needed reforms of many evils, a few of which I desire to particularize.

Ranking away up at the head of these are those which threaten the integrity of our home life, of society and of our nation. It is most lamentable that from year to year they so markedly increase that, unless the tide be turned, we can foresee but one event, the destruction of all the ties we hold most dear, with decay of our national life such as characterizzed proud but dissolute Rome. I refer to the social evil, double-headed, whose horrid fangs are gnawing deep into the heart of every stratum of society. Lewdness of life and criminal abortion are the crying evils of the day from the physician's standpoint, and he is in a position to most justly estimate their gruesome importance.

That lewdness is exceedingly prevalent is evidenced by our every-day experience: Young boys scarce out of their knickerbockers present themselvs for the treatment of loathsome diseases and display by their conversation a familiarity with vice that is simply astounding; little girls, scarce in their teens, congregate at night at street corners, apt pupils in lessons which

lead to disease and death; young men, men in middle life, the heads of families, carry about with them seeds of destruction to their wives and little ones, nor are the wives always guiltless; old men with one foot in the grave, whose thoughts should be on the great hereafter, are hurried away to experience its realities by their own excesses.

That criminal abortion is largely on the increase is a matter of common experience. The conscience of the people is becoming more and more blunted, and the facilities for procuring abortion, shameful to say, are also increasing. To the everlasting disgrace of our profession, men, and women too, find their way into it who assume to do this operation more or less scientifically; and then there is the great number of midwives who derive a considerable income from this murderous business. In this connection we should not forget the many druggists who offer more or less openly for sale, their "regulators" guaranteed never to fail. These men are equally guilty, if not more so, than those before mentioned, if there be any shades of guilt in this abominable business. What shall we say of those newspapers which violate every tenet of decency by their filthy advertisements?

What can be done to check these crimes? Moral suasion and a campaign of education conducted by 1,700 physicians ought to bring about great results. Are we not our brothers' keepers? Are we fully discharging the duty imposed upon us by our position and by our education, if we sit idly by and see our brothers and sisters rush madly on to their destruction? Along this educational line every minister of the gospel, (although the fear of the church has not the deterrent influence it formerly had) every educator, the editor of every newspaper, every druggist, the mayor and council of every city, should have placed in their hands literature which would show the full extent and the dire, far-reaching effect of the social evil. I would there