him as something specially worth seeing. He says that in point of volume they are the grandest in Central Europe. "The Rhine takes three leaps over an irregular rocky ledge, which next to the left bank is about sixty feet high," etc. "Before 8 a. m. and after 3 p. m. rainbows are formed by the sun in the clouds of silvery spray. The spectacle is also very impressive by moonlight." We have no doubt that to some the Rhine Falls may look impressive, but to us they looked ridiculous, and so they must look to anybody who has seen our unapproachable Niagara Falls. Our window and balcony at the Schweizerhof were directly facing the falls, and we looked at them long and longingly, but failed to succeed in becoming enthused over them. (However, when illuminated at night, they are very pretty). Which goes to show that most things in this world go by comparison. If you see the fifteen thousand feet mountains first, the three and five thousand feet ones will seem to you like molehills and will only excite contemptuous derision. Which also teaches another lesson: do not take your greatest pleasures too soon and all at once. For all the smaller pleasures and joys will seem to you flat and insipid. I know there is another philosophy which adminishes you to snatch at all the pleasures of life as you go along, "for to-morrow you may be dead" and there is a good deal of truth in this philosophy. But in the end the other philosophy, the one that advises to take your joys and pleasures in moderation, leaving some untasted joys for later years, will prove the most acceptable one. And even if some of the joys that you were looking forward to never did materialize, no matter. For in very, very many instances is expectation better than realization. And speaking of joy, I will, with the beautiful rushing river at my feet and the vine-clad hills in front of me, declare that the apostle we have the greatest need of now, is an apostle of joy. Next to our duty to work for humanity in the abstract, to work for its intellectual, spiritual and material emancipation, stands forth our immediate duty to bring some joy into our own lives and into the lives of those with whom we come in personal contact. Yes, take, snatch, taste all of life's joys, but one thing remember: No joy is right or legitimate, that is obtained at the expense of somebody else's suffering.

If there is anything that constantly tears and pulls at my heart, it is the contemplation of the millions and millions who go thru this life, from cradle to grave, without a ray of joy, without a touch of love, without hope of a better future, without even a mirage of happiness. And blessed be the man or the woman who brings a ray of joy, a taste of pleasure into our dull-gray commonplace humdrum lives and existences. Thrice blessed be the fairy who touches with the magic wand of romance -and perhaps love-our drying, stagnant, senescent souls. She gives us new life, for life without romance and without love is death.

I see the Falls of the Rhine have made me quite romantic. They do say that the proximity of old father Rhine has that effect on everybody who is not quite dead to all sentiment. One thing is sure: I would not have written this stuff in front of the Niagara Falls.

From Neuhausen we went to Lindau, from Lindau we had a delightful sail on the Lake Constance to Constance, and from there we went to Munich. As we left Neuhausen, our last Swiss stopping place where we had a most pleasant time, eating out of doors and watching the falls, etc., a feeling of inexpressible sadness came over us, a feeling which we experience each and every time we leave Switzerland. We love that little country and our love for it increases with each visit. It is the world's garden spot, it is Nature's true playing ground. We love its atmosphere, we love its lakes and mountains, we love its contrasts, we love its men and women, we love the inborn politeness and refinement of the people at large, and we love it as the most advanced republic in the world. When we leave the Swiss frontier we feel that our holiday is practically over, no matter how much longer we are going to stay in Germany, France, etc. For no other European country possesses the same spirit, the same natural beauties that Switzerland does. (Our friend, Prof. Beaumont, we did not see this time, as he is away on a cruise around the world).

In Munich we visted the famous Hofbrauhaus and drank a small Stein of Munich beer. It did taste delicious, but lest our good total-abstinence friends be too horrified at our debauchery, we will hasten to state that that was all we did drink during our entire stay in Munich. And our friends will admit that a small Stein of beer during a four days' stay in Munich is not too much and does rather show a modicum of self-control and some ability to resist temptation. At the Hofbrauhaus we saw Prof. J. H. Musser of Philadelphia (Chairman of the American Section of the International Medical Congress) with a party of friends. They were thoroly enjoying themselves and paying homage to Gambrinus and Ceres.

While we were in Munich two sad events took place: the funeral of the rector of the Munich University, Prof. Bollinger, and the installation of a new archbishop.

From Munich we went to quaint old Nuremberg. It is not so quaint and old as it was, for everywhere medievalism and quaintness give place to modernism and comfort. It still is, however, a very interesting city. While there we made ourselves perfectly miserable for a time by inspecting in the Germanic Museum and in the old Burg, where they are preserved in all their original beauty, such cheerful and humanitarian implements as the thumb screw, the rack, the wheel, where they broke your body and tore your spirit, the iron cradle with spikes where they put you in naked and rocked you to death or until

you confessed whatever your torturers wanted you to confess, and last but not least the famous-infamous Iron Maiden, or as she is called there, the Iron Virgin. The latter name however is in our opinion a misnomer, for a virgin she was not; she had many men in her whom she sent to a horrible, horrible death. For, you may know, the Iron Maiden is a large hollow female figure, made of iron, the front part of which opens up and is provided with long spikes. The victim was put in, the door was slowly closed, and as it closed, the spikes penetrated every part of the victim's body, causing a slow death, unexcelled in its horror and brutality. And, as the attendant in her monotonous voice explained, "These spikes went into the eyes, and these penetrated the lungs, and these went into the abdomen, etc. And when the victim was dead, he fell thru the bottom and was cut and ground up into a pulp and the pieces were washed away by running water so that nobody might ever recognize who the victim was." And these and similar horrors were committed in the name of religion, in the name of the gentle Christ, in the name of the God of love. Was there a beast ever so fiendish and brutal as man? Never. The ferocious beast kills its victims -he never invents implements of torture and of slow, horrible death. We also saw some of the thumbs that were torn out, and some of the strips of skin that were cut away. They are well preserved. It is just as well they should be. Let us see how beautiful our ancestors were, so that we may be duly proud of them. But let us not get too stuck up. There is now a country, a country of over 120 millions of human beings, where similar, and some much more fiendish in their cruelty, horrors are perpetrated every day. And the world looks on. Need I say that I refer to Russia, cursed with the most cruel and most bloodthirsty government the world has ever seen? And the world looks on.

Of course we also visited the house of the great painter, Albert Dürer and the home of the popular poet Hans Sacks, and we stood by the window where Hans Sacks "hat gearbeitet und gesungen" (worked and sang).

From Nuremberg we went to Dresden, a rather long, eight hours' ride. But as we were in pleasant company we didn't mind it. We stayed in Dresden only a day and a half, as besides its picture gallery it presents nothing of interest; at least not to us; and then in less than three hours the express train brought us to Berlin; Berlin which is getting prettier, gayer, more dissolute, more artistic, more intellectual, more free, from year to year. Berlin is certainly now the intellectual centre of the world. And in spite of our cham William, in spite of the overbearing Prussian militarism, in spite of the thousands of machine-like soldiers that you meet in the streets-long live Berlin! We felt ourselves quite at home there. Either give us a picturesque secluded Swiss Village, with a pretty lake at our feet and the

eternal snow capped mountain in the distance, or give us a firstclass capital. No compromises, no cities of the second class for us. Either the best there is in the line of country or the best there is in the line of city. And there are only three capitals in the world worth living in and they are, in the order of our preference: Mount Morris Park West, Berlin, and Paris.

In Berlin we stayed until we left it-no facetiousness intended-for Budapest.

The International Medical Congress

CHAPTER III.

On Friday, August 27th, at 4.36 p. m. we left Berlin, on a real fast express, for Budapest. We conversed desultorily with our coupè neighbor, then we read the libretto of the Tales of Hoffman, which we had seen two nights before, then we read Ludwig Thoma's Moral, a delicious comedy we had seen the night before in the Kleines Theater, given by a most excellent company, then we read a few pages of Maeterlinck's La Vie des Abeilles, then we got sleepy and told the porter to make our bed. It was then ten o'clock. Five minutes later we were asleep and when we woke up it was 9 a. m. We just had time enough to get washed and dressed-and we were in Budapest. Our neighbors-we were all doctors in the train-asked us what liquor or hypnotic we had taken, as they would like to know it for the use of their insomnia patients. They told us that at Oderbergthe frontier-there was quite a racket; people had to go out to have their baggage examined, etc. But we were blissfully ignorant of any racket and slept on. And still we had taken nothing. It was pure physical and nervous exhaustion-exhaustion following a lot of travelling, walking about, seeing the sights.

I will incidentally remark that I like the European sleeping cars better than I do our Pullmans. They are more comfortable and more airy.

We lost no time in getting to our hotel-the driver was cross-eyed, but the Budapest horses go at a smart clip-shed some articles of our clothing, changed the rest to a lighter grade— for Budapest was as hot as blazes, and this was the first hot day we had in Europe-and went to the Central Bureau of the Congress to get our badge, invitations, coupons, programs, etc. As we were feeling our way in the strange, beautiful capital of Hungary we heard our name called. Have you ever had your name called in a strange country? Very pleasant. It proved to be a Dr. Jenö Stiller, a native of Budapest, a good natured chap with energy plus, whom we met several years before in the Berlin clinics, where he was also doing post-graduate study. Well, Dr. Stiller nearly jumped out of his skin from joy at meeting us, and he right there and then took full charge of us,

He did not permit us to move without his aid, took us around everywhere, showed us everything and introduced us to everybody. If there are any physicians in Budapest, young or old, whom Dr. Stiller does not know, we have not met them. I do not pretensi to remember the names of all the doctors I was introduced to; some of the Hungarian names are beyond even me, but they were all jolly, hospitable fellows and I take this opportunity to thank Dr. Stiller and his friends for all they have done to render my stay in Budapest so pleasant and enjoyable.

The organization of the Congress left nothing to be desired. If organizing ability is the index of the civilization of a nation, then the Hungarians are very far advanced. Everything was arranged admirably, everything ran along smoothly, the attendants, clerks, etc., were courteous and intelligent and gave all possible information willingly and smilingly.

The journal published daily in four languages-English, German, French and Hungarian-kept everybody au courant of what was going on, of any change in the program, etc.

The first general reception or Soirée of Welcome took place on Saturday night, August 28th. It was, like indeed all the rest, with one exception, a very brilliant, and what is more important, a very jolly and enjoyable affair. The music was enchanting, the men were nice, the women were beautiful, their dresses were gorgeous, the champagne was flowing literally like water, it being served not in champagne, but in drinking glasses, the refreshments were of the most exquisite kind and in the greatest abundance, so were the flowers, both natural and artificial (the latter being filled with bon-bons), and when at I a. m. the assembly began to disperse, everybody was in high spirits. Se were we but our spirits were somewhat dampened by the sight of children of 16 and 18 walking the streets and offering their bodies for hire, and of starved girls of tender ages (8, 10, 12), acting the parts of mothers, carrying a child in one arm, leading one with the other and asking in a suppressed voice for alms. Darn it— no fool's paradise for us. In the midst of the most enjoyable affair, most high spirited banquet, Banquo's ghost-the sight of how the other four-fifths live-always rises before us, to put a little bitterness into the cup of sweets. Perhaps 'tis better so. It certainly would be better if that ghost would always rise before the eyes of those who have the power to change the economic and social conditions.

The official opening session of the Congress took place on Sunday, 11 a. m. at the magnificent Municipal Redoute, and to use a hackneyed phrase, it was a brilliant spectacle. Not a little of that brilliancy was due to the gala and military costumes of the Hungarian and some foreign physicians and officials. A bright, gold laced and epauletted costume may be tomfoolery, but it does add to the brilliancy of a scene and serves to break the monotony of the ugly full dress suit. I will add en passant that