MEDICAL BROTHERHOOD FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF INTERNATIONAL MORALITY Fraternitas medicorum F. M. ORIGIN, ORGANIZATION, PROCEEDINGS, REPORTED BY THE FIRST SECRETARY, WILLIAM J. GIES ... At the fourth annual dinner of the Columbia University Biochemical Association (March 26, 1915), which was attended by about 200 members and guests of the Biochemical Association, and at which he was the guest of honor, Dr. S. J. Meltzer delivered the address that is published on the opening pages of this issue of the BIOCHEMICAL BULLETIN. In that address Dr. Meltzer proposed that "all medical men of various shades and groupings ought to establish a Medical Brotherhood for the Purpose of Upholding and Accelerating the Progress of International Morality." At the conclusion of Dr. Meltzer's address the large assembly was invited to express its opinion, by a rising vote, on the desirability and feasibility of organizing such a Brotherhood. The vote was unanimously in the affirmative. (See pages 263 and 267 of this volume of the BIOCHEMICAL BULLETIN.) Dr. Meltzer's address was published in Science (April 9, 1915; p. 515). Shortly thereafter Dr. Meltzer communicated with some of his colleagues regarding their personal willingness to participate in the organization of the proposed Brotherhood and was heartily encouraged in his plans to effect its establishment. On July 3, 1915, Dr. Meltzer issued a statement, in part, as follows: Dear Doctor: It gives me pleasure to inform you that the matter of establishing a Medical Brotherhood for the Furtherance of International Morality has now reached a satisfactory stage. I am, therefore, taking steps to form a definite organization. More than 140 medical men, among them many of the most prominent and influential men in this country, have agreed to serve on the Committee that will issue an Appeal to the medical profession of this country. I enclose the list of the members of the Committee; it is probable that the final list will comprise 150 names. In response to an appeal by me, the Executive Committee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has appropriated $1500 for carrying out the preliminary work, and it is hoped that other contributions will later be received. I am sending you a copy of the Appeal that will be sent to a large number of physicians in this country. Will you kindly read it and suggest any improvements in its wording that may occur to you. In order to effect a promptly active organization, I suggest that you authorize me to invite New York colleagues to serve on a provisional Executive Committee of 15 members. Please let me have your suggestions of names of such colleagues within the next ten days. At the expiration of this period we shall count the votes and the fifteen who receive a majority will be considered as constituting the Executive Committee. A meeting of these men will then be called, at which a permanent organization will be effected. Sincerely yours, S. J. MELTZER. On July 18, Dr. Meltzer forwarded to all of the memberselect of the provisional Executive Committee a note inviting them to meet him at the New York Academy of Medicine for the purpose set forth in the foregoing letter. Pursuant to Dr. Meltzer's call, as stated above, there assembled, in the Council room of the N. Y. Academy of Medicine, on Tuesday, July 20, 1915, at 4.15 p. m., Drs. S. Josephine Baker, John W. Brannan, Harlow Brooks, Rufus Cole, John A. Fordyce, Nellis B. Foster, William J. Gies, Samuel J. Meltzer and Robert T. Morris. Dr. Meltzer took the chair, called the meeting to order and requested Dr. Gies to serve as temporary secretary. Dr. Meltzer stated the object of the meeting to be the organization of the Medical Brotherhood for the Furtherance of International Morality, in harmony with formal authorization to that end on behalf of the 150 men and women whose votes designated the membership of the executive committee assembled at this meeting. Dr. Meltzer then stated that the colleagues named below, who favored the organization of the Medical Brotherhood, had been designated, by pluralities of the votes cast in accordance with the terms of his invitation dated July 3, 1915 (as copied above), to serve as an Executive Committee and to proceed with provisional organization of the proposed Medical Brotherhood: It was voted that a provisional organization be effected by the election of officers to serve for a term of one year, or until the election of their successors. The following officers were then elected: I. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (Residents of the City of New York) A. Active Officers PRESIDENT: S. J. Meltzer, Member, Rockefeller Institute. FIRST SECRETARY: Wm. J. Gies, Professor of Biological Chemistry, Columbia University. SECOND SECRETARY: Harlow Brooks, Professor of Clinical Medicine, University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College. TREASURER: Robert T. Morris, Professor of Surgery, Post-Graduate Medical School. B. Councillors Abraham Jacobi, Professor of Diseases of Children, Emeritus, Colum bia University. Robert Abbe, Surgeon, St. Luke's Hospital. John Winters Brannan, President, Board of Trustees of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. J. A. Fordyce, Professor of Dermatology, College of Physicians and Surgeons. Nellis B. Foster, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Cornell University Medical School. S. S. Goldwater, Commissioner, Department of Health. School. William H. Park, Professor of Bacteriology, University and Bellevue Medical College. John Allan Wyeth, President, Polyclinic Hospital. II. ADVISORY COMMITTEE A. Honorary Presidents Rupert Blue, Surgeon General, U. S. Public Health Service, Washing ton, D. C. W. C. Braisted, Surgeon General, U. S. Navy, Washington, D. C. Russell H. Chittenden, Director, Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University. W. T. Councilman, Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School. School. Abraham Jacobi, Professor of Diseases of Children, Emeritus, Columbia University. W. W. Keen, President, International Surgical Congress; President, Edward L. Trudeau, Saranac Lake, New York. sylvania. Victor C. Vaughan, Professor of Hygiene and Physiological Chemistry, University of Michigan. William H. Welch, President, National Academy of Sciences; Professor of Pathology, Johns Hopkins Medical School. B. Honorary Vice-Presidents J. J. Abel, Professor of Pharmacology, Johns Hopkins Medical School. Herman M. Biggs, Commissioner, State Board of Health, New York City. Frank Billings, Professor of Medicine and Dean, Rush Medical College. Clarence John Blake, Professor of Otology, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School. W. B. Cannon, Professor of Physiology, Harvard Medical School. W. H. Carmalt, Professor of Surgery, Emeritus, Yale Medical School. George Dock, Professor of Medicine, Washington Medical School, St. Louis. James Ewing, Professor of Pathology, Cornell Medical School. Alice Hamilton, Expert on Occupational Diseases, Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D. C. Ludvig Hektoen, Professor of Pathology, Rush Medical College. Howard A. Kelly, Professor of Gynecology, Johns Hopkins Medical School. George M. Kober, Dean, Georgetown School of Medicine, Washington, D. C. Robert G. LeConte, President, American Surgical Association, Philadelphia. Rudolph Matas, Professor of Surgery, Tulane University. Chas. K. Mills, Professor of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania. School, St. Louis. Charles A. Powers, Professor of Clinical Surgery, Emeritus, University of Colorado. W. L. Rodman, President, American Medical Association, Philadelphia. G. E. deSchweinitz, Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania. Henry Sewall, President, Association of American Physicians, Denver. F. C. Shattuck, Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School. |