and practice of surgery in the Ensworth College, and also lectures on the subject of clinical surgery, his able services having been of inestimable value in building up the institution and maintaining its high standing. In 1890 Dr. Geiger assisted in the organization of the Marion Sims College of Medicine of St. Louis, and he visits that city once a week during the school year for the purpose of lecturing on the subjects attending surgical work and its practice. In medical literature. Dr. Geiger's name is one of the most familiar in the profession, and his writings carry unmeasured weight on account of the recognized ability of the writer. He is a contributor to the leading medical publications, and many able articles have come from his pen. He is one of the owners and editors of the St. Joseph "Medical Herald," a journal that has a large circulation among the physicians of the West. Dr. Geiger was elected president of the Missouri State Medical Society in 1897, and in the same year the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Park Colege, Parkville, Missouri. He is an active member of the following medical societies and associations: American Medical Association, Mississippi Valley Medical Association, Missouri Valley Medical Association, Northern Kansas Medical Association, Western Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Tri-State Medical. Society, Missouri State Medical Society, St. Louis. Medical Society, Buchanan County, Missouri, Medical Society, District Medical Society of Northwest Missouri. Of the lastnamed organization he was president in 1894. During the years 1888 and 1889 he was president of the Board of Health of St. Joseph, and during his term the health affairs of the city were most carefully guarded. In politics Dr. Geiger is and has always been a Republican, more or less active. In 1890 and 1891 he was a member of the Common Council of the city of St. Joseph, and during his term of office he was president of that body. Under the present national administration he was made president of the Pension Bureau for the district in which St. Joseph is located. He is a Presbyterian in religious belief and is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of St. Joseph. What time and attention he is able to devote to secret orders is given up almost exclusively to Masonry, and in that order he has attained the dignity of the Mas

Vol. III-2

ter Mason. Dr. Geiger, as a citizen interested in the affairs of the government, and as a man of high social standing, devotes a portion of his time to outside matters, but he is essentially wrapped up in his profession and devoted to his home life. Since 1890 he has devoted his professional abilities almost exclusively to surgery, and in that line he is in demand in the principal cities of the country, both in the active care of difficult cases and in consultations. Dr. Geiger was married, in 1887, to Miss Louise Kollatz, of St. Joseph, Missouri.

Gems of Missouri.-In different parts of Missouri, semi-precious gems have been found, topaz, tiger-eye, opalized wood, chalcedony and various classes of crystals. Schoolcraft, in his "Notes on the Minerals of Missouri," published in 1819, states that on the banks of the Mississippi River, between St. Louis and Grand Tower, he found several specimens of carnelian and jasper, and an opal of great hardness and beauty. The opal, he believed, had been washed by the waters of the river from some distant part of the country along its banks.

General Assembly.-The official name of the Legislature or law-making body of the State of Missouri. It consists of two houses the Senate and the House of Representatives-which meet and act in different chambers in the State capitol, at Jefferson City. The Senate has thirty-four members, chosen in districts by the people, holding for a term of four years, one-half the number being elected every two years.

In

some parts of the State it takes several counties to form a senatorial district; in populous counties, one county may contain more than one district. The State is divided into senatorial districts anew every ten years. A Senator must be thirty years of age, a citizen of the United States, and have been a qualified voter for three years, and be a taxpayer. The presiding officer of the Senate is the Lieutenant Governor. The House of Representatives consists of a variable number of

members, every county being entitled to one, and the populous counties to more. The ratio is determined by dividing the population of the State, as given in the last United States census, by 200; each county having one ratio or less is entitled to one Represen

tative; each county having two and a half ratios is entitled to two Representatives; each county having four ratios is entitled to three; each county having six ratios is entitled to four-and so on, above that number, each two and a half additional ratios entitling to one additional Representative. A member of the House of Representatives must be twenty-four years of age, and a citizen of the United States, and have been a qualified voter of the State for two years, and be a taxpayer. The General Assembly meets once in two years, on the first Wednesday after the first day of January of the odd years. It may be called to meet in special session when occasion demands, by proclamation of the Governor. The pay of Senators and Representatives is five dollars a day for the first 120 days, and after that one dollar a day-in addition to which they receive traveling expenses. The presiding officer of the House of Representatives is the speaker, chosen by the House itself. Neither house of the General Assembly may, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days at a time, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses are sitting. A bill introduced in either house must be read three times on three different days, and it may not be put on final passage unless it has been reported upon by a committee and printed for the use of members. To become a law, it must receive the votes of a majority of the members elected to each house, and be signed by the presiding officer of each house. Then it goes to the Governor.

If he approves it, and signs his name to it, it becomes a law. If he fails to return it, with his approval or disapproval, within ten days, the General Assembly may enact it into a law by simple resolution. If the Governor vetoes it, it can become a law by the votes of twothirds of the members of each house. If the General Assembly shall adjourn within the ten days allowed the Governor to consider a bill, he may make it a law by sending it to the Secretary of State, with his approval, within thirty days, or he may defeat it by a veto. No law enacted by the General Assembly goes into effect until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it was passed, unless there be appended to it an "emergency clause," and two-thirds of all the members elected to each house otherwise direct. The general appropriation act is an

exception to this rule; it goes into effect as soon as approved by the Governor, or made a law without his approval. The laws passed at each session of the General Assembly are all published in a book called "Session Acts" of such a General Assembly, giving the number and the year. Once in ten years there is a revision made, when all the previous laws of the State are gone over, together with the session acts, the repealed laws omitted and the new ones inserted, in two large volumes called "The Revised Statutes of Missouri," with the year mentioned. This book, with the laws arranged in order, in chapters, articles and sections, is authority in this State in all suits, courts and contracts.

Representative government in Missouri began in 1812, under the act of Congress which reorganized the Territory and changed its name from Louisiana to Missouri. In accordance with the provisions of that enactment the people elected a Territorial House of Representatives, and these Representatives nominated eighteen citizens, of whom the President of the United States chose nine, to act as a Legislative Council. The Council and House of Representatives thus chosen constituted the first General Assembly of Missouri. The first session of the House of Representatives-which body consisted of thirteen members-began in St. Louis, December 7, 1812, and was held at the residence of Joseph Robidoux. Nominations to the Council were made, as provided by law, and after the appointment of nine Councilors by the President, the organization of the General Assembly was completed and its work was begun. The act which created the General Assembly provided that it should hold an annual session, beginning on the first Monday in December, but in 1816 amended act provided for biennial sessions, and also fixed the number of Councilors at one for each county. In 1820 the Territorial Legislature was succeeded by the State Legislature, chosen in pursuance of the congressional enactment of March 6th of that year. Although the State was not formally admitted into the Union until August 10, 1821-by reason of the fact that the Constitution adopted contained a provision obnoxious to Congress-the first State officers, Senators and Representatives, were chosen at an election held August 20, 1820. Fourteen Senators and forty-three Representa

tives were chosen at that election, and the General Assembly met, pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution, September 19th. The first session of that body was held in the old "Missouri Hotel," which occupied the southwest corner of Main and Market Streets in St. Louis. The first president of the Senate was General William H. Ashley, who had been elected Lieutenant Governor, and James Caldwell, of Ste. Genevieve, was first speaker of the House of Representatives. David Barton and Thomas H. Benton were chosen United States Senators by this General Assembly, but were not admitted to the Senate until after the formal admission of the State. The next session of the General Assembly was held in St. Charles, beginning June 4, 1821, and on the 26th of that month the assent of that body was given to the conditions imposed by Congress in connection with the admission of the State. The sessions were held thereafter at St, Charles until 1826, when the capital was removed to Jefferson City, the fourth General Assembly meeting there, November 20th of that year.

Genet, Edmond Charles. See "French Intrigues in the West."

Gentlemen's Driving Club.-Soon after the close of the Civil War, Honorable Norman J. Colman and other owners and admirers of good horses instituted in St. Louis

club bearing the above name, which had for its object the bringing together of the good "roadsters" of the city, at regular intervals, for tests of speed. In 1882 a new organization bearing the same name succeeded the old one, and has since been one of the popular institutions of the city. Driving matinees are given every Saturday afternoon at Forest Park, from May to October, under the auspices of the club, and these exhibitions of speed are free to the public. The club was instituted solely for the pleasure and recreation of its members, who meet all its expenses by assessing themselves. 1898 there was but one other driving club of this kind in the United States.

In

Gentry, Nicholas Hocker, proprietor of the famous Wood Dale Stock Farm, in Pettis County, is a son of Joel W. and Jael W. (Hocker) Gentry, and was born on the old homestead, near Sedalia, March 16, 1850.

His father, who was born in Missouri in 1815, and died in October, 1851, was a son of Reuben E. Gentry, a native of Kentucky, and a soldier in the War of 1812. Joel W. Gentry was a brother of Major William Gentry and Richard Gentry. In 1824 he removed with his father to Pettis County, and settled on a farm now occupied by Nicholas H. Gentry, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising on an extensive scale. He and his brother Richard, who occupied adjoining farms, were the pioneer breeders of fine stock in western Missouri, and their foundation of this industry has resulted in making the name of Gentry famous throughout the United States. For many years Joel Gentry drove his stock to St. Louis, then the central market of the West, and during his brief lifetime he established a high reputation as a scientific breeder of stock. In politics he was a Whig. He and his wife were devoted members of the Christian Church. He was a man of great strength of character, eminently just and of a deeply religious nature. Few men. exerted an influence for good in his community so powerful as did he. He married Jael W. Hocker, who was born near Richmond, Kentucky, and who was a daughter of Nicholas Hocker, a Virginian by birth. They had two children, Nicholas H. and Eliza Jael, wife of S. M. Morrison, of Denver, Colorado. After the death of Joel W. Gentry, his widow married his brother, Richard Gentry, and now resides in Sedalia. One of the children of Richard and Jael (Hocker) Gentry was Rev. Richard W. Gentry, a graduate of the State University, where he won the Stephens Medal for the best oration. He preached in the Christian Church at Columbia and elsewhere, and for a time was secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. He was recognized as a man possessed of a high order of talent. His death occurred in November, 1883, while he was in his twentysixth year. Mary V., their second child, is the wife of A. W. Walburn, of Chicago; Nannie G. is the widow of William Estill, of Sedalia, and Mattie died in childhood. Nicholas H. Gentry was educated in the common schools of his native county, was reared and always has resided on one of the two noted Gentry farms north of Sedalia, most of his boyhood being spent with his uncle, Richard Gentry. In 1875 he married and returned to the homestead to reside permanently, at once