the record our State has achieved in this field. In Johns Hopkins here in
Baltimore, we have a medical school which in many respects is without
peer. The medical school of our State university, also situated here in
Baltimore, is the fifth oldest in the United States. Davidge Hall, the
oldest medical building in the country, was the first facility in America
to be devoted entirely to medical research. This school was the first in
America to make dissecting a compulsory part of its curriculum and the
first to establish an independent chair in diseases of women and children.
The school of dentistry of our University was the first dental school in
the world. Our school of pharmacy is the oldest in the South and the
third oldest in the nation. In 1767, it was a Maryland resident, John
Archer, who received the first medical diploma issued on the American
continent. Since that time, Maryland's concern with health education
has continued unabated.

The effects of this sustained interest in health education are reflected
in many statistics. Through the educational efforts of Maryland's two
medical schools, together with the enlightened leadership of its public
health programs, Maryland has enjoyed a relatively low infant mortal-
ity rate. We were one of the first states to adopt a medical care program
for the indigent and medically indigent. During the past year, at the
request of the General Assembly, an extensive study has been made of the
health and medical care programs, and we are now in a position to act
upon the recommendations which have been made.

Because medical education involves not only a study of diseases and
their causes, but also the basic sciences essential for fundamental under-
standing of what is involved in health problems, I am pleased to report
that we are fostering graduate study in higher education, and we find
that our students are entering these fields at rates well above the regional
and national levels.

In anticipation of the health problem of the shift in age of the present
population, studies and conferences have been, and are being, con-
ducted to prepare health services to handle the problems of the older
citizens of our State.

Fortunately, Maryland has one of the highest ratios of physicians to
population (one physician for 721 persons) in the United States. But
it also is one of the fastest growing states in the country, and thus it is
urgent that we take immediate steps to increase our program of health
education. In anticipation of the need for physicians in the future, Mary-
land medical schools are in the process of expanding their programs by
approximately 20 per cent.

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