present time our second vice-president. Dr. Chapman was also chairman of the bureau of obstetrics in 1887, and pædology in 1892. Dr. Julia Holmes Smith is chairman of the Bureau of Obstetrics at the present time, and is also a member of the "committee on resolutions," this last showing the high appreciation in which her judgment is held. Have we any reason to complain of our present position in this grand and noble association? No, indeed, and my dear sisters, our future position depends upon ourselves. Let us not abuse our advantages by petty jealousies. Let us forget self in our zeal for our work, trying to assist others by our personal experiences. We have the right to choose whatever special work we desire, and have the ability to secure the advancement of the interests of this society, of Homœopathy and of woman.

"Don't crowd and push on the march of life,

Or tread on each other's toes,

For the world at best, in its great unrest,

Is hard enough as it goes.

Oh, why should the strong oppress the weak,

Till the latter go to the wall?

On this earth of ours, with its thorns and flowers,
There is room enough for all.

"If a lagging brother falls behind,

And drops from the toiling band,
If fear and doubt put his soul to rout,
Then lend him a helping hand.
Cheer up his heart with words of hope,
Nor season the speech with gall;

In the great highway, on the busiest day,
There is room enough for all."

Dr. William Tod Helmuth, was then presented to the Institute and its friends and was received with tumultuous applause. He read an original poem entitled, "The First Half Century of the American Institute of Homœopathy."

The benediction was then pronounced by Rev. Dr. Rankin.

An informal reception followed in the parlors of the church, tendered to the American Institute of Homoeopathy and visitors by the Local Committee of Arrangements, assisted by the ladies of the Meissen. The festivities were of the most delightful character and were continued till a late hour.

* This poem has not been received.-GENERAL SECRETARY.

SECOND DAY-MORNING SESSION.

FRIDAY, June 15, 1894.

The Institute reconvened at ten minutes past nine, A.M., President McClelland in the chair.

The Board of Censors presented the names of fifteen applicants for membership, and the fifty-seven candidates reported on the preceding day were elected to membership.

THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL LITERATURE was called up, but the chairman being absent and his report not received, the subject was laid over.

THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE in the absence of the chairman, Dr. Winthrop T. Talbot, was presented by Dr. T. C. Duncan, who also presented an additional report on the same subject. The reports were accepted and referred to the Committee of Publication. They are as follows:

At the International Congress of 1893, held at Chicago, we were favored by the presence of visitors from many lands, and from them in person we were fully informed of the recent doings of Homœopathy abroad. Therefore, your committee feel it incumbent upon them at this anniversary meeting, which is less inclusive in scope, to present a brief report.

The country in which Homoeopathy is making most effective progress in Europe is Belgium, but no report has come to us of recent years.

Drs. S. Vanden Berghe and L. Schepens, both of Ghent, have kindly furnished your committee much interesting information. Homeopathy in Belgium has slowly but steadily gained a stronger foothold, until at present the Homoeopathic physicians number over seventy, of whom twelve are in Brussels, five in Ghent, three in Antwerp and the others are settled individually in Lieges, Bruges, Charles le Roi and in smaller towns and country hamlets. Inasmuch as Belgium has a population of 6,000,000, it will be seen that the number of Homoeopathic physicians is wholly inadequate to meet the popular demand. But in this, as in other continental countries, the government control of universities and hospitals mili

tates to the disadvantage of progress in liberal thought in medicine as in the other professions.

There are two Homœopathic medical journals, one the Revue Homeopathique Belge, published in Brussels under the able management of Dr. Martini, and the Journal Belge d'Homœopathique, which is edited and published by a committee elected annually, of which, during the present year, Dr. Mersh is secretary.

Some two years ago, American physicians noted with interest the progress of the struggle in Antwerp for the establishment of a dispensary under Homœopathic control in that city by the municipal authorities. The dispensary is now doing good work; it is open to the public on three afternoons in a week; is under the management of one physician employed by the city, who gives a large proportion of his time to visiting the patients at their homes as well. During the past year some three thousand patients have been in attendance at the dispensary. Thus far this dispensary is the only public institution of Homoeopathy in Belgium. It was a difficult task to obtain even this slight recognition, in spite of the fact that many of the most intelligent and prominent men in Belgium are patients of Homoeopathic practitioners; but inasmuch as Homœopathy has gained this slight official recognition, it is felt that the entering wedge has been driven and that this is but the first of a long series of victories to come.

In Brussels two private dispensaries are in active operation, and one in Ghent, conducted by Dr. Vanden Berghe, Sr., which receives patients daily except Monday, inasmuch as Sunday, being the continental holiday, many people are able to come for treatment on Sunday when on other days they are prevented by their daily tasks.

There are two societies which meet quarterly, one in Ghent and one in Brussels, each with a membership of from thirty-five to forty. Their meetings are strictly scientific; are held in the afternoon from 4 to 6 or 7 o'clock, and are largely attended by their members in spite of the fact that the social side is neglected.

There is but little inducement, save that of conviction, for any one to enter upon the practice of Homœopathy in Belgium. Every medical student must first spend two years in preliminary study, then five years in the medical school. The Homœopath must then spend two years in additional study of his special branch, so that it is not strange that the numbers have not grown more rapidly, and as a matter of fact the ranks are recruited largely from the sons of Homoopathic practitioners.

The following letter has been received from our honorary member, Dr. Theodore Kafka, of Carlsbad :

"Homœopathy suffered a great loss in the death of my beloved father, Dr. Jacob Kafka, who died April 30, 1893, in his eighty

fourth year. He was born in 1809 at Wodnian, in Bohemia, studied in the gymnasium at Pesth and Prague, where he also began the study of medicine. This he continued at Vienna, where he took his degree in 1836, after having written his dissertation, 'De tartarico emetico. Later, he settled at Melnik, in Bohemia, and soon gained a large practice. He married in 1839, and after having been onehalf year at Vienna to follow the new advances of pathological anatomy under Rokitansky and of auscultation and percussion under Skoda, he went to Prague, where he had many relatives and good friends. After having been made acquainted with Homœopathy by a friend, he studied it with great diligence aud made several experiments with it, which satisfied him so well that he very soon adopted this system of therapy, and became forever a staunch Homœopathist. He was a friend of Altschil, Hirsch, Schaller and Hofrichter, at this time very renowned Homœopathists of Prague; of Hirschel and Elb, at Dresden; of Clotar Müller and Veit Meyer, at Leipzig, and was an able co-worker in the Homoeopathic periodicals which were published at this time. His articles were very valuable, and the more so because his diagnoses were based upon modern methods of research; but his choice of remedy was founded on the pure materia medica of Hahnemann. He never missed the meetings of the German Homœopathic Central Association, where he presented interesting papers. He gained renown by a polemic with Dr. Wittelshbefer of the Wiener Medical Wochenschrift, where he defended the interests of slandered Homœopathy.

In the years 1865 to 1869 he wrote his great work Homeopathic Therapy, Founded Upon the Physiological School, which large work was soon in the hands of all zealous Homœopathists and of many Allopaths. Dr. Leon Simon, père, at Paris, and Dr. S. Lilienthal, then at New York, would have translated it, but the publisher would not give his permission. This was a serious loss to Homœopathy, but Hempel made much use of the book in his handbook; and one finds Kafka's work quoted in nearly every book of Homœopathic therapeutics. He was busy until the last days of his life, and was a corresponding or honorary member of nearly all the Homœopathic societies of the world, also of several Allopathic unions. He was the best friend of his patients, did much good to the poor, and in the year 1866, as member of the Patriotic Aid Committee, during the war, he won the highest recognition of the Emperor of Austria. His work on Homœopathic Therapy was also honored by being placed in the private library of the emperor.

He was the best of fathers, and his greatest pleasure was to visit, during the summer, his daughter, at Munich, and his son, at Carlsbad. One other son is an architect in New York.

Shortly before his death he took cold and never wholly recovered. His death was due to marasmus. The very great number of persons