[Sidenote: A Method of Work.] For those who are acquainted only with the missionary methods of the American Lutheran Church, in which missionary work is done officially by the various branches of the Church, it is necessary to explain briefly the different procedure of Germany and other foreign countries. Where the Lutheran Church is the State Church, it cares officially only for those within the State. All other varieties of Christian work are carried on by societies which have been organized either by groups of zealous men and women or else by a single person. The circumstances connected with the foundation and the history of these organizations are often intensely interesting. It is to be regretted that we can give only a short space to each one. GERMAN SOCIETIES. [Sidenote: A Century of Service.] No missionary society has had a more interesting beginning than the _Basel Society_. There was encamped on one side of the Swiss city of Basel in 1815 a Hungarian army, on the other side a Russian army. Destruction seemed certain, and when it was averted the pious folk determined in gratitude to establish a mission seminary to train preachers for the heathen. While this undertaking is partly Reformed, its intimate connection with the Lutheran Church makes it proper for us to include its work in a history of Lutheran missions. Many of its directors and a large proportion of its workers have been Lutherans and a great deal of its support has come from Lutheran sources. At first the men trained in the Basel school went into the employ of English missionary societies, but in 1822, after eighty-eight missionaries had served the English Church Missionary Society alone, the society sent its men to its own fields. Between 1815 and 1882 the society trained eleven hundred and twelve candidates. The Basel society has certain distinct and peculiar characteristics. It combines with its evangelical work industrial work which is managed by a missionary trading society. It was the first of the German societies to combine medical with evangelical work. It trains surgeons, farmers, weavers, shoemakers, bakers, workers in wood and iron, tailors, printers and mechanics as well as teachers and ministers. In 1915, surrounded once more by cannon, but still in peace, the Basel society celebrated its centennial, in rejoicing yet in sadness. It has now stations in India, China and Africa. Its last accessible report gave its income in 1913 as $586,000.