PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

[摘要] OF ALL the men who have given hours and days of time and thought to the Academy and its affairs the President is the only one prescribed, by custom, an opportunity publicly to express his thoughts on these affairs. Others may write to the Executive Board or struggle for space in letters to the Editor or may explode with frustration. Only one or two have approached this last extremity. Usually, after attempting the first two methods they subside to the rumbling level of low pressure borborygmi.In taking advantage of this opportunity I first want to express my most sincere admiration, respect and gratitude to the men and women serving on the various Academy Committees. Even those of us who have served on a committee, anytime, anywhere, are apt to forget, when reading the report of another committee, the many hours of debate, of research, of correspondence, of correlation, of drafting and redrafting and the hours spent in committee meetings when they might have been having fun. We read the final report, we agree with most of it and we complain bitterly about the one or two points with which we do not agree. Isn't it odd how quick we are to criticize adversely and how seldom we take the trouble to offer thanks or praise? In the same way we are glad to accept a negative Wassermann or tuberculin test but always demand a repeat of a positive.I will not record here the various committees and their achievements. They and their membership are printed in the Fellowship list. Their achievements speak for them.

[学科分类] 儿科学