In these days of strikes and demonstrative meetings, activists have a great opportunity—to protest the excess of meetings.
There are all kinds of medical societies in hierarchical arrangement—international, national, statewide, and purely local. Their life lies in their meetings, and in this regard we may speak, perhaps, of the anatomy, the physiology, and even the pathology.
An important anatomical structure is the presiding officer, but even more important is the arranger of programs—sometimes the secretary, sometimes an independent person called the program chairman. In any meeting (those of the Quakers excepted) someone must talk and this implies that someone must listen. The program chairman has two major tasks, and each of them can cause him independent worry. The first task is, Whom can he get to come and speak? After this has been satisfactorily solved, he must face the second problem, Whom can he get to come and listen?
With