Dr. Meltzer's message to the present generation. 



By PHOEBUS A. LEVENE. 



I am here tonight to speak not to the old friends of Dr. Meltzer 

 who with him led the medical profession through the thorny walks 

 of a primitive lowland to its present heights of splendor, I am here 

 not to revive old memories so that some may again pass through 

 the joys of their youth. I have come to speak to the younger, 

 to deliver to them the message bequeathed by the older, Dr. S. J. 

 Meltzer. And in order that they may receive the message I shall 

 attempt to draw a sketch of the departed friend and master, not 

 one portraying every detail of his character, not one bringing out 

 every feature of his activities, but an impression portrait such as 

 the young may hold before them while their life and ideals are 

 still in their shaping. I shall throw the light on the side of the 

 man that is the expression of the great ideal of service to humanity. 

 The form of service is truly an incident. 



It so happened that Dr. Meltzer was born in Russia, a country 

 of irrepressible idealism; it so happened that he was born of a 

 race noted for its devotion to whatever it chooses to make the 

 object of its devotion; it so happened that he was born in a small 

 modest town that gave birth to no bankers and to no magnates, 

 but to many men of learning. Unlikely as this may seem, learn- 

 ing was the object of veneration in Dr. Meltzer's birthplace and 

 learning became Dr. Meltzer's ideal. 



In search of learning Dr. Meltzer migrated to Berlin, where he 

 came under the influence of the great masters of medicine, of 

 physiology, and of philosophy. In the atmosphere of these men 

 his character matured, his ideals took concrete shape. Here the 

 decision was formed that medicine was to become the medium 

 of his service to man and here he chose physiology as the medium 

 of self-perfection and of personal enjoinment. So earnestly did 

 Dr. Meltzer apply himself to the task of mastering his medium 

 that soon he gained not only appreciation but also the friendship 

 and affection of those who had been his masters; and then, still 



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