CHAPTER IX 

 THE SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 



BY PHILIP P. JACOBS, PH.D. 



A HAS been pointed out elsewhere in these pages, the Na- 

 tional Tuberculosis Association really grew out of dis- 

 cussions centering around an International' Congress on 

 Tuberculosis. The confusion incident to the proposals of Clark 

 Bell and Dr. Daniel Lewis and the discussions pro and con con- 

 cerning the merits of their respective congresses crystallized a 

 growing desire for a national association that might represent the 

 United States properly in any such international gathering. 



After The National Association for the Study and Prevention of 

 Tuberculosis was formed in 1904, one of the first acts of the board 

 of directors was to take up the question of an international meet- 

 ing of some sort to be held in the United States. 



In 1905 Dr. Hermann M. Biggs, Dr. Lawrence F. Flick, Dr. 

 William Osier, Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs, and others represented 

 The National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuber- 

 culosis at the Fifth International Congress on Tuberculosis held 

 in Paris; Medical Inspector Henry G. Beyer, of the U. S. Navy, 

 representing the United States Government. Acting as spokes- 

 man for the United States organization, Dr. Flick presented its 

 invitation to the International Congress to meet in this country 

 in 1908.- The invitation was seconded by Dr. Henry Barton 

 Jacobs on behalf of the Association. But as a rule of the Congress 

 prevented it from accepting any invitation which did not come 

 from the government of the country extending the invitation, Dr. 

 Jacobs cabled to Dr. William H. Welch to secure from Mr. Roose- 

 velt, the President of the United States, such an invitation and 

 transmit it through the American Embassy in Paris. Immedi- 

 ately on receipt of the cable Dr. Welch went to Washington and 



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