This study1 of the Geman compul sory sickness insurance is based on twenty years of practical medical experience2 from the three medical view points involved. The purpose of this study is not to advocate the adoption of the German system in other countries but to present the facts regarding the German situation during the normal years. Organization.—The compulsory sickness insurance in Germany covers twenty million members plus fourteen million dependents, almost half the entire population. It is supervised by the Ministry of Labor and administered by a special government office (Reichversicherungsamt) with branch offices in every province (Landesversicherungsamt). It is composed of different statutory bodies: the largest is the general sickness fund (Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse), for workers and employees who do not belong in one of the following special categories; the industrial sickness fund (Betriebs Krankenkasse), operated by the individual plants; the sickness fund of the guilds (Innungs Krankenkasse), for special workmen's guilds; the miners' fund (Knappschafts Krankenkassen), for the miners; the seamen's sick fund (SeeKrankenkasse), for the merchant marine; and the farmers' sick fund (Land Krankenkasse), for farmhands. Such a decentralization has been proved superior to one giant centralized sick fund because it guarantees a certain autonomy of its administration exercised by employers and employees knowing the requirements of their respective labor groups by their own experience. Furthermore, it has been found more flexible in adapting the insurance benefits to the special needs and more economical than one unified mammoth sick fund, serving all the various types of wageand salary-earners. Criterion for membership in all these sick funds is an income not exceeding $1,200 annually for the individual wage or salary-worker. For these, membership is mandatory and goes automatically with employment on a pay-roll deduction plan, two-thirds paid by the employee and one-third by the employer, the insurance premium varying between 3-8 per cent of the basic wage. It guarantees the "right" to complete coverage in case of illness or accident for a period of twenty-seven to fifty-two weeks in each year to the member and his dependents. In case these weeks are exceeded, government relief takes over automatically and indefinitely. The same benefits are secured by the government to the unemployed and administered by the C.S.I. system. Benefits.—The main features of the compulsory sickness insurance are the