it for our Library, although at first it seemed that the prize was beyond our reach because of its great monetary value. After a year of hard work, seconded by the able efforts of our friends (especially of Dr. Hermann G. Klotz, of New York City), on May 31, 1903 we obtained the refusal of the books at $3,000 until July 15, 1903. In granting our request for the refusal of the collection at this price, Dr. Klotz, their librarian wrote: "In waiving the claims for a greater compensation, which would have been justified by the value of the library, the Committee has been prompted by the desire to dispose of the books in such a way that they will continue to be of great benefit to our profession and at the same time to confer a favor on a society composed of our professional brethren."

Then the question of raising the required amount confronted us and a careful canvass was immediately begun among our members with the inspiring result that in less than three weeks a sufficient amount had been pledged so that our Board of Trustees were able to make a deposit of $1,000 and felt warranted in giving a three months' note for the balance.

In raising this $3,000 it was originally planned to secure thirty pledges of $100 each. Many who were solicited promised smaller amounts, but the original plan was found to be entirely feasible and was carried through. Remembering how greatly the medical profession of Kings County had been taxed for the Building Fund, the Fair, and again last year for the completion of our stack-room, an appeal was made to three members of the laity who once more have generously contributed to our needs. In this connection I wish to thank Dr. George McNaughton and Dr. Benjamin Ayres through whom the largest two contributions were secured.

The list of contributors is as follows: Mr. Abraham Abraham (through Dr. McNaughton), $500; Mr. Frank S. Jones (through Dr. Ayres), $300; Mr. Clarence W. Seamans, $100; Brooklyn Gynecological Society, $100; Brooklyn Surgical Society, $100; Dr. Hermann P. Bender, $100; Dr. William C. Braislin, $100; Dr. Algernon T. Bristow, $100; Dr. Glentworth R. Butler, $100; Dr. H. Beeckman Delatour, $100; Dr. Robert L. Dickinson, $100; Dr. Matthias Figueira, $100; Dr. George R. Fowler, $100; Dr. Thomas R. French, $100; Dr. Joseph H. Hunt, $100; Dr. Charles Jewett, $100; Dr. John A. McCorkle, $100; Dr. George McNaughton, $100; Dr. Lewis S. Pilcher, $100; Dr. John E. Sheppard, $100; Dr. Joshua M. Van Cott, $100; Dr. Frank E.

West, $100; Dr. James M. Winfield, $100; Dr. Frederick W. Wunderlich, $100; making a total of $3,000.

The market value of the books is somewhere between eight and ten thousand dollars,* and the collection numbers nearly 7,000 volumes, consisting of complete files of periodicals including every branch of medicine, valuable hospital reports and society transactions, and a few encyclopedias and text-books. It would consume too much of your time for me to mention the titles of all these journals and the enumeration of a few will suffice to demonstrate the great value of this library which we have acquired.

There are complete files of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, American Journal of Obstetrics, Annalen des Charité-Krankenhauses, Annales de Dermatologie et Syphiligraphie, Annales d'Oculistique, Annals of Surgery, Archiv für Anatomie u. Entwickelungsgeschichte Archiv für Anatomie u. Physiologie, Archiv f. Dermatologie u. Syphilis, Archiv f. exper. Pathologie u. Pharmacologie, Archiv f. d. gesammte Physiologie, Archiv f. Gynækologie, Archiv f. Hygiene, Archiv f. Kinderheilkunde, Archiv f. klinische Chirurgie, Archiv f. mikroskopische Anatomie, Archiv f. Ohrenheilkunde, Archiv f. Ophthalmologie, Archiv f. pathologische Anatomie, Archiv f. Psychiatrie u. Nervenkrankheiten, Archives Générales de Médecine, Archives de Physiologie Normale et Pathologique, and so on through hundreds of sets of the leading periodicals in German, French and English-periodicals devoted to each specialty as well as to general medicine. Practically all of the books are handsomely and substantially bound.

This, gentlemen, is the rich gift which has been secured to you through the generosity of three laymen, nineteen of your colleagues and two affiliated societies.

In closing, I ask the privilege of publically thanking my medical friends whom I visited, for their courteous reception and warm response to a request to open their purses. In spite of the many calls upon our profession for charity, I found that every one, without exception, was ready to do his share and deemed it an honored privilege to contribute to the welfare and aid in the up-building of our great Library. It seems to me that the value of the collection is increased a thousand fold by this spirit of hearty generosity and good will.

Fellow members, this magnificent collection of books is now presented to you by the donors, and as your Directing Librarian I extend to you my heartiest congratulations.

*The books cost from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars.-ED.

(Acknowledgment is made of the courtesy of Dr. Robert Fletcher, of Washington, D. C., for the loan of the portrait from which this engraving was made-ED.)

TRANSACTIONS OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL HISTORICAL CLUB.

At the first meeting of the session of 1903-1904, Dr. Eugene F. Cordell was re-elected President, and Dr. T. B. Futcher was re-elected Secretary. The programs of meetings have been as follows:

OCTOBER 19, 1903.

I. "Robert Whytt, Professor of Medicine, University of Edinburgh, 1747-1766." By Dr. John Ruhräh.

2. "The First Sanatorium in the Colonies: 'The Coole Springs' of St. Mary's County, Md., 1698." By J. Hall Pleasants.

NOVEMBER 9, 1903.

I. "Fracastorius: His Opinions and Influence upon Doctrines of Infection." By Dr. William H. Welch.

2. "Report of Cases by Dr. Charles Frederick Wiesenthal." By Dr. Eugene F. Cordell.

3. "The Bicêtre Hospital in Paris." By Dr. Charles P. Emerson.

DECEMBER 14, 1903.

I. "Taliocotius and His Work." By Dr. William S. Halstead.

2. "The School of Salernum." By Dr. William G. MacCallum.

3. "Dr. John Burton, the Dr. Slop of 'Tristam Shandy,' with an Exhibition of the Photograph of His Obstetrical Forceps." By Dr. William Osler.

At the conclusion of Dr. MacCallum's paper, Dr. Hurd rose and stated that he desired to call the attention of the Society to the singular fact of the presence among them of the American translator of the Regimen Sanitatis in the person of Dr. Ordronaux, of New York, who happened quite accidentally to be visiting Baltimore, and had been invited by him to attend the meeting. He thereupon introduced Dr. Ordronaux to the Society, which was followed by an invitation to the Doctor to recount the history of his connection with the poem as its translator. Dr. Ordronaux, having been invited to the platform by the President, then spoke substantially as follows: