CONNECTION WITH GEORGETOWN COLLEGE.

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to those afflicted with all ailments the advantages of treatment which were there offered to those suffering with the diseases peculiar to women. It was at his call, on or about April 15, that five other young physicians equally enthusiastic met, and with him formally organized the Central Dispensary. These five young men were H. H. Barker, Austin Brockenbrough, Robertson Howard, P. T. Keen, and Ralph Walsh. The institution that they then founded was the only general dispensary service in the city at that time, and remained, until recent years, the only place for outdoor relief open to the poor of Washington, regardless of age, color, or sex.

The majority of these men were alumni of the medical department of Georgetown College, and this institution most generously allowed them the use of the college building at the corner of Tenth and E streets for the beginning of their enterprise. The college gave them the free use of two rooms, with counter and the shelving for drugs. Dr. Magruder was the first treasurer, and from an examination of the book of subscriptions it appears that on April 8 W. H. Baldwin is the first recorded name, with a donation of $1. Dr. James E. Morgan and O. A. Daily follow with the same sum. The whole amount of donations, "principally by physicians and druggists," as the first report says, was $150. This, with $300 which was appropriated by the legislature of the District (but which realized only $278), was the sum total expended during the year ending May 7, 1872, for the treatment of 511 patients.

During the first year several changes took place in the attending staff. Drs. Keen and Brockenbrough having removed from the city, Drs. Boarman and Ross were elected to fill these vacancies. The board of directors of the dispensary for the first year was as follows:

Consulting medical board.-Drs. Joshua Riley, Noble Young, L. Mackall, jr., J. Howard, T. Eliot, W. G. Newman, J. E. Morgan, C. H. Cragin.

Attending staff.-Drs. G. L. Magruder, surgery; H. H. Barker and Robertson Howard, diseases of women and children; R. S. L. Walsh, eye, ear, and skin; C. V. Boarman, heart, throat, and lungs; W. H. Ross, head and abdomen; Lawrence Wilson, dispensary physician; E. C. Morgan and J. S. Stephenson, assistants to dispensary.

The directors (in addition to the medical staff) were: N. P. Chipman, John C. McKelden, George P. Fisher, M. G. Emery, J. Carroll Brent, W. J. Murtagh, Jesse B. Wilson, J. W. Thompson, J. W. Barker, Arthur Shepherd, George H. Plant, B. H. Stinemetz, W. M. Shuster, W. M. Morrison, and D. W. Middleton, jr.

In the early part of 1874 an effort was made to establish a German dispensary for the benefit of the German element of our population, but principally through the efforts of Dr. George M. Kober and Dr. Kleinschmidt, the scheme was abandoned and the funds that had been subscribed and collected (about $800) and the influence of the originators were thrown in favor of the Central Dispensary.

The third annual report (there does not seem to have been a second),

published in January, 1875, gives a summary of the work done during the first three and a half years of the existence of the dispensary, which was 2,236 new cases and a total of 7,425 prescriptions compounded. The members of the attending staff at that time were: Drs. Barker, Boarman, Ross, Briscoe, Kleinschmidt, and Walter.

The dispensary from the beginning laid itself out on the broadest lines along which it proposed to develop and has persistently refused to lend itself to the furtherance of any party or faction. It represented the medical profession as a body and belonged to suffering humanity without regard to sex, creed, or color. While it enjoyed the hospitality of the medical department of Georgetown University, it was not considered, even by the university itself, as in any way a part of that institution. The time soon came when its growing importance and widening scope raised the question in the minds of some as to the propriety of a public charity of its comprehensive character longer remaining under the ægis of some one medical school. It was therefore resolved in 1876 to make the bold venture of removing to quarters of its own, and these were found in a wooden building No. 514 Sixth street NW. At this time a reorganization, or rather a perfected organization, was effected, and the first officers of the board of directors were as follows: B. U. Keyser, president; A. S. Solomons,' vice president; T. J. Durant, secretary; D. W. Middleton, jr., treasurer. The attending staff was: H. H. Barker, diseases of women; W. C. Briscoe, surgery; G. L. Magruder, children; W. H. Ross, heart and nervous system; Ralph Walsh, eye, ear, throat, and lungs; John Walter, general diseases, and Swan M. Burnett, general assistant to the staff. There was also a house physician and three assistants. There was also a board of lady visitors, of which Mrs. William Dennison was president; Mrs. D. R. McKee, vice-president, and Miss Solomons, secretary. The hospital year was made to end March 31, and on that day in 1878 there had been treated for the preceding twelve months 3,677 new patients.

During this year, 1878, some changes were made in the staff, on account of the removal of Dr. Ross to Mexico. Dr. Walsh gave the diseases of the eye to Dr. Burnett, who was then made a full member of

1Adolphus S. Solomons was born in New York City, October 26, 1829. His father, John Solomons, was a native of London, and his mother and her ancestors were Americans. Mr. Solomons was a corporate member of the first training school for nurses established in the District of Columbia; also treasurer of the Humane Society; president of the Night Lodging House Association; vice-president of the National Red Cross Association, and was appointed by President Arthur to represent the United States at the Red Cross Congress held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1884, and was elected one of its vice-presidents; chairman of the Associated Charities of the District of Columbia; vice-president of the Emergency Hospital, and is now a member of the board of visitors of the Providence Hospital; a director of the Columbia Hospital for Women, and of the Garfield Memorial Hospital, of which he was the chairman of the committee on ways and means, and succeeded in providing means for its establishment. He is now the general agent of the central committee of the Baron de Hirsch Fund.-EDITOR.