As chairman of the American Proctologic Society, it is my pleasant duty to bid you welcome to this our seventeenth annual meeting.

I wish to express to the Fellows of the Society my cordial thanks and appreciation for the honor conferred upon me in selecting me as their presiding officer. The good work of this Society, and the high qualifications of my predecessors, make me realize that the honor is a great one, and causes me to feel a deep responsibility in assuming the office which they have so well filled.

The greater part of the work of the past year has fallen upon our experienced and proficient Secretary. And the credit for the success of this meeting will be due to his energy and perseverance.

When I look at this year's program and read the titles of the various papers, the number of which compares favorably with that of any meeting of previous years, I feel that the success of this session ought to be equal to or even surpass some of our preceding gatherings.

I trust that all those who have honored the program with their names, will have shown their interest in the welfare of the Society by being present to-day.

Nearly two decades have now elapsed since the organization of this Society. It was on Wednesday, the 7th day of June, at two-thirty p.m. in the year 1899, that the first meeting of the American Proctologic Society took place at the Hotel Chittenden, Columbus, Ohio.