It does not seem to be necessary to say, that the German American Dispensary, although founded by German physicians, is not closed to other nationalities. A table of our patients according to nationalities, reveals that all the nations of our cosmopolitan city are represented, namely: Germans 976, Americans 480, Irish 119, English 75, Russians and Poles 356, Austrians 27, Scandinavians 67, Dutch 11, French 6, Italians 6, Swiss 6, Canadians 3, Australians 1.

Every one knows, that in the city of Chicago with its tremendous German population, there was one German hospital. After the Jewish Hospital was destroyed during the fire in October, 1871 and was never rebuilt, a population of 100,000 Germans had no institution for the free treatment of its poor. But have we not the Cook County Hospital, Mercy Hospital, etc? Are not the German poor treated there as well as the others? Certainly, but the patient and the physician must understand each other. As the poor has little time for language study, how is an understanding possible between he who does not speak English and the physician who does not speak German? With a few exceptions, the physicians here do not speak any other language but English. For that reason it is natural that German poor people go to German 2physicians to whom they can describe their ailments.

For a long time the German physicians recognized the necessity of a German clinic; and in order to give a start to the idea of a German hospital and interest the population in it, the Doctors E. Schmidt, H. Merkle, Ch. Fessel, John Schaller, Gust Hessert, Theo. Wild, Thilo Brauns, C. Gatjens, M. Mannheimer, F. C. Hotz, founded the "German American Dispensary" one year ago, which is an institution in which poor sick people receive medical attention and the necessary medicines, free of charge. Of course, serious ailments and operations which confine people to bed fro a long time do not pertain to a Dispensary; such cases must be treated in the hospital, as no where else could the poor receive the necessary care.