The Auditing Committee reported that they had carefully audited the financial statement of the Secretary and that the same was found to be correct in every particular-that proper vouchers were shown corresponding with each reported item of expenditure.

The report of the committee was received and adopted.

(Inasmuch as footings in the foregoing financial exhibits for the various meetings have not been carried forward the Secretary desires to state that the entire amount of appropriation for each year ending September 30th was expended.)

On motion the Board adjourned to meet the first Wednesday in August unless otherwise ordered by the President.

II

STATE BOARD MEDICAL EXAMINERS

Though chapter 17, title 12 of the Code, relating to the State Board of Medical Examiners, contains no provision for a report of any kind it seems that the State Board of Health having under the statute a general supervision of the lives and health of the people should at least in its biennial report give some data relative to the medical department of the state. In none of the reports heretofore issued, however, has there been any illusion to the work of this Board.

The law creating the State Board of Medical Examiners was enacted in 1886, and went into force July 1st of that year. It provided that the physicians of the State Board of Health, together with the Secretary, should be a Board of Medical Examiners, and that the Board should elect a President and Secretary. It authorized the Board to grant three forms of certificates; "A" to those who were graduates of medical colleges recognized by the Board as of good standing; "B," to those who had, at the time of the passage of the act, been not less than five years in continuous practice in the state, three years of such practice having been in one locality; and "C," to those who, not having these qualifications, passed a satisfactory examination before the Board. The fee for the first two certificates was placed at $2, and for the "C" certificate $10 was required, which enabled the applicant to have a re-examination in case of failure without additional fee.

Later the law was changed so that the Secretary ceased to be a member of this Board, but, by virtue of his connection with the Board of Health, as Secretary, he became Secretary of the Board of Medical Examiners, as well.

Under the law of 1886, the members of the Board were entitled to a per diem of $10, and traveling and other necessary expenses, while performing their duties as such, and the Secretary was entitled to the sum of not more than $5 a day for each day that he was engaged in the work of the Board.

The present Code cut down the pay of the members to $8 per diem, and left the Secretary without any compensation. It raised the fee to $5 for each certificate and $20 for examinations, and provided, further, that itinerants should pay directly into the State Treasury the sum of $250 per annum for an itinerants' permit, which they were required to have in addition to the regular physicians certificate; and provided that all persons beginning the practice of medicine in Iowa, after January 1st, 1899, should pass a satisfactory examination before the Board, and that in order to be admitted to this examination, they should be graduates of colleges of medicine recognized by the Board as of good standing, and requiring not less than four courses of medical study of not less than twenty-six weeks each, in separate years, as a condition of recognition by the Board.

The Twenty-seventh General Assembly passed an act, chapter 69, providing for the issuance of certificates to practice osteopathy. The Twenty-eighth General Assembly cut down the fee for examinations to $10 and provided that graduates of Iowa Medical Colleges should be examined at the time and place of graduation. It also provided a salary for the Secretary not to exceed $25 per month.

Since the organization of the Board certificates have been issued to 6,930 applicants, classified as follows: To regulars, 5,434; to Homeopaths, 804; to Eclectics, 576; to Physio-Medics,55; to midwives, 39; miscellaneous, 22; total, 6,930.

The midwives above referred to were those engaged in practice in the state at the time of the enactment of the law who were graduates of colleges of midwifery, and these certificates were issued early in the history of the Board. It was discovered later that the statute made no provision for the issuance of certificates to this class, the law giving all women who were at the time of its enactment the right to practice midwifery without a certificate whether graduates or not. Those termed "miscellaneous" were hydropaths, electropaths, magnetic healers, etc., and they received their certificates on length of practice.

During the biennial period ending June 30, 1901, there were issued 314 certificates as follows: Regulars, 272; Homeopaths, 39; Eclectic, 2; Physio-Medics, I. Total, 314. To men, 300; to

women, 14.

All these certificates were upon examination, the applicants being graduates of the following colleges: American Medical College, St. Louis; Baltimore University; Barnes' Medical Col

lege, St. Louis; Bennett College of Eclectic Medicine and Surgery, Chicago; Central Medical College, Indianapolis; Chicago Homeopathic Medical College; Chicago Physio-Medical College; College Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago; College Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore; College Physicians and Surgeons, St. Joseph, Missouri; College Physicians and Surgeons, Keokuk; Cornell University, Ithica, New York; Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati; Ft. Wayne College of Medicine, Indiana; Georgetown University, District Columbia; Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital, Chicago; Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia; Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts; Iowa College Physicians and Surgeons, Des Moines; Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia; Jenner Medical College, Chicago; John A. Creighton Medical College, Omaha; Kansas Medical College, Topeka; Kansas City Medical College, Missouri; Kentucky University, Louisville; Keokuk Medical College, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Iowa; Louisville Medical College, Kentucky; Marion Sims Medical College, St. Louis; McGill University, Montreal, Canada; Miami Medical College, Cincinnati; Missouri Medical College, St. Louis; New York Homeopathic Medical College; Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago; Northwestern University Woman's Medical School, Chicago; Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Royal University of Norway, Christiana; Rush Medical College, Chicago; St. Louis Medical College; Sioux City College of Medicine; Syracuse University, New York; Trinity University, Toronto, Canada; University of Iowa, Iowa City; University of Iowa (Homeopathic), Iowa City; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; University of Munich, Germany; University of Oregon, Portland; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; University of Vermont, Burlington.

Under chapter 69, laws of the Twenty-seventh General Assembly, relative to the practice of osteopathy, there have as yet been no certificates issued. There have been in all forty-four applications from the following colleges of osteopathy: American School of Osteopathy, Kirksville, Missouri; Quincy Osteopathic Institute, Illinois; Dr. S. S. Still College and Infirmary of Osteopathy, Des Moines.

Certificates were refused on the grounds that the colleges. from which the applicants graduated were declared not to be as of good standing as contemplated by the law, and by the minimum requirements of the Board.

The Dr. S. S. Still College of Osteopathy has applied to the district court for a writ of mandamus to compel the board to issue certificates to its graduates. This case is now pending.

The fees allowed by law for the legitimate expenses of the Board have not been adequate to meet the expenses. This deficit might be met in part, if not wholly, by requiring the itinerants' license fee, two hundred and fifty dollars annually, now paid directly into the State Treasury, to be paid to the Board for its use; or by having the examination fee remain as it is and requiring a fee of five dollars additional for those who successfully pass the Board. This is the law in Illinois, and the fee thus increased is less than is paid in almost every other state.

The expert committee, appointed by the Executive Council, as provided by the Legislature, in calling attention to this deficit. in their report recommended the payment of a renewal fee of one dollar per annum by all persons holding a certificate of the Board. Such a fee would be but a light burden upon those in practice and would not only meet, with the examination fee as it now is, all the expenses of the Board but would enable the Board to keep in touch with every legalized practitioner in the state and to detect and root out more readily those who were violaters of the law.

The Legislature could further promote the interests of the people and enable the State Board of Health to furnish some very valuable information if section 2565 of the Code were so amended as to include the proceedings of the State Board of Medical Examiners together with a list of legalized physicians in the State in the biennial report of the Secretary.