ily afterwards. I fear that soon all the confinements will be made in hospitals, in order to reduce the expenses.

Is this not a very fair statement of the financial obligation imposed by the birth of even one child? Is it any wonder that men and women of moderate incomes-$1,000 to $1,500 a year for instanceare staggered at the thought of biennial repetitions of these bills, while rearing a family of biblical size-one of eight or ten children? Nor can they forget that, however welcome the little one may be in their home, the welcome extends no farther. In the larger cities it is becoming more and more difficult for families in which there are small children to secure desirable living apartments. After searching from flat to flat, and meeting rejection everywhere, the man who has "increased and multiplied" is likely to feel like a martyr to a lost cause.

The "race suicide" question has many ramifications-and even the medical "preacher" may have something to answer for in its. causation.

Societies

THE ILLINOIS HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

The 49th annual session of the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association was held in the Northwestern University Building, Chicago, May 10th, 11th and 12th, 1904. The attendance registered was the largest in the history of the Society and a larger number of new members admitted than at any previous session. The social feature. of the meeting was a reception given on Wednesday evening by the Chicago physicians to the out-of-town members. A short vaudeville -entertainment was provided, after which there was a reception and informal banquet.

The scientific program was unusually complete, several of the Bureaus being shortened for lack of time. In view of this the Secretary requested that he be given authority to arrange for a four-day meeting in 1905, and the request was granted by unanimous vote. The Secretary also called the attention of the Society to the fact that the next meeting would be the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Society and on motion the President was instructed to appoint a special committee to arrange for a proper celebration of this occasion.

The President's address dealing with the question of medical

organization, was ordered printed and distributed to all homeopathic physicians of the State. The Executive Committee was instructed to employ an organizer to canvass the State in the interests of the State Association and allied societies. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows:

President, Nathan Starr, M. D., Charleston; 1st Vice-President, S. H. Aurand, M. D., Chicago; 2nd Vice-President, J. N. Downs, M. D., Ottawa; Secretary, Burton Haseltine, M. D., Chicago; Treasurer, E. C. Sweet, M. D.

Meeting adjourned to meet May 9th, 1905.

BURTON HASELTINE, Secretary.

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THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF HOMEOPATHY.

To the Editor:

It is our privilege and pleasure, calling on the journals that serve our cause, to act as our trumpets, to once more sound the "Assembly" call for the coming together of our hosts of Homeopathy in national convention. This we do with as hearty satisfaction and confidence as could well inspire a like summons. For we feel convinced that the program to be offered at the Sixtieth Annual Session of the American Institute of Homeopathy, to be held at Niagara Falls from the 20th to the 25th of June, will be, if not the finest, yet in the foremost rank of the finest, the most living, the most helpful program ever offered at a meeting of our national Society.

A close following of the papers and the discussions of this sureto-be memorable week, will constitute a post-graduate course in new and valuable medical teaching and research.

The Executive Committee have made it an object, in arranging the schedule of the meetings, to avoid bringing similar or even closely related subjects under discussion at the same hours or days; and they believe that this has been successfully accomplished. On only a single day, Tuesday, has it been found necessary to schedule two. large Bureaus. Each Bureau, with this exception, has a day to itself. For all Sectional Society meetings, the fullest arrangements, both as to time and space for their work, have been consummated.

The growth of the Institute itself, and the growth in the medical world of specialization and specialists, have made Sectional Society meetings of high necessity and importance; and this fact will be found, as has been said, to have been fully recognized by the Executive Committee. But it has been also recognized that the whole is greater than any of its parts; that the members of the Institute owe

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to the Institute and to its prime objects a loyalty and a respect that they cannot injustice to themselves, the Institute, and the cause of Homeopathy at large, afford to neglect or minimize. Therefore the last two days of the session have been set aside for the consideration of the great subjects of prime and common interest to every member of the Institute, whose full name is the American Institute of Homeopathy.

It is proposed to take up the all-important subject of the reproving of our Materia Medica on the lines of the latest scientific research; possibly to discuss the feasibility of establishing an Institute of Drug Proving, and to judicially consider the subject of posology. More vitally important than to the military expert the study of the most effective weapons of warfare, must it be to the Homeopathist to know on what weapons of his therapeutic armory he can most surely rely. It is Homeopathy and its Materia Medica that have made us. what we are. As we promote their dignity and advancement we shall promote our own. Let the attendance and the enthusiasm of the sessions of our last two Institute days demonstrate our practical recognition of this fact.

Never were there more cogent attractions offered for a record attendance at the Institute than this year. The place of meeting is known the world over for the magnificence of its natural attractions. It is centrally located and easily and comfortably reached; and as no American can afford to be ignorant of Niagara, our members may well rejoice in this opportunity to know the wonderful and historic old place at a less expense and under happier circumstances than may be again possible for an indefinite time. Proverbially, a "City of Hotels," the accommodations will be ample for all who may choose to come. For those who care to prolong a vacation so auspiciously begun, picturesque old Canada lies but a bridge's width away; and Buffalo, distant but a half-hour, is a famous point of departure for the most interesting sights of that highly interesting part of the summer world. Our kind hosts have prepared much tempting entertainment for the Institute and its guests. Everything invites to a glorious week. Come one and all and help to make it so!

Nor come empty-handed. Make the Institute, to which you owe so much, your debtor in turn, by bringing to it at least one application for a new membership. The world reads success in numbers; let it read in our proudly augmenting numbers of this year, the growth of Homeopathic ideas and practices!

Boston, May 20, 1904.

JOHN PRESTON SUTHERLAND, M. D.

Books of the Month

A TEXT-BOOK OF SURGERY FOR STUDENTS AND PRACTITIONERS. By George Emerson Brewer, A. M., M. D., Lecturer on Clinical Surgery, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; Attending Surgeon to the City Hospital; Junior Surgeon to Roosevelt Hospital. Illustrated with 280 Engravings in the text and 7 Plates in colors and monochrome. 706 pages. Lea Brothers & Co., New York and Philadelphia.

All teachers of surgery have felt the need of a text-book, by an American author. This book we believe has met this want and no doubt the author will be rewarded by its adoption by many medical colleges.

He has presented with extreme clearness and brevity, the accepted modern views of surgical pathology and particularly so the subjects of infection and immunity. The subjects of inflammation and tissue repair, while complete, are not presented with equal clearness, and we believe that a more detailed description would add to the value of the book.

The essential facts in practical surgery are presented in a concise way, all theoretical and disputed points being eliminated.

RONTGEN RAY DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY. By Carl Beck, M. D., Professor of Surgery, New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital; Visiting Surgeon to St. Mark's Hospital and the German Poliklinik. With 332 Illustrations in the text. 460 pages. Price, cloth, $4.00 net. D. Appleton & Company, New York.

The author's aim has been to demonstrate how the Rontgen Ray can best be utilized in medicine and surgery. The book is entirely devoid of the theoretical part of science and is devoted entirely to the practical. The author treats the subject from a strictly clinical view-point and as such the work should be of extreme value to all who use the X-Ray. It is profusely illustrated with skiagrams, which are reproduced from the original photographic prints without alteration or correction. In the part devoted to Rontgen therapy, the author has carefully known facts from simple conjectures, appreciating the limitations of this new field which is still in a stage of development.

Evolution can end only in the establishment of the greatest perfection and the most complete happiness.

The Medical and Surgical Reporter.

Contributions are solicited upon any subject connected with the practice of medicine or the allied sciences, and the only restrictions placed upon them are that they shall be free from personalities and given to the REPORTER exclusively. The Editor of the REPORTER is not responsible for any opinion expressed by contributors.

Vol. XII.

JULY, 1904.

No. 7.

Original Articles.

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF HOMEOPATHY.

Sixty years old! In 1844 a few Homeopathic physicians met and organized a society whose object was to unite the adherents of Hahnemann in a society which should be elevating, helpful and protective. Then the members were few. June 20th this same society opened its sixtieth session with a membership of more than two thousand-a strong, healthy body to whose deliberations came men and women from almost every State in the union.

In the immense assembly room of the old Cataract House promptly at five o'clock, President John Preston Sutherland, of Boston, called the meeting to order and declared "The Sixtieth Annual Session of the American Institute of Homeopathy open for business."

Vice-President H. E. Beebe in the chair, President Sutherland delivered his business address as follows:

Fellow-Members and Friends:-I thank you that you have given me the privilege of welcoming you here this afternoon. And I welcome you most sincerely, and with all my heart.

I deeply and lastingly appreciate the honor the American Institute of Homeopathy has done me in making me, for the hour, its chief executive. And believe me, I dedicate all powers that I possess, unreservedly and enthusiastically, to its interests, and counting always on your indulgence and co-operation-without which the endeavors of any president must be crippled indeed-I pledge all my efforts to discharge the duties of this most honorable position zealously, faithfully and impartially; and, let me again say, with a deep sense of the privilege you have conferred upon me, in laying such duties in my hands. I wish here and now earnestly and gratefully to testify how much these onerous duties have been lightened and made a happiness by the courtesy, the zeal and the efficiency of my fellow-workers, the members of the executive committee, the chairmen of the various bureaus, and the presidents of the sectional societies represented at this meeting.