The first annual meeting of the German Dispensary was held yesterday, at 10:30 A. M., in the office of Mr. Julius Rosenthal. Mr. Christoph Holtz was elected chairman, and Julius Rosenthal, secretary. Then Dr. F. C. Holtz read the following "Annual Report" on the Activity of the German American Dispensary (sic)":

Report of Physicians to the Board of Directors:

From July 1, 1872 to July 1, 1874, 2,132 patients received medical treatment, 1,300 males and 832 females.

The department for internal cases treated 1,272 persons; the surgical department 558; the department for female diseases 172; and the eye and ear division 142.

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It is hardly necessary to state that although the Dispensary was founded by German physicians its doors were not closed to other nationalities; a comparison reveals that all the nationalities within our cosmopolitan city were represented: Germans by 976, Americans by 480, Irish by 119, English by 75, Russians and Poles by 356, Austrians by 27, Scandinavians by 67, Dutch by 11, French by 6, Italians by 6, Swiss by 6, Canadians by 3, and the Australians by 1. With reference to the number of Germans who received treatment, it should be remembered that only adults are included in the figure 976, since the children of German parents are counted as Americans. Thus it can be said that more than one half of the patients were Germans. This proportion is not surprising; it is exactly what our doctors expected, and shows that an institution like the Dispensary is needed for the Germans of Chicago.

Everybody must have noticed that there was only one German hospital in Chicago, although a large percentage of the population is German. And after the Jewish Hospital was destroyed by fire in October, 1871, there was not a 3single institution in which the poor among Chicago's 100,000 residents could obtain free medical treatment. And was there no need for one? Indeed there was, for the Chicago Fire did its greatest damage in that part of the city where the Germans lived; and many of them were reduced to penury. But we have among others the Cook County Hospital, the Mercy Hospital, and also Central and other dispensaries! Are needy Germans not treated just as well as other patients in these institutions? Most assuredly; only doctor and patient must be able to understand one another. However, since the poor have little time to study languages, as everybody knows, how can there be any intelligible conversation between a patient who cannot speak English and a doctor who cannot speak German? With but a very few exceptions none of the doctors stationed at the institutions mentioned speak any language other than English. Therefore it is to be expected that poor Germans would seek medical aid from German doctors with whom they can discuss their illness in their mother tongue.

Thus the German physicians were long aware of the need for a German hospital. And in the hope of interesting Chicago's citizens in the establishment of a 4German hospital, Drs. Ernst Schmidt, H. Merkle, Christian Fessel, John Schaller, Gustav Hessert, Theodor Wild, Thilo Brauns, C. Gaetjens, M. Mannheimer, and F. C. Hotz founded the German-American Dispensary, an institution where indigent sick persons may receive free medical advice and the necessary medicine. The activity of such a dispensary is, of course, limited; it is confined to those patients who are able to come to the institution. People who are seriously ill, or who must undergo major operations which make it necessary for the patient to remain in bed for a long time, cannot be cared for at the Dispensary; such patients should always be taken to a hospital, for they require medical attention and care which they can seldom obtain at home. For this reason the doctors at the Dispensary were frequently obliged to refuse to admit some patients to the institution, and sent them to hospitals instead. And the fact that 2,132 persons received treatments, despite these limited facilities, proves conclusively not only that the Dispensary is a necessity, but also that it should be enlarged and made into a hospital.

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It was necessary that our Dispensary be centrally located, in order that it might be accessible from every part of the city. The high rentals in the central part of the city, and the limited means at our disposal made it difficult to obtain a suitable place. However, we finally found a centrally located building at 201 Fifth Avenue, and rented the basement from Mr. A. F. Otto, the owner. We managed to divide it into three consultation rooms and one waiting room. At the opening of the Dispensary, July 1, 1873, the following schedule was established, and it was maintained throughout the year:

Office hours: 11 A. M. to 1 P. M., excepting Sundays and holidays.

Internal illness: Treatment daily by Drs. Schmidt, Wild, and Hessert.

Skin and throat diseases: Treatment twice weekly, by Dr. Mannheimer.

Women's diseases: Treatment twice weekly, by Dr. Brauns.

Eye and ear diseases: Treatment twice weekly, by Dr. Hotz.

This schedule is still in force, except that the department for skin and throat diseases has been combined with the department for internal illness, 6and the department for women's diseases is open four days a week.

During the course of the year Drs. Fessel and Merkle retired from active service and are serving as consulting physicians together with Drs. H. A. Johnson, W. H. Byford, E. Andrews, Moses Gunn, J. W. Feuer, C. L. Holmes, DeLaskie (sic), and Miller (sic).

The places of Drs. Merkle and Fessel were filled by Drs. S. D. Jacobson, Gustav Fischer, and Lackner (sic).

Since it was planned to dispense free medicines it was expected that the purchase of medicines would constitute the chief expenditure in our accounts with druggists. We were faced with the problem of securing good medicines at low prices. In all other dispensaries prescription are compounded at the dispensary itself, and the average cost per prescription at the County Hospital is twelve cents; and this does not include bottles, the purchase price of vials, cartons, etc., or the salary of the pharmacist.

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We did not think that this procedure would be feasible for our institution, because it was highly improbable that we could obtain the services of an efficient pharmacist, and because we have not enough room in our quarters for an adequate pharmacy. Later, an attempt to do the dispensary ourselves merely served to confirm our opinion; for when the German Society of Chicago closed its Lodging House and presented us with the pharmaceutical laboratory of that Institution, we did not have the necessary space to store the supplies, even though they did not constitute a complete laboratory, and we were forced to have our prescriptions filled at nearby drugstores. In May and June the dispensing was done by Mr. Muffat, who had been the pharmacist at the Lodging House. He did this work free of charge, and did it very well. However, when he left, conditions grew worse. Several German pharmacists promised to have their assistants do the work, and arranged to have one of them present at our Dispensary every day to fill prescriptions, but not all of the pharmacists kept their promise, and we were obliged to have Penser and Kadisch compound many formulas. Only 1,080 prescriptions were filled at our Dispensary.

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Experiences of this kind certainly strengthened our resolve to abandon the idea of maintaining a pharmacy in our quarters. And so we endeavored to have our medicines compounded by contract; we made an agreement with Mr. R. Rosen Merkel, and then with Penser and Kadisch to have all prescriptions issued by the Dispensary filled at cost price. On the basis of this agreement 4,785 prescriptions were filled at a cost of $911.84, or an average cost of 191/4 cents per prescription. The reason for the difference between this amount and the price paid by the other hospitals mentioned is that those institutions select only low-priced medicines, and the patients furnish the bottles.

Thus it appears that our arrangement to secure medicines on contract and to stock only those medicines which can be kept in their prepared state, is the better one.

F. C. Holz, Secretary

Mr. Julius Rosenthal reported on finances:

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Balance August 1, 1874............................$ 3,959.44

Bills receivable ................................... 210.15

Total................................................$ 4,169.59

Disbursements, Year Ending July 1, 1874

Rent................................................$ 240.00

Furniture and fixtures........................... 445.00

Instruments....................................... 93.75

Books and stationery............................ 94.93

Watchman........................................ 233.50

Trusses............................................ 133.60

Medicines.........................................1,067.29

Total............................................$ 2,308.07

Prescriptions filled .............................5,761

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Income, Year Ending July 1, 1874

Relief and Aid Society...................... $ 5,000.00

German Society of Chicago.................... 300.00

Doggett, Bassett, and Hill ...................... 300.00

Jewish Aid Society ............................. 150.00

Brewers' Association ............................ 200.00

After the members had been convinced that it is preferable to have all prescriptions filled at a pharmacy, Dr. Hotz was instructed to draw up a contract with some pharmacist.

Thereupon the following men were elected members of the executive board: North Side, A. C. Hesing, H. Claussenius, Michel Brand, Francis Lackner; West Side, Christoph Hotz, Louis Sievers, John Buehler, Louis Fuerstenberg, South Side, Julius Rosenthal, Nelson Morris, George Syndacker, George 11Schneider. Christoph Hotz was elected president, and Francis Lackner, secretary.

Adjournment followed.