Lawrence, Kansas. FORTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY ASSOCIATION OF DENTAL SURGEONS. CINCINNATI. OHIO. The Society met at Lincoln Club Hall, and was opened by prayer by Dr. James Leslie. Dr. J. R. Callahan then delivered an address. He said—“As I look back over the records of the past doings of this Society, I can see where its founders builded better than they knew. I imagine this Society in its earliest days had more to do with bringing dentistry to its present high standing than most of us give her credit for doing. * * * In the very beginning they put the seal of their disapproval on charlatanism, amalgam fillings, advertising, derogatory remarks about one another in regard to poor ability, etc.; in fact it is hard to find anything that the most advanced of us to-day condemn, that they did not speak of in no uncertain tone forty-six years ago. Many are the good things done by this Society in early days; it has sown seed that has produced an hundred fold; many of the dental societies of to-day are offsprings of this old mother association. Not the least among the good fruits of this Society are the _Dental Register_ and Ohio Dental College. * * * “The Society spent money freely, both in the practical and theoretical of the profession; they gave prizes for papers to the value of $100; gave medals—gold and silver—for improved appliances. They seemed to be in great earnest in every way, and they did not forget to have good times, too, as they went along. From the records, I find that they were wont to gather about the festal board and break bread, crack chestnuts, and have a good social time, and at the close have what they chose to call interlocutory discussion. At one of the meetings, Dr. Somerby remarked that he thought it not in accordance with true pathological principles to retain a tooth in the mouth after the nerve had been destroyed, and that the operation of plugging over an exposed nerve, by capping or otherwise, would generally prove useless, and the idea of repeatedly tickling the nerve to make it cover itself with new bone, was more amusing than profitable. * * * *