316            JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Feb. 10,

The power of appointment given to the Governor, is of a very
limited kind, and is only "in case any of said persons hereinbe-
fore appointed Visitors," shall die, &c., before the election shall
take place. And the act proceeds to provide that, if after the
election of President, &c., a vacancy shall occur among the
named officers, or "any of said Visitors," the vacancy shall
be filled by election. It has indeed been suggested, as we are
informed that, by the word Visitors, officers only are intended.
But where an act of the Legislature thus expressly names,
and designates a class of persons, it is believed that there is
no rule of interpretation by which any other class or descrip-
tion of persons, can be substituted in the place of the one so
designated.

But if there could be any doubt on the point, it seems to be
removed by the language of the section immediately follow-
ing the word visitors. The language is; "if the said Presi-
dent, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, or any of said,
visitors shall die, resign, remove from the city of Baltimore or
counties respectively, as aforesaid," then an election is to be
held. That is, an election shall be held if a vacancy should
occur by removal from the city or county, and such a vacancy
can only occur among the visitors. In as much as all the
officers of the board may be chosen from the citizens at large,
and are not required to live in any county or the city of Bal-
timore, it is obvious that the provision which makes a removal
from the city of Baltimore or the respective counties, a dis-
qualification applies to the visitors alone, and not to the offi-
cers of the board. If then the word visitors should be struck
out from the sentence, the clause making a removal, a dis-
qualification would be wholly unmeaning, because it could
then only apply to the officers of the Board, who are not re-
quired by the act to reside in any particular place. The
charter is believed to have been drawn chiefly by the Hon.
Upon S. Heath, late judge of United States District Court.
He was at the time a member of the Senate of Maryland, and
was by the charter appointed one of the Visitors of the Hos-
pital for the city of Baltimore, which office he continued to
hold until his decease a few years ago. The construction
which Judge Heath, as well as all the legal and other mem-
bers of the Board have given to the charter has been uniformly
that which is maintained in this communication, and has
been confirmed by eminent counsel not members of the board
who have been consulted on the subject. The Board feel it
to be due to themselves to enter into this explanation, because
it has been their uniform practice to fill vacancies occurring in
their body by election, and they desire to be understood by
your Excellency, and by the honorable House of Delegates,
that in so doing they supposed themselves to be performing a