Early Days in Maine Surgery

THE anonymous wit who said, "Speeches are like babies, easy to conceive, difficult to deliver," succeeded in summarizing my feelings on the present occasion. Reflecting on the years spent dealing with the more commonplace surgical diseases, remote from teaching and research, I could find no conclusions that had not been arrived at by others, and could compose no message that seemed worth while to deliver here. Hastily dismissing the thought that this might indicate a serious intellectual defect, I turned from considering the unpredictable future to the unchangeable past, and decided that it might interest the Society to become acquainted . . .