The Congress which, alike in regard to numbers, the interest
of the discussions, and the spirit of international amity which prevailed, must be reckoned as the most successful on record, concluded on Tuesday, when Mr. Burns read an address on the Relationship between Medicine and Public Health. Deal- ing with the saving of life attributable to public expenditure, he pointed out that had the average death-rate of 1871-80 held good there would have been 772,811 more deaths in the three years 1909-11. Taking the whole of the thirty-two years from 1881 to 1912, the saving amounted to nearly four million lives. Inasmuch as the largest share of this saving occurred in the working years of life, the gain thus secured to the economic capacity of the nation was gigantic. Sir Thomas Barlow, the President of the Congress, in his farewell speech declared that at no previous meeting had the Government of the country in which it was held taken so warm a personal interest, or had a Minister delivered one of the addresses. His parting word to their guests was that they should make their united influence felt in the promotion of peace in their respective countries.
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