Reprinted from 
Medico-Legal Journal, 
Marcl), 1889. 
NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS.* 
Ok Clark Bell*,Esq. 
AS PRESIDENT OF THE MEDICO-REGAL SOCIETY. 
Fellows of the Medico-Legal Society : 
I have to thank you for your great partiality and kind- 
ness in again placing me in this chair, with such unan- 
imity, as well as for the kind manner in which you have 
aided the chair in the very important, and responsible 
labors of the year. 
MEMBERSHIP. 
The Roll of Membership of this body, on December 31, 
.1887, was 432, composed as follows: Active, 273; cor- 
responding, 148 ; honorary, 11. 
Of these, among active members there were : Law- 
yers, 138 ; doctors, 124 ; scientists, 11. 
Of corresponding, there were only 19 lawyers, 119 
physicians, and scientists, 10. Of the honorary mem- 
bers, 5 were legal and 0 medical, making a total of legal, 
103 ; medical, 248 ; scientific, 21. There was upon the 
roll 594 members, on December 31, 1888, of whom 429 
are active, 154 corresponding, and 11 honorary. 
We have elected during the year 103 active and 10 cor- 
responding members, a total of 173, and our present 
active membership is composed among active of : Legal, 
158; medical, 254; scientific, 17. Our corresponding, of 
legal, 20 ; medical, 124, and scientific, 10, with 5 legal 
and 0 medical on the honorary list. 
So that in our total membership at the close of the 
*Pronounced. January 9, 1889. 2 
NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
past year, December 31, 1888, we had : Legal, 183 ; med- 
ical, 381, and scientific, 2 . 
We have lost by death 7 active and \ corresponding, 
making a total of 11, and our increase of active and cor- 
responding membership over deaths, resignations and 
suspensions, has been for the year : Active, 156 ; corres- 
ponding, 6. Total, 162. 
NECROLOGY. 
The loss by death among the active members has been 
seven :—-Dr. James Craig, of Jersey City ; Dr. A. J. 
Chadsey, of New York ; Hon. W. A. Dorsheimer, of 
New York; Hon. Chas. Hughes, Sandy Hill, N. Y.; 
Cornelius A. Runkle, Esq., of New York ; M. N. Miller, 
M.D., of New York, formly assistant secretary of the 
society ; Dr. 0. H. Kellogg, of Indiana ; J. E. McIntyre, 
Esq., formly secretary of this society, and late of Cali- 
fornia ; and of the corresponding members, Acliille 
Foville, M.D., of France ; J. N. Ramaer, of Holland ; 
Prof. Augustin Andrade, of Mexico ; Dr. Enrique a Fri- 
mont, of Ozuluamo, Mexico. 
THE WORK OF THE YEAR. 
The following papers have been re id before the Society 
and many of them published in the Medco-Legal Jour- 
nal : 
“Eighth Inaugural Address,” by Clark Bell, Esq.; 
“Criminal Jurisprudence,” by P. Bryce. M.D.; “Best 
Methods of Executing Criminals,” by J Mount Bleyer, 
M.D.; “ Hypnotic, Trance and Kindred Phenomena,” by 
E. P. Thwing, M.D,; “The Menopause in relation to 
Insanity,” by T. R. Buckham, M.D.; “ The Prognosis of 
Pelvic Cellulitis,” by W. Thornton Parker, M.D.; “ Pos- 
sibility of Air in Heart in Infanticide,” by F. W. Hig- 
gins, M.D.; “ The After-death Absorption of Arsenic,’ NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
3 
by Geo B. Mdler, M.D.; “ Report of Committee on Best 
Methods of Capital Punishment ” ; “ Medical Jurispru- 
dence of Inebriety,’’ by Mary Weeks Burnett, M.D.; 
“American Life as related to Inebriety,” by Edward 
Payson Thwing, M.D.; “ Rape by Boys,” by Daniel Brin- 
ton Esq., of Baltimore ; “A Case of Supposed Abortion,” 
by W. Thornton Parker, M D., of Newport; “Report 
on Nationalization of the Society,” by the President, 
Clark Bell, Esq.; 4 Is Belief in Spiritualism ever Evi- 
denc of Insanity per se f ” By M. D. Field, M.D.; “The 
Webber Murder Case, in Philadelphia,”by Wm Wilkins 
Carr, Esq., of Philadelp da ; “ The New Judicial Depart 
ure in Insanity Cases,” by Clark Bell, Esq.; “Should 
Inebriates be Punished by Death for Crime ?” by T. D. 
Crothers, M.D., of Hartford ; “ Physiology and Psychol- 
ogy of Crime,” by Rev. Wm. Tucker, LL.D., of Ohio ; 
“Hypnotism,” by Morris Ellinger, Esq.; “Euthanasia 
in Articulo Mortis,” by E. Payson Thwing, M.D.; “ Testa- 
mentary Capacity in Mental Disease,” by A. Wood Ren- 
ton, Esq., of London ; “ Report of Committee on Execu 
tion by Electricity ”; “ Death by Electricity in Capital 
Cases,” by Henry Guy Carleton, Esq.; “ Circumstantial 
Evidence in Poisoning Cases,” by John H. Wigmore, Esq. 
NATIONALIZATION OF THE SOCIETY. 
By far the most important of the labors of the Society 
during the past year has been that of assuming the 
national character and organization, which the history, 
labors and and traditions of the Society entitled it to 
accept. 
It had for many years represented the best American 
thought, upon Medical Jurisprudence in both profes- 
sions ; it was proper that it should be national and cease 
to be local in its labor. The organic law was amended. 4 
NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
Members from the various States and Territories, and 
other countries united, and at our recent election, vice- 
presidents of the body were elected from nearly every 
State and Territory in the Union, and from some foreign 
countries and colonies. To this movement so much of 
the time of the chair has been devoted that other inter- 
ests have perhaps suffered for want of proper attention. 
The accessions from other States and countries have 
been very large. It may seem invidious to name par- 
ticular States, but the palm has been closely contested 
by the greatest of the Southern States in territory, Texas, 
and the smaller State of New Hampshire, the latter of 
which has thus far furnished most of our new member- 
ship in proportion to her area and population. For this 
result in New Hampshire, I desire thus publicly to ex- 
press the thanks of the body to United States Senator 
W. E. Chandler, to whose valuable and efficient co-oper- 
ation with the chair this result is largely due, and to Dr. 
T. R. Wallace, of Texas Insane Asylum, and Hon. 
Thomas Ochiltree for the great success in Texas. 
To carry such a work into every State and Territory, 
reaching the more prominent members of the professions 
interested, is no small labor, but the coming year will 
doubtless double our labor of 1888 and make this Society 
one of the most commanding and prominent factors in 
the advancement of Forensic Medicine among civilized 
nations. 
The great success that has attended our labors in this 
respect, is also largely due, and I take pleasure in thus 
acknowledging the very efficient aid of Senator Davis, of 
Minnesota; Senator Beck, of Kentucky ; Governor 
Green, of New Jersey ; ex-Governor Hoyt, of Pennsyl- 
vania ; Judge Somerville, of Alabama ; Judge Montgom- 
ery, of Washington, D. C.; Judge Normile, of Missouri ; NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
5 
Dr. T. R. Buckham, of Michigan ; Dr. Milo A. McLelland, 
of Illinois ; ex-Gfovernor Watson C. Squire, of Washing- 
ton Territory ; Judge Wm. H. Francis, of Dakota ; and 
that distinguished body of Superintendents and assist- 
ant physicians in the Hospitals for the Insane, more 
than thirty two of whom have united with the Society 
during the year that has just closed, and who have with- 
out exception lightened the labors of the chair in this 
regard. 
Too high praise cannot be awarded to the splendid aid 
lent by the public press to the work of this body. The 
New York Herald has given it great attention. The 
New York Tribune has also given our work high endorse- 
ment and praise. The Mail and Express published the 
prize essay of Mr. Wigmore. The New York World 
published the paper of Mr. Carleton. The World and 
Sun have loaned us electrotypes, and the leading jour- 
nals of this city have extended courtesies of great import- 
ance, and are entitled to our thanks. To the Medical 
and Law journals, home and foreign, are we greatly 
indebted for like favors, and it gives me i leasure to pub- 
licly return the thanks of this body to the press for its 
cordial aid. 
THE PRIZE ESSAYS. 
Through the generosity of that public spirited mem- 
ber, Mr. Elliott F. Shepard, and the private contribu- 
tions of a few of our more enterprising members, three 
prizes were offered—one of $100, one of $75 and one of 
$50, for the first, second and third best essay on any sub- 
ject within the domain of medical jurisprudence. 
There were ten papers contributed in competition, 
and the prizes were awarded by a committee composed 
of Ex-Judge Noah Davis, Ex-Judge John F. Dillon, W. 6 
NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
G-. Stevenson, M. D., Stephen Smith, M. D., and E. W. 
Chamberlain, Esq. 
The first prize was awarded to John H. Wigmore, 
Esq., of Boston; the second to J. Hugo Grimm, Esq., of 
St. Louis, and the third to Edward M. Hyzer, Esq., of 
Janesville, Wis. Honorable mention was npide of a 
second paper by Mr. Wigmore, one by Prof. Ed. Payson 
Thwing and one by the President of the Society. As it 
will be hardly possible to find space in the Journal for 
all these papers, I recommend that the of 
them be published in book form, under the auspices of 
the Society, if sufficient encouragement is given by 
members towards providing the necessary funds without 
expense to the Society. The three prize essays and 
those receiving honorable mention could be published 
so as to sell to members at cost who subscribed, at 
the nominal sum of $1.00, in cloth, and 50 cents in 
paper ; and, if sufficient members order them, they will 
be published and will form a notable contribution to 
the forensic literature of our times, and add to the good 
work of the Society. 
The success which has attended this effort has been 
such as to warrant its continuance, and I have the honor 
to announce that I will offer in my own name the first 
prize of $100 for the best essay of the ensuing year, 
competition to close September 1, 1889; and I do not 
doubt that similar prizes for second and third best essays 
will be provided for same amounts, by subscription, which 
will be shortly sent to a few of the leading public-spirited 
members of the body. 
PUBLICATIONS. 
The Society during the year has published a volume 
on the “ Medical Jurisprudence of Inebriety,” embracing NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
7 
the more notable papers germane to that topic read be- 
fore it, with the discussion upon them. This volume 
has just been issued, and is offered to members at 50 
cents cloth and 35 cents in paper. 
It is a publication which reflects credit upon the So- 
ciety, and is a valuable addition to the literature of our 
era on a topic now engrossing so large a share of public 
attention. 
“Medico-Legal Papers, Series 4,’’ has progressed, and 
about one-half of the volume of 550 pages is completed. 
Subscriptions to this work, and to “Series 5,” which will 
follow it, come in constantly, which have been an- 
nounced in the Journal. 
It is only by these subscriptions—at $3.50 cloth, and 
$2.50 paper—that the body has been able to publish 
these valuable papers read before the Society prior to 
the commencement of the Journal, and the consequent 
preservation and addition of the same to the forensic 
literature of our era. 
“ Medico-Legal Papers, Series 1,” has for some time 
been out of print, the edition being wholly exhausted. 
An effort is now being made to publish another edi- 
tion of “ Series 1,” embellished with portraits and illustra- 
tions, which will be done if those members who have 
not that series in hand cave to subscribe. It can be fur- 
nished at $3.00 in cloth and $2.25 in paper, and if suffi- 
cient members order it, the publication will be com- 
menced without expense to the Society beyond subscrip- 
tion to the usual number of copies for those societies 
and journals to whom it is under obligation to send 
copies of its publications. 
The Medico-Legal Journal has been, perhaps, the 
most important factor in carrying on the work of the 
body. Its circulation has increased and its exchanges 8 
NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
are now with the best journals of the kindred sciences in 
the world. By it the labors of the body and interest in 
the subjects discussed reach the students, workers and 
thinkers in forensic medicine in all lands. 
The burden and labor of this publication has fallen on 
a few. The members of the Society have been furnished 
with it, at less than its actual cost. The moment the 
finances of the Society will permit, these conditions 
should be changed, and members of the Society who can, 
should aid the Journal in all wmys in their power, by 
increasing its subscribers and sending it financial sup- 
port. 
THE LIBRARY. 
The principal contributors to the Library during the 
past year have been our new and our foreign members. 
Some measures should be adopted to place the Library 
on a more firm foundation and to interest members in 
its success. 
The extraordinary duties now imposed upon the Chair 
has prevented that personal attention hitherto given 
this important subject, and some one should volunteer 
to take up this neglected question, and bring the cause of 
the Library to the front. If every member would an- 
nually donate one volume, it would add notably to our 
already valuable collection. 
PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE. 
There is steady growth in this country in medical 
jurisprudence. 
The Medico-Legal Societies of Philadelphia and of 
Chicago are in a most flourishing condition. 
The Medico-Legal Society of Massachusetts and of 
Rhode Island, composed of the Medical Examiners in 
those States, who supersede there the Coroner system, NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
9 
are doing splendid work and awakening interest in 
medico-legal questions. 
In some of the State Medical Societies medical juris- 
prudence is ignored, and in some it is cared for. 
In the associations of the Bar it is almost wholly ig- 
nored. 
In the medical colleges it is, in some cases, given at- 
tention, and in a few of the law schools, but it is a scan- 
dal upon both professions that their schools of law and 
of medicine give so little attention to those subjects 
now so exciting public attention, and which are entitled 
to professional recognition from every point of view. 
LUNACY LEGISLATION. 
The crying evils of our lunacy statutes, everywhere 
acknowledged, and to which attention has been called 
by the Governor of the State, is cause of regret and 
apprehension. 
Various measures for relief have come before the legis- 
lature and the people. Several are now under consid- 
eration. 
It is my deliberate conviction that no sound remedial 
legislation is attainable in the State of New York, except 
by or through a legislative commission, or a commission 
named by the Governor of the State. This has been pre- 
viously urged upon the executive and legislature, by the 
Medico-Legal Society. We trust that the time is near 
at hand when a carefully selected commission will be 
named and charged with the duty of a thorough revision 
of the Lunacy Law of the State. 
JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS BY ELECTRICTY. 
The abolition of hanging as a death penalty has been 
for many years discussed in this body. 10 
NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
The “ Diagnosis of Hanging,” by Tardieu; “ The Death 
Penalty,” by Dr. Alonzo Calkins ; a like paper by Prof. 
Packard of Philadelphia, and the recent papers by Dr. 
J. Mount Bleyer and Henry Guy Carleton, Esq., have 
been read before the Society at various times during the 
past fifteen years. 
The committee appointed by the Governor made their 
report upon the subject, January 18, 1888, recommending 
the abolition of hanging, and the substitution of death 
by the electric current. 
The select committee of this Society reported at the 
March meeting, favoring the course recommended by 
the State Commission, and their action was transmitted 
to the legislature soon after by this society. 
The legislsture passed an Act carrying out the lead- 
ing features of the report, and the Governor signed the 
bill which, by its terms, went into operation January 1, 
1889. 
The Medico-Legal Society, on the recommendation of 
the Chair, named a committee to examine the whole 
subject, conduct experiments with the aid of competent 
electricians, and report for the benefit of the public 
authorities, the best method of carrying this law into 
effect. 
This committee made a report in December, 1888, 
recommending the use of the alternating current, which 
had the endorsement of high electrical authority, was 
approved by the body, and the subject is now under dis- 
cussion in scientific circles throughout the world. 
THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MEDICAL JURISPRU- 
DENCE IN NEW YORK. 
On the first Tuesday of June, 1889, there will be held 
in New York, an International Congress of Medical NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
11 
Jurisprudence, to which all scientific bodies and scien- 
tists throughout the world are invited to be present, and 
contribute papers, in any language. 
It will continue four days, and the delegates and 
strangers during the session will be the guests of the 
Members of the Medico Legal Society. A large attend- 
ance is expected, and already many papers have been 
promised by eminent scientists, home and foreign. A 
volume of the transactions of this Congress will be 
published, to be furnished subscribers in paper cover, 
at $1.50 each; cloth, $2.00. 
The details will be settled by appropriate committees 
to be hereafter announced. 
A Committee on the Legal Requirements of Autopsies 
is nearly ready to report. 
The Committee on Hypnotism is conducting its ex- 
perimental work. 
Committees on Re-Organization of the Morgue ; on 
Criminal Responsibility of Deaf Mutes ; on National and 
State Chemists, and on the “ Comstock Seizures ” have 
not concluded their labors. 
The Committee on Legislation Regarding the Insane, 
will be continued for work during the coming year, as 
to uniformity in laws of the various States, and the 
newly re-organized committees will he announced here- 
after. 
GREAT BRITAIN. 
There has been no especial advance made in Forensic 
Medicine during the past year, nor has any National 
Society been organized in the British Isles. The amend- 
ments to the Lunacy Laws are still pending before the 
English Parliament. 12 
NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
FRANCE. 
The Medico-Legal Society of France carries forward 
its work with vigor and ability. 
The French Journals are as able and influential as in 
previous years. 
While there is no Society of Medical Jurisprudence 
in any of the German speaking countries, the science 
receives considerable attention from the Societies of 
Psychiatry at Berlin, and at Vienna. The Quarterly 
Journal of Medical Jurisprudence in Berlin, and Fred- 
icks Blaater of Legal Medicine at Nuremburg, maintain 
their high standard of excellence. Nearly all the allied 
sciences, and that of law are ably a great 
body of able Journals in Austria, Bavaria, Germany 
and all the German speaking cities and counties. 
GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. 
ITALY 
has no Medico-Legal Society, but it has a large body of 
workers in the science, and the ablest array of Journals 
of any country. 
La Revista Sperimentale di Medicin Legali is a 
standard Journal of the Science, and the Legal, Social 
Medical and Scientific Journals of Italy are second to 
none in the world. 
BELGIUM AND HOLLAND. 
The Society of Mentale Medicine of Belgium and the 
Netherland Society of Psychiatry represent the leading 
work in that branch of medical jurisprudence relating 
to mental medicine. A movement is on foot in Belgium 
to organize both professions into work upon medical 
jurisprudence in a Medico-Legal Society which has the 
favor of medical men there. If the Belgian Bar meets NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
13 
this in the proper spirit it will produce early and good 
fruit for the progress of the cause. 
RUSSIA AND SCANDINAVIA. 
The Society of Psychiatry of St. Petersburgh, under the 
able presidency of Prof. Mierzejewsky, and the leading 
Russian and Scandinavian journals, keep pace with the 
advance of scientific progress in forensic medicine in these 
countries, which have no journal especially adapted to 
medical jurisprudence except the new one re cently 
started at St. Petersburgh, which has not been received 
by us. The journals conducted by Prof. Mierzejewsky 
and Prof. Kowalewsky maintain their high standing. 
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 
have both made progress. A new journal devoted to 
medical jurisprudence has been commenced at Madrid, 
under the leadership of a prominent lawyer, Signor A. 
M. Alvarez Taladriz, which gives promise of good work, 
while in Portugal a successful journal is conducted by 
Dr. Bettencourt Rodrigues, which is received in ex- 
change for our publications. 
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 
No societies are yet formed in the Central or South 
American countries of the two professions of law and 
medicine, but able journals are published in Cuba and 
elsewhere, mainly on medical topics. Quite a number of 
eminent men in these countries take an interest in our 
labors, and we are extending our membership into these 
fields. 
THE WORK OF THE COMING YEAR. 
The principal effort should be to carry forward with 
energy the work of nationalization of the body, and se- 14 
NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
cure members in every State and Territory, and in each 
foreign country and colony, who will be in relation with 
this body and represent the work in every locality, in- 
creasing our membership to at least 1,000 members to 
co-operate in the movements now going forward to 
bring the lunacy laws and other laws of the various 
States into some general system of harmonious working. 
To comp'ete the labors of the various committees of 
the body. 
To devise best plans by which the members in the 
various States and countries can bring questions arising 
in their locality to the attention and action of the body, 
and to develop and increase the public interest in for- 
ensic medicine. 
I renew the recommendations made by me last year 
as to the importance of State and National chemists, 
under the pay of the State or the government, to be at 
the service of accused persons or the government in 
criminal trials. 
I strongly urge the re-organization of the Morgue up- 
on a basis that shall place its administration in charge of 
the most eminent toxicologists and scientists in the city, 
with a well-equipped medical staff ; I recommend that 
this body, through an appropriate committee, urge upon 
the medical schools and colleges the urgent need of chairs 
of medical jurisprudence as a feature of medical educa- 
tion, and upon the State Medical Associations the organ- 
ization of a separate section upon forensic medicine. 
Upon the higher universities the great importance of this 
science, and to the National and State Bar Associations 
of the Union the establishment of standing committees 
on that much neglected but essential branch of a com- 
plete legal education, “ Medical Jurisprudence.” I con- 
gratulate the Society upon the wonderful growth and NINTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
15 
prosperity of the past year, and hope that we may all 
enter with renewed zeal and energy upon the labors of 
another, determined to outstrip the work of the year 
just closed.