i8 



Memorial Number 



early in his career, he was offered an opportunity of an academic 

 position in Berlin. However, circumstances, among which not 

 the least was an impelling desire for broader activity, induced him 

 to decline the offer and again to migrate, and this time to our land. 



With a background of Virchow, Helmholtz, DuBois Reymond, 

 Koch, Frerichs, etc., Dr. Meltzer entered New York and on his 

 arrival the contrast of past and present was not very cheering. 

 Medical schools we had, but seats of learning they were not. 

 Theory was not held in great repute, the largest space given to the 

 laboratory was that occupied in announcements. On the school 

 premises it was discovered with difficulty. The material the 

 schools turned out was not of very high grade, but, such as it was, 

 it formed the medical world which young Meltzer was about to 

 join. Here to excel and to turn personal superiority into material 

 gain was not difficult. Many men to whom Fortune was as 

 friendly as to Dr. Meltzer, and who obtained the advantages of 

 a European training, exploited their advantages successfully. 

 Such success did not tempt Dr. Meltzer. On the contrary, from 

 the day of his landing in New York his life was dedicated to the 

 education and the advancement of the mental horizon of the 

 American physician. There were other contemporaries who 

 espoused the same cause, some were of American birth and had 

 the advantages of a European education, and others of foreign 

 birth and education. Prominent among them stand out Welch, 

 Prudden, Janeway, Jacobi, Knopf in this city, again Welch and 

 Osier in Baltimore, and others in other cities. 



But among all these leaders who brought American medicine to 

 its present high stand the place of Dr. Meltzer was from first to 

 last unique. 



To define his place among other leaders briefly, one would say 

 it was more democratic. While others worked for the improve- 

 ment of medical school or hospital, Dr. Meltzer chose for his task 

 the education of the rank and file of M.D.'s, whether they were 

 engaged in the practice of medicine or in the teaching of it. Again 

 to borrow a term from the political vocabulary, Dr. Meltzer 

 became the leader of the progressive opposition minority against 

 the conservative majority. In order to exert his influence with 

 the utmost efficiency, Dr. Meltzer chose to preserve his personal 



