Louis Barth, M. D., a physician and surgeon of considerable prominence, at No. 245 East Fulton street, Grand Rapids, Mich., was born in Krotcchin, Prussia, November 21, 1859, and, at the early age of ten years, entered the gymnasium of his native town, in which he passed the maturity examination in 1878, although but nineteen years old. The same year he entered the Medical university of Breslau, where he passed two semesters, and then entered the Medical college of Vienna, where he studied one semester (or six months), after which he passed a theoretical examination at Berlin, under Prof. Virchow, November 7, 1880. He next had hospital experience under Liebreich, Langenbeck, Frerich and Schroeder at Berlin about a year, and took the degree of doctor of medicine, surgery and obstetrics at Wurzburg, Bavaria, December 21, 1881. In January, 1882 he left that city for London, England, where he continued his studies in the hospitals until July of the same year, when he came to the United States and settled in Grand Rapids the latter part of September. Here his medical and surgical skill attracted immediate attention and he was promptly assigned to the front rank of the longer established medical men of the city. He devotes more hours to practice than any other physician within the bounds of Grand Rapids, and it not an exaggeration to say that his patronage is enormous, as a visit to his office will show a gathering of waiting patients far in advance of the hour scheduled for him to be present. At the same time his opinion is sought for in consultation from all parts of the state.

In connection with his consultation room, Dr. Barth has a dispensary, in which his prescriptions are prepared under his personal supervision, and he also personally elects all drugs before they are assigned a place in the dispensary, which is under the charge of a competent pharmaceutics His private office is supplied with all modern appliances for the diagnosis of diseases, including the first X-ray machine introduced in the city, and his library is replete with medical and scientific volumes numbering over 3,000.

The doctor is a generous hearted man and often devotes his attention to the cases of the poor patients for the sake of science as well as humanity. At the meridian of life he has realized a competency, and this despite the fact that he has been obliged to acquaint himself with the customs and language of a new world within the space of eighteen years, and in despite, also, of all rivalry and tradition, has secured for himself a professional and social standing in the city of Grand Rapids second to that of no man.

Dr. Barth is a charter member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons, is the

only physician of the infirmary known as the House of the Aged Poor, which is conducted under the auspices of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and is also the consulting physician at the orphans’ asylum, and for the Sisters of the parochial schools, and also for the Masonic home.

The doctor is eminent as a Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree, and is likewise a charter member of Daisy lodge, No. 48, B. P. O. E. In politics he is a republican, but is nowise aggressive.

Dr. Barth married in Grand Rapids, in 1892, Miss Ilona Barth, an adopted daughter of his brother, and a native of Budapest, Hungary, and his domestic life is an exceedingly happy one.