a demonstration of historic books of medicine and science was held as one of the children &apos;s Christmas lectures in the College and evoked much interest and many questions from the girls and boys present at it . through the generosity of the council the librarian attended the 17 international congress of the history of medicine at Athens and Cos , and afterwards contributed an account of this stimulating occasion to the annals . the College was represented at the first British congress of medical history organised by the society of apothecaries , and an exhibition largely of books from the library was arranged in the College for the occasion . a stock of copies of Sir Zachary Cope &apos;s history of the College and of the catalogue of the portraits is available for sale from the library , and the demand has been continuous . material for lives of all fellows who have died is regularly collected and it is hoped to edit the memoirs covering January 1952 to December 1960 for publication very shortly . Plarr &apos;s lives of the fellows 1843-1930 is out of print , but the volume of lives of fellows 1930-1951 is on sale from the library , price 42 s . illustrated accounts of the College buildings and possessions have been published by Mr Peter McLennan in impulse , June 1961 , and by Mr Arthur Oswald in country life , 20th July and 17th August 1961 . manuscripts . the Dowager Lady Rigby has generously presented an autograph manuscript of Sir Frederic Treves in which he began to record his reminiscences of unusual cases or distinguished patients . it records his treatment of Sir John Millais the painter and Sir Henry Irving the actor , with a long account of his attendance on King Edward 7 . the Millais case has been published in the annals . an annotated transcript has been published in medical history of the manuscript which was found in the copy of Geminus &apos; anatomy ( 1553 ) , purchased in 1959 . this is the account kept by a country surgeon in 1609 in the North Riding of Yorkshire , recording the ailments , treatment , and payments of his patients . an autograph letter from John Hunter to William Eden , 1st Lord Auckland , has been bought ; it is particularly interesting for the light it throws on Hunter &apos;s familiar friendship with this distinguished statesman . another interesting purchase is a small note-book in which Thomas Howitt ( F.R.C.S 1853 ) kept record of his attendance on the lectures of Charles Bell and others in London and of Guillaume Dupuytren in Paris in the eighteen-thirties . through the good offices of Sir James Paterson Ross , Bt , the records of Sir Thomas Dunhill &apos;s thyroid patients have been presented to the College ; they have been arranged and indexed by Sir Thomas &apos;s personal secretary , Miss Mary Macdonald . other gifts of manuscripts , autographs , and photocopies of documents are gratefully acknowledged from Sir Zachary Cope , Dr D W Dawson , Mr D M Hall , Prof Milroy Paul , Sir Harry Platt , Bt , Prof K F Russell , Miss D Tremain , and the College of physicians of Philadelphia . meetings and other activities . by permission of the President , meetings were held in the library by the medical section of the library association and by the society for the bibliography of natural history . the librarians of the eight principal medical libraries in London held their annual meeting in the librarian &apos;s office and discussed the ways and means of their co-operation . this informal co-operative organisation was inaugurated in 1938 under the encouragement of Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor , when he was chairman of the College &apos;s library committee . several foreign surgeons , scholars , and librarians have visited the library , and the librarian was particularly honoured by a visit from Dr F Bradford Rogers , Director of the U.S national library of medicine , when he was passing through London . the honorary librarian was awarded the first honorary fellowship of the new faculty of the history of medicine and pharmacy of the society of apothecaries . the librarian has been elected a fellow of the society of antiquaries and an honorary fellow of the Hunterian society . he has continued to serve as chairman of the library committee of the royal College of nursing , and has been appointed to the council of the world list of scientific periodicals . he attended by invitation a meeting called by the royal society of medicine to discuss the part which various national and medical libraries might be able to play in providing a more complete service of medical literature on a national scale . the assistant librarian has served on the council of the library association , and is honorary Secretary of its medical section . the librarian spoke to the postgraduate students on the use and facilities of the library at the beginning of each of the courses of lectures . by direction of the council , he was privileged to address the annual meeting of fellows and members on the work of the library in connexion with the teaching and research departments . exhibitions . in addition to the permanent exhibitions of Hunteriana , medals , drawings , etc , temporary exhibits have been shown for special occasions in the exhibition Halls . the library has had the co-operation of the historical departments of the museum in the mounting of these , and particular thanks are due to Miss Jessie Dobson , the anatomy curator , for her help and advice . an exhibition of Listeriana was set up at the time of the Lister lecture , and the bicentenary of the birth of Matthew Baillie in 1761 has been commemorated by an exhibit of books and documents from the Hunter-Baillie collection , illustrating his career . Professor H J Seddon kindly lent several drawings and other memorabilia of the early years of modern orthopaedic surgery for exhibition on the occasion of his Robert Jones lecture , to augment the valuable exhibits permanently shown by the British orthopaedic association . the College lent four early anaesthesia books to the University Library at Nancy for exhibition at the national anaesthesia conference of France . a collection of portrait engravings of famous medical men was lent to the art gallery at Auckland for the B.M.A meeting in New Zealand . portraits and works of art . four important paintings have been added to the gallery of portraits of surgeons : Sir Harry Platt , Bt , generously presented the portrait of himself in his presidential robes painted by Sir William Hutchison , P.R.S.A ; Mr James Gunn , R.A , presented his sketch for the portrait of the late Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor , painted a few months before Sir Gordon &apos;s death ; Miss E M Berkeley has given a portrait of Thomas Copeland , F.R.S , F.R.C.S , member of council 1827-1854 , painted by Thomas Stewardson , a pupil of Romney and Opie and a frequent academy exhibitor ; Professor Charles Wells has painted and generously presented a portrait of the late Sir Archibald McIndoe . several of the older portraits have been restored or revarnished . Sir Cecil Wakeley , Bt , has presented a bronze head of himself by E Pentland and a pencil-portrait by J H Dowd ; he has also generously given his collection of miniatures of famous medical men from Harvey to Lord Moynihan , which he commissioned from Mr P Buckman ; two drawings by Henry Tonks , F.R.C.S , Slade Professor of fine art , of the late Sir Harold Gillies have been presented by Lady Gillies and another by Sir William Kelsey Fry . a coloured drawing by Thomas Rowlandson , a caricature of the persevering surgeon , has been bought . gifts of medals , engravings , bookplates and other illustrations are gratefully acknowledged from Miss Mary Calvert , Surgeon-Captain J L S Coulter , R.N , Sir Zachary Cope , Mr A Dickson Wright , Mr Alexander Innes , Sir Geoffrey Keynes , Sir Victor Negus , Prof K F Russell , Mr P K Sartory , and the executors of the late Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor . the restoration of a further volume of the collection of Hunterian drawings has been completed at the British museum . a selection from the collection of pharmacy jars was lent to the Times book shop in connexion with their royal society tercentenary exhibition . two coloured engravings of the College in the early nineteenth century were presented to the royal Australasian College of surgeons by the President when he visited Melbourne . faculty of dental surgery . members of the board 1960-1961 . . report . during the year 1960-1961 the work of the board and its committees has continued to grow , while the department of dental science has pursued its researches with vigour and enthusiasm . at a meeting of the board on 18th November , 1960 , the following resolution of appreciation was passed for the services rendered to the department since its inception by Sir Wilfred Fish : - that the faculty of dental surgery desires to record its deep sense of gratitude to Sir Wilfred Fish , lately honorary Director of the department of dental science , for the outstanding services he has rendered to dental science in establishing the department and guiding it over the past five years . Sir Wilfred Fish &apos;s inspiring leadership and wise administration have established the department on so sure a basis that it is in every respect well equipped to advance its work with energy and confidence . the board was very pleased to receive from the President on his return from an extensive tour overseas a message of goodwill to the faculty from Sir John Walsh , Dean of the Otago dental school , New Zealand . in the field of postgraduate education the board has been greatly encouraged by the enthusiastic response to the courses of lectures and scientific meetings arranged by the faculty . it was particularly pleasing to find that over three hundred and fifty dentists attended the scientific meeting in June and the board feels sure that this scientific meeting has now become an established annual event which the profession has welcomed eagerly . 1 . elections to the board . as a result of a postal ballot on 16th June 1961 , to fill five vacancies on the board following the retirement in rotation of four fellows and the resignation of one fellow , the following were re-elected or elected to the board : - . at the election of one licentiate in dental surgery to the board on 15th July 1960 , Mr W Beric Southwell , T.D , was elected . 2 . thirteenth annual meeting . the thirteenth annual meeting was held on Friday , 15th July 1960 , and was attended by forty-eight fellows and licentiates in dental surgery . the Charles Tomes lecture was delivered on the same day by Mr Terence Ward on surgery of the mandibular joint , and was followed by the anniversary dinner . 3 . election of Dean and Vice-Dean . the board of faculty re-elected Professor Martin A Rushton , C.B.E , to the office of Dean and elected Mr G H Leatherman to the office of Vice-Dean for the year . 4 . fellowship in dental surgery by examination . during the past year 151 candidates presented themselves for the primary examination for the fellowship in dental surgery and 52 were successful . 70 candidates presented themselves for the final examination for the fellowship in dental surgery , of whom the following 26 were successful : - . 5 . licence in dental surgery . during the past year 347 candidates were examined by the surgical section , 321 of whom were approved , and 352 were examined by the dental section , 230 of whom were approved , making a total of 230 candidates who were awarded the licence in dental surgery . 6 . diploma in orthodontics . during the past year 33 candidates entered for the examination for the diploma in orthodontics , of whom 21 were successful . 7 . examinerships . the council , acting on the recommendation of the board of faculty , has re-elected for the year August 1961-July 1962 those examiners who were eligible and sought re-election . in addition , the following new examiners have been elected by council : - . 8 . primary F.D.S examination . the board has drawn up a guide to the primary F.D.S examination on the lines of that now printed in the F.R.C.S regulations . this guide makes clear the general scope of the examinations in anatomy , physiology , and pathology and bacteriology . it has been agreed to exchange visitors with the royal College of surgeons of Edinburgh , with a view to considering the desirability of introducing reciprocity as between the primary F.D.S examinations of the two Colleges . 9 . postgraduate education . the third scientific meeting organised by the faculty was held at the College on Saturday , 3rd June 1961 , when the subject was temporo-mandibular joint problems and their treatment . 