bers of the Association and guests. The order of exercises for the afternoon and evening was announced, and, no other business appearing, the meeting adjourned.

COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES.

The sixty-ninth commencement exercises of the Albany Medical College were held at Odd Fellows' Hall, on Wednesday afternoon, May 2, 1900, at three o'clock, in the presence of a large audience. Rev. Dr. A. V. V. Raymond, President of Union University, presided, and upon the stage were seated the members of the Faculty, officers of the Alumni Association and prominent citizens.

The following was the

ORDER OF EXERCISES.

Overture-" Wanderer's Hope"

Prayer-REV. WALLACE BUTTRICK

Music-SELECTION: "The Singing Girl"

von Suppe

Herbert

Nevin

BY ANDREW VAN VRANKEN RAYMOND, D. D., LL. D.

President of Union University

Music-SERENADE: "In Venice"

Address-Prof. JAMES H. CANFIELD, M.D., LL. D.

Librarian of Columbia University

Rubens

Haig

Brill

Weidt

...Port Leyden, N. Y.

..West Rutland, Vt.

.Upper Red Hook, N. Y.

Little Falls, N. Y. ...Sandy Hill, N. Y. ..Amsterdam, N. Y.

..Schoharie, N. Y.

....West Camp, N. Y. ..Albany, N. Y.

Salem, N. Y.

Troy, N. Y. Warsaw, N. Y.

Albany, N. Y. .Gloversville, N. Y. ....Aintab, Turkey Harpersville, N. Y.

Wolcott, N. Y. ....Cohoes, N. Y. .Schenectady, N. Y. North Easton, N. Y. .Auburn, N. Y. .Little Falls, N. Y. .Penn Yan, N. Y. .South Berlin, N. Y.

....Great Barrington, Mass.

.Moriah, N. Y.

Dr. Ward presented the prizes. He read a report on the Vander Poel prize, endowed by Mrs. Gertrude W. Vander Poel, in memory of her husband, the late S. Oakley Vander Poel, M. D., for many years a professor in the college, stating that this prize, consisting of a clinical microscope and accessories, offered to the senior student passing the best bedside examination in general medicine, had been awarded to Dr. Thomas H. Cunningham, and that at the competitive examination for hospital positions, the following appointments had been made: Albany Hospital, Drs. Ernest A. Sweet, Luther J. Emerick, Thomas H. Cunningham and Arthur A. Will; St. Peter's Hospital, Drs. George P. Coopernail and Waldron A. Stearns; Ellis Hospital, Schenectady, Dr. Peter McPartlon; Cohoes City Hospital, Dr. Reid Gilmore.

The prize offered by Drs. Vander Veer and MacDonald for the best report of the surgical clinics was awarded to Dr. Reid Gilmore, and that offered by Drs. Hailes and Morrow for the second best report was awarded to Dr. William E. Curtin.

The prize consisting of an ophthalmoscope, offered by Dr. Merrill for the best report of the eye and ear clinics, was awarded to Dr. George P. Coopernail.

The Townsend Physiological prize endowed by the late Professor Franklin Townsend, Jr., M. D., was awarded to Mr. John

C. Merchant, for passing the best examination in physiology at the end of the first year of study.

Dr. Boyd's prize to the student passing the best final examination in obstetrics was awarded to Dr. Thomas H. Cunningham.

The prize consisting of a case of surgical instruments, offered to the senior student passing the best final examination, by Dr. T. W. Nellis, was awarded to Dr. Thomas H. Cunningham.

The prize offered by Dr. H. R. Powell to the second-year student passing the best final examination, consisting of a general operating case, was awarded to Mr. John H. Gutmann.

A prize consisting of Gross' complete pocket case of instruments, offered by A. B. Huested & Co. to the first-year student passing the best final examination, was awarded to Mr. Frank Keator.

Dr. Bigelow's prize for the best dry preparation of the nose and nasopharynx was awarded to Mr. Arthur F. Holding, Jr.

Dr. Blumer's prize, consisting of a microscope and accessories, to the second-year student presenting the best record for laboratory work in pathological anatomy, was awarded to Mr. John H. Gutmann.

Dr. Stillman's prizes to the student passing the best final examination on the history of medicine, instrument and literature, Mr. E. N. Reed and Mr. J. P .Talmadge, respectively.

THE ALUMNI DINNER.

The twenty-seventh annual dinner of the Alumni Association was held at the "Ten Eyck" on Wednesday evening, May 2d, 1900, at half past eight o'clock. About one hundred and fifty were present, including members of the Association, the guests and members of the Graduating Class.

After the tables had been cleared and cigars passed, the following toasts were responded to, Dr. Albert Vander Veer acting as

toastmaster:

1. "The President Elect," Dr. Thomas D. Crothers.

2. "Our Ex-Presidents," Dr. James H. Mitchell.

3. "The Law Department of Union University," Dean J. Newton Fiero.

4. "The City of Albany," Hon. Arthur L. Andrews.

5. "The Clergy," Rev. William Prall, Ph. D.

6. "The Benefits of High School Education," Dr. Herman Bendell.

7. "The Judiciary," Justice Alden Chester.

8. "The State Board of Medical Examiners," Dr. Maurice J. Lewi.

9. "The Board of Trustees," Hon. Amasa J. Parker. 10. "Medical Legislation," Dr. Arthur G. Root.

11. "The Bender Laboratory," Dr. George Blumer.

In closing, Dr. Vander Veer announced that an alumnus of the college, Dr. C. C. Schuyler, of Plattsburgh, N. Y., had provided for an annual award of one hundred dollars for the best essay by a graduate of the college, upon a subject to be assigned.

Correspondence

LONDON LETTER.

LONDON, May 5, 1900.

TO THE ANNALS:

The pleasures of a stay in London, whether it be long or short, depend entirely upon individual tastes and temperament. If one is interested in all that is old and little that is new and has a tendency to move slowly and deliberately he can be contented and happy; on the other hand, if one is American and wishes things in true American style and expects to find the modern comforts and conveniences of his average home city, he will be miserable and constantly find things to irritate him. The fascinations of Westminster and the Royal Tombs, National Gallery. St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower will charm the most complacent and restless mind alike, and the student of English history will, at every turn, find land-marks of a most substantial nature to shape the pictures in his imagination and clinch in his memory the chief events of a great nation's career. He can dine in the banquet room of Crosby Hall where Richard III lived when Duke of Gloucester, admire the dignity of its architecture and enjoy his dinner the more perhaps when told that it was cooked in the original grill. Or he may eat and drink at the same table and sit in the same chair in the "Cheshyre Cheese" in old Fleet street, the place that the immortal Johnson loved so well. Or he may look upon the Old Curiosity Shop of Charles Dickens with varying emotions. The student of class life will find an immense field

for observation, study and reflection. In no other city in the world will he find greater squalor, or seemingly greater content in misery and poverty. He wonders at the freedom and publicity of the social evil and drinking and in noting the widespread influence of the one and the prevalence of the other in every class, he will be forced to predict a gradual moral, mental and physical degeneration of the people of the nation. The truth of such a prediction only the future and perhaps remote generation can decide.

The characteristics of the general history of London necessarily enter into and influence the medical life. The buildings which mark the mile-stones of the nation's progress in the science of medicine have been preserved with fidelity, love and pride and these same instincts, added to by an almost boundless generosity have, for centuries, maintained hospitals for the care of the indigent sick and will continue to maintain them in all probability for centuries to come. The government gives no assistance whatever and cannot be looked to for any. I think that the prevailing system in America is much better, where every municipal government does its share in the care and maintenance of the sick poor and there is no country where they are better cared for.

The hospital which has attracted me especially is Saint Bartholomew, or "Old Bart" as it is affectionately called-a group of massive stone buildings surrounding a central court, impressive in their dignity and solidity, harsh and cold perhaps but loved by the historian, scientist and humanitarian alike; for the stones in the walls have witnessed many of the advancing strides of medicine through its modern history and harboured some of its greatest teachers. It was founded by Rahere in 1123, soon after made a parish and still has its chapel, Saint Bartholomew, the Less. Harvey was elected physician to the hospital in 1609, holding the position for thirty-four years. In the same wards over a century later John Hunter pursued his studies and Abernethy instituted his course of lectures. The medical school in connection with the hospital dates from 1662 and is one of the oldest in the world. The wards of the hospital are still heated by old fireplaces and the nearest approach to the modern hospital is seen in one of the operating rooms, which has a mosaic floor, alabaster walls and ceiling and exposed plumbing. The paintings in the grand staircase, executed gratuitously by Hogarth are