1858 DR. CR. £ s. d. The TREASURER in Account with the COLLEGE of DENTISTS of ENGLAND. Cash. To Entrance Fees and Subscriptions 15 0 0 Audited and found correct 712 12 6 HENRY FAULKNER. The accounts had been audited, and found correct; and they had been certified to be so by Mr Henry Faulkner and Mr Robert Thompson. [Hear, hear.] The question, he added, might very naturally be asked, in the present state of their affairs, how many members did they now number ? He anticipated the question, and therefore he might as well answer it at once. There were 171 members who had not sent in their resignations, and who had paid their subscriptions for the past year. [Hear, hear.] Mr THOMPSON: As one of the auditors who has certified to the accuracy of the accounts presented by our excellent Treasurer, I beg to move the adoption of the Report which he has just read. After the very lucid and ample explanation with which he has favoured the meeting, I do not think that it is necessary for me to supplement his remarks by a single word. I should indeed have been glad if our members had been as numerous now as they were last year; but under the circumstances I think that we have some reason to congratulate ourselves that we are so numerous as we are, and that so many faithful have been "amongst the faithless found." [Cheers.] I beg to move "that the Report of the Treasurer be received and adopted." Mr HUMBY seconded the motion without verbal comment, and it was carried unanimously. A long discussion then ensued upon the question whether the above Reports should be printed in a separate form and forwarded to the members, or whether the Editor of the DENTAL REVIEW should be requested to publish them, and copies of that periodical should be sent to every member. On the one hand it was urged that if the latter course were adopted it would be said by the other party that it was an attempt to tamper with the freedom of the press, and to bribe the proprietors of the REVIEW to advocate their cause. On the other it was contended that so much abuse had been heaped upon them by their opponents that they could bear a little more, and that in fact it mattered nothing what they said. The REVIEW was a very ablyconducted paper; if it advocated their views its services deserved to be recognised, and by forwarding it to all the members it might be brought perhaps under the notice of some gentlemen who were at present unaware of its existence. Ultimately, to bring the question to an issue, Mr PURLAND moved and Mr WEISS seconded a motion to the effect that the Report be published in the DENTAL REVIEW, and that a copy be sent round to every member; whilst Mr PERKINS moved, and Mr CUNNINGHAM seconded, as an amendment, "That the Reports be printed and circulated in the usual way." So nicely were opinions balanced upon the question, that upon a show of hands being taken an equal number was found to be held up for the motion and for the amendment. The Chairman, being called upon for his casting-vote, gave it in favour of the motion, observing that it matters little what their detractors said against them, so long as they possessed the mens conscia recti. The motion was then carried, Mr Rymer adding that the DENTAL REVIEW was in the hands of a perfectly independent gentleman a man of great ability, who would stand no dictation either from that College or from any other party. [Cheers.] The Chairman, accompanied by Mr Rymer, one of the honorary secretaries, and by Mr Finzi and Mr Stoddart, the scrutineers, then quitted the room to examine the ballot-box, Mr Harley taking the chair in the interim. On their return Mr Matthews resumed the chair, and gave the result of the poll as follows: President Vice-Presidents.-Messrs J. Harley, W. Imrie, T. E. Rose. Treasurer.-Mr Peter Matthews, 17 Lower Berkeley street, Portman square. Council. Messrs J. Bate, J. B. Bell, E. Bevers, D. J. Brenneis, W. Broadway, W. L. Canton, H. Faulkner, T. H. Harding, W. Imrie, jun., H. T. Kempton, W. Perkins, H. L. Spencer, J. C. Smith, F. Weiss, E. Williams. Honorary Secretaries.-Messrs Samuel Lee Rymer (Council); A. Hockley (Corresponding); Theodosius Purland (Librarian and Museum). I THE CHAIRMAN: I declare those gentlemen whose names I have read to you to be duly elected as office-bearers for the current year; but with regard to myself I do most positively and respectfully decline longer to occupy the presidential chair. shall now be happy to hear any remarks which any member may have to make, or to answer any questions which may suggest themselves. Several gentlemen having expressed a hope that Mr Matthews would not retire from the office of President, Mr HARLEY moved and Mr HUMBY seconded " that Mr Matthews be solicited to retain the presidential chair until his successor be appointed." THE CHAIRMAN thought that they could hardly force this upon him; whenever they chose to elect him as chairman of any particular meeting he should be happy to undertake the duties, but of their list of vice-presidents they never could have any difficulty in selecting the chairman for an evening. He could not allow the meeting to conclude without expressing his obligations to the council for the very handsome manner in which they had obeyed the President's call during the past year, and for the zeal and assiduity with which they had performed their duty towards the College at a great sacrifice of valuable time and personal comfort. [Hear, hear.] The members could really have no conception of the amount of labour of the past year which the council had been called upon to perform. There had been generally speaking council meetings once a week of late, in addition to special meetings in cases of emergency. Then there had L been the lectures, at which the council had felt a sort of moral obligation to be present. There had been also the electrical meetings, and the meetings with respect to the Dental hospital which had been in contemplation. All these matters they had attended to, often at great inconvenience to themselves, and he thought that the members were bound in duty to give them a hearty vote of thanks for their arduous exertions during the year which had just terminated. [Cheers.] He begged to assure them that personally he felt deeply indebted to them. [Cheers.] Mr WEISS Said that at the first council meeting which he had attended he brought forward a proposition which appeared to be received with some degree of favour by his colleagues. It was not, he was sure, from any desire of self-glorification, or to show what he had done, that he agreed in the proposal which he then made, and which he was now about to repeat; but out of respect to the country and other members whose representatives the council were. He begged to move "that a statement be prepared and circulated amongst the members of the number of council and committee meetings that have been held during the year, and of the attendances of each member of the council at the council and committee meetings respectively." He thought that this would have a beneficial effect, as showing what they had done, and how many evenings they had devoted to the discharge of their important duties-duties which were certainly of a character that they never could be regarded as a pastime. [Hear.] Mr PERKINS Seconded the motion, holding it to be only an act of justice to the members of the council that such a register should be made. He thought that the members should be made aware that they had taken some little amount of trouble in their service, and that although they had certainly enjoyed the honour of their position, they had received no recompense beyond that which most honest men were proud of, the consciousness of having done their duty. [Cheers.] Mr PURLAND, in supporting the motion, differed from his friend the last speaker with respect to their having received no recompense for their labours, for he could honestly say that he had been amply compensated for what little he had done by having been brought into association with members of the profession with whom he should never have come in contact but for the College. [Cheers.] Friendships had been formed in the course of his connection with the College which he trusted never would be broken, and the value of which far more than compensated for any désagrémens, or for any aspersions which might have been cast upon him by those whose object it was to promote a rival institution. [Cheers.] THE CHAIRMAN thought that it would be rather invidious to publish the names of the council at each meeting, and suggested that the resolution should be so framed as to give the number of the council and committee meetings, and the number of attendances at each. Mr WEISS adopted this view, and the resolution, as amended, was carried unanimously. Mr RUNTING said that he could not allow the meeting to separate without expressing his sincere regret that the President was about to retire from the chair. [Cheers.] The gratitude of the members should be unbounded to that gentleman for the manner in which he had presided over their meetings, and had conducted the affairs of the College throughout the time that he had been in office. It was at a critical juncture in their career that Mr Matthews accepted that post. At a time when their little bark was threatened with adverse winds, and was tossed upon the waves of discord and dissension until it was in imminent danger of being wrecked, he took the helm, and by his cool judgment, his indomitable perseverance, and his manly independence, he had enabled them to weather the storm, and had brought them safely into port. Under these circumstances he moved that they express their gratitude to Mr Matthews for the zeal, energy, and ability which he had displayed in their behalf, by passing to him a cordial and unanimous vote of thanks. [Cheers.] Mr HUMBY seconded the motion. Mr RYMER, before putting it to the meeting, said that he entirely agreed in all that had fallen from Mr Runting, having had an opportunity of witnessing the zeal and earnestness of purpose with which Mr Matthews had conducted the business of the College, not only in the office of President, but in that of Treasurer. The duties of these offices, and especially of the latter, entailed a great deal of trouble, and the clearness with which the accounts had been kept was really most admirable. The council had always been fully informed of the exact state of the finances, for their Treasurer had never allowed them for a moment to be in the dark as to the precise amount in hand, and had always exercised a most diligent care over the College purse. [Cheers.] The motion was carried with acclamation. THE CHAIRMAN.—I am very glad, gentlemen, that in your opinion I have redeemed the pledge which I gave you when I took office, and I really feel that I have endeavoured, in some way, to fulfil the promise which I gave you that, whilst occupying this chair, I would be single-eyed-that I would look neither to the right hand nor to the left, but that I would pursue a straightforward course, keeping steadfastly in view the great objects for which we had been established. [Applause.] I took the helm, as Mr Runting has truly said, at a period of great difficulty. Our late coadjutors, with whom we had associated on terms of friendship, at whose table we had sat, and with whom we had eaten and drank, had left us, and I assure you that it was with pain and regret upon our part, that those associations were severed, and our intimate connection terminated. I wish that they had felt as strongly as I did when we were arranging the terms of amalgamation, and that they had expressed their views at the |