"I venture to think, gentlemen, that the Executive Committee have acted wisely in instituting sections for the discussion of a very wide range of subjects, including not only the sciences on which medical knowledge is founded, but many of its most practical applications, and I am very happy to see that so great scope will be granted for the discussion of important questions relating to the public health, to the cure of the sick in hospitals and in the houses of the poor, and to the welfare of the Army and Navy. The devotion with which many members of the medical profession readily share the dangers of climate and the fatigues and dangers of war, and the many risks which must be encountered in the study of means, not only for the remedy, but for the prevention of disease, deserves the warmest acknowledgment from the public.
"I have great satisfaction in believing, in seeing this crowded hall, that I may already regard the Congress as successful in having attracted a number never hitherto equalled of medical men from all parts of this kingdom, as well as from every country in Europe, from the United States, and from other parts of the world. The list of officers of the Congress, including as it does the names of those distinguished in every branch of medical science, shows how heartily the proposal to hold the meeting in London has been received. I think it speaks well for the good feeling of the profession that there should have been so warm a response to the invitations. How cordially the proposal has been received may be seen not only in the large number of visitors, but in the fact that they include a large proportion of those who enjoy a high reputation not only in their own countries, but throughout the world. I sincerely congratulate the reception committee on this good promise of complete success, and I trust that at the close of the Congress they will feel rewarded for the labour they have bestowed upon it. The report which the secretary-general, Mr. MacCormack, has read will have explained how great have been his labours. He will hereafter he well repaid, and I am sure Mr. MacCormack is sensible that he will be recompensed even for his great exertions by the assurance that the progress of the important science of medicine has been materially promoted, for any addition to the knowledge of medicine must always be followed by an increase in the happiness of mankind."